Articles on: Creating & importing contracts

Viewing EML and MSG emails on a contract

When you add contract correspondence to a contract as an email file (.eml or .msg), ContractHero displays it directly in the documents area as a preview — you see the sender, recipient, subject, date and message text without having to open the file separately in Outlook or another email client.

New since 27 October 2026: .msg files from Outlook are now previewed too. Previously only .eml was rendered reliably.

Your benefit

Contract negotiations, side agreements and important clarifications often happen by email. When those emails are attached to the contract, you need them right there in your contract management too — not as an external file that nobody wants to open:

Contract history in one place. Emails, PDFs and amendments sit together with the contract instead of being scattered across several systems.
Fast access during an audit. Auditors can see immediately what was negotiated for a contract — without having to open somebody else's email account.
Smooth handover. External consultants or auditors can read the email thread without having to open the files themselves.

What are EML and MSG files?

Both formats save a single email as a file. EML is the common, open standard format, supported by most email clients. MSG is the format Microsoft Outlook uses. ContractHero previews both.

How it works

1. Save the email as a file

In Outlook: select the email → File [Datei] → Save as [Speichern unter]. Outlook saves as .msg by default and also offers .eml. In Gmail you can download any email you have sent or received; it is saved as .eml. Other clients (Apple Mail, Thunderbird) offer a comparable function.

2. Upload the file to ContractHero

Open the contract → Documents [Dokumente] area on the right → "+ Add document [+ Dokument hinzufügen]" → drag and drop the file into the upload area, or click to select it → Import [Importieren].

Note: In its format description, the upload dialogue lists "PDF, Word, Excel, image and PowerPoint formats" [„PDF-, Word-, Excel-, Bild- und PowerPoint-Formate"]. Email files are not explicitly mentioned there, but they do work. The upload goes through without any warning.

3. The preview is created automatically

The file appears in the document list with the format label EML or MSG. When you click on the document, the preview appears on the right with four header fields:

From [Von] — sender address
To [An] — recipient address
Subject [Betreff] — email subject
Date [Datum] — timestamp of the email

Below that follows the message text. You move between the documents of a contract using the arrow navigation at the top right ("Document N / M [Dokument N / M]") — exactly as in the PDF view.

Typical use cases

Negotiation emails documented with the main contract — who promised what, and when?
Clarification emails with the counterparty — clarifications that are not in the contract itself.
Incoming confirmations (e.g. from an insurer or a bank) filed with the contract as evidence.
Termination emails and their delivery confirmations — important for deadlines and later audits.
Handovers when responsibilities change — your successor sees the full communication, not just the final documents.

What the preview shows — and what it does not

Being honest about the limits of the feature, so that you are not disappointed:

No images. Inline images and graphics in the message body are not displayed. The text content remains readable.
No attachments. Files attached to the email are not shown in the preview. For critical attachments, we recommend also filing them with the contract as separate documents.
Only From and To in the header. CC and BCC recipients are not shown in the preview header. If these matter for traceability, keep the original email as well, or record the matter in the comments/activity area.
Date in a technical format. The date currently appears in the preview as an ISO timestamp (e.g. 2026-05-20T12:32:17.000Z) rather than in a localised format. The content is correct, only the display is unformatted.
Body as text. The message text is rendered as text. HTML formatting and complex newsletter layouts do not appear in their original design.

Frequently asked questions

Which email formats are supported?
.eml and .msg. EML is the open standard format used by most clients; MSG is Outlook's own format. Both are previewed directly in the document view — you no longer need to convert a .msg to .eml first.

How do I get these files into ContractHero — drag and drop?
Yes. Open the document list of the contract and either drag the file into the upload area or click to select it. Any file type can be uploaded there.

Can I save emails straight from my email account?
Yes. In Gmail and Outlook you can download any email you have sent or received — Gmail saves it as .eml, Outlook as .msg (and optionally .eml). Both can then be uploaded to the contract.

Are the email's attachments displayed?
No. The preview shows the header and the message text only. Upload important attachments to the contract as separate documents.

Can the AI contract analysis extract data from email files?
The AI analysis is optimised for contract documents. Email files primarily serve documentation and evidence purposes, not automatic data extraction.

Are the emails stored in a data-protection-compliant way?
As soon as you upload an email file to a contract, the same visibility logic applies as for all other contract documents: whoever is allowed to see the contract also sees the attached emails. With sensitive content, make sure the contract permissions are set accordingly.

Can I file email files from the Outlook import automatically?
The Outlook import saves the PDF attached to the contract in the new contract. If you also want to archive the email itself, upload the .eml or .msg separately as a document (see Related articles on the Outlook import).

Why is the date in ISO format and not "20.05.2026"?
At present the preview renders the technical timestamp from the email header one-to-one. A localised display is on the feature roadmap — but the content is complete and correct.

How large may an email file be?
The same size limits apply as for other documents. The upload dialogue states a range of up to 50 files per upload and 256 MB — with very large email threads, loading the preview can take a few seconds.

Where can I tell that a document is an email in the document list?
In the document list on the right, the format label EML or MSG appears next to the file name — just like PDF, DOCX and so on. That way you can see at a glance which documents are emails and which are contract texts.

Good to know

EML is the more robust archive format. Unlike .msg, .eml is a documented, cross-platform standard. Both are previewed in ContractHero, but for long-term archiving and compliance purposes .eml is the safer choice.
Check for personal data before uploading. Emails often contain personal data (signatures, private telephone numbers). Before you make them visible to a wide group of readers, plan in a quick visual check.
Clear naming saves you searching later. "Negotiation_Clause-5_2026-03.eml" is more helpful than "RE: RE: FW: Contract.eml". Both you and your colleagues will find the email thread again more quickly.
Documented in the activity log. The upload appears in the contract's change log [Änderungsprotokoll] — who added which email, and when, can be traced.
For legally relevant emails: also save a PDF. If the email needs to be usable in court, we recommend saving a PDF printout of it as well — that is universally readable, even when no email client is to hand. CC addresses, attachments and HTML formatting are preserved that way too.
The format details in the upload dialogue are incomplete. The format description in the upload dialogue currently does not list email formats explicitly — the feature works nonetheless. The UI copy lags behind the scope of the feature here.

Not using this feature yet, or would you like to get more out of it?

Your Customer Success Manager will show you how to integrate email documents sensibly into your contract workflow — 15 minutes is usually enough. Get in touch with us via the web chat or by email at support@contracthero.com.

Updated on: 10/28/2026

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