Outlook

Outlook Email Converter

Convert .eml files exported from Outlook into clean markdown thread files, following the project email archive convention (see deterrence/docs/emails/).

Tool

~/me/bin/fetch_outlook_emails.py — converts .eml files to dated markdown.

How the user exports emails from Outlook

In Outlook (web or desktop):

1. Open the thread / last reply in the thread
2. Click "..." → "Save as" or drag the message to a folder
3. Save as .eml (not .msg — .eml is plain text and portable)

One .eml per thread is enough — save the latest reply, which contains the full quoted history.

Usage

# Convert all .eml files in a folder:
python3 ~/me/bin/fetch_outlook_emails.py /path/to/emls/ --outdir project/docs/emails/

# Convert a single file:
python3 ~/me/bin/fetch_outlook_emails.py thread.eml --outdir project/docs/emails/

Output naming: YYYY-MM-DD_subject-slug.md

Workflow for saving emails to a project

1. User exports .eml files from Outlook to a temporary location
2. Run the converter to produce markdown files in docs/emails/
3. Create a docs/emails/README.md index (follow deterrence project convention)
4. Clean up the .eml source files

Parsing the request

The user may say:

• /outlook — process .eml files already present in the current project area
• /outlook convert the emails in /tmp/soltes/ — explicit path

If no .eml files are found, remind the user how to export from Outlook.