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unable to save email as text

  • 2 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by pilotpak

pilotpak
pilotpak
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Hi, Using Thunderbird 38.5.0 on Windows 8 & Windows Server 2008 R1

I have a need to save emails from the inbox as TEXT on the local harddrive. 

Using Thunderbird 38.5.50. on a Windows 8 machine it works perfectly. (Right click on the email body and go SAVE AS / using a TEXT filename) - just fine !

I have exactly the same version of Thunderbird installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine, using the exact factory defaults as the above, and when I try right clicking and saving as TEXT, I get an alert message , "Unable to save the message. Please check your file name and try again late" However, it does allow me the save the same email in EML format in the same location on the Win server 2008 machine.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated ?

Hi, Using Thunderbird 38.5.0 on Windows 8 & Windows Server 2008 R1 I have a need to save emails from the inbox as TEXT on the local harddrive. Using Thunderbird 38.5.50. on a Windows 8 machine it works perfectly. (Right click on the email body and go SAVE AS / using a TEXT filename) - just fine ! I have exactly the same version of Thunderbird installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine, using the exact factory defaults as the above, and when I try right clicking and saving as TEXT, I get an alert message , "Unable to save the message. Please check your file name and try again late" However, it does allow me the save the same email in EML format in the same location on the Win server 2008 machine. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated ?

Chosen solution

I'm not running Windows Server, but I wonder what happens if you change your method a bit: right-click the message, Save As..., select Text Files in the Save as type: box, then click Save. Any difference? Do you have an add-on such as ImportExportTools that might be a factor on a WS computer?

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sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

I'm not running Windows Server, but I wonder what happens if you change your method a bit: right-click the message, Save As..., select Text Files in the Save as type: box, then click Save. Any difference? Do you have an add-on such as ImportExportTools that might be a factor on a WS computer?

pilotpak
pilotpak Question owner
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Thanks for the super quick response - I appreciate it !

I tried the suggested save-as but the problem remained. I only use 1 add-on, being ExQuilla and both systems ran the same add-on.

But I found a workaround. The problematic server does successfully export the email as an EML file, and I found that the format of this EML file is readable plain text, so I'll just export as EML & use that - problem solved !