What is EMLX File Extension in Apple Mail?

Written By Nimisha Ramesh

Approved By Mack John

Published On July 6th, 2019

Reading Time 3 Minutes Reading

Have you ever come across a file with extension (.emlx). This is a text file created by email-client Apple Mail supported by Apple MAC OS X. Prior to the release of MAC OS X Tiger, the default extension was Mbox file extension which later advanced to .emlx file extension with OS X 10.4.

As you know, text files can be opened in text editors like Notepad++ or Wordpad. Similarly, these files are not limited to Apple Mail, but can be opened in any of the Text Editors. EMLX files are the individual files that stores only a single mail message.

MIME Type of EMLX File Extension is application/octet-stream

Tip: If you want to open and view EMLX files without installing Apple Mail. Then, you can use a reliable EMLX Viewer Software.

Know Difference between EML and EMLX File Extension

Do not get Confused with EML and EMLX Files. EML files are the file extensions for MS Outlook Express, Thunderbird etc. which is used for storing a single mail whereas, EMLX is an extension of Apple Mail. The icon for Apple Mail is shown below.

EMLXPART files are also used by Apple Mail. But, these files extensions are not used for storing any mail messages nor any texts mails. This is a file extension that stores only attachments like picture, a single document for the mail messages. These files can be opened and modified by using Apple mail.
Default Location to find EMLX File Extension
Users\Username\Library\Mail\Mailbox\Message

Problems Faced by users with EMLX File in Apple Mail

There might be chances that your email-client Apple Mail got corrupt and the user has an emergency to view the EMLX files. User has to wait in-order to wait for the installation of Apple Mail client to be completed.
Opening an EMLX File in windows environment can be really challenging for a user. If a user is working in Mac environment(client like Apple Mail) and have not used Windows for a long time. It may cause trouble for users to deal with EMLX files.

Why you are Unable to Open EMLX File Extension in Windows

When you double-click your EMLX File, Windows analyze your file format and check whether there are any applications present that can open these files. When Windows do not find any application that can relate to EMLX File. It shows an error message saying “Windows is Unable to open File: filename.emlx“.
You can avoid this error by following few easy steps:

Go to the Control Panel.
Control Panel Home Window appears
Select Default Program
Click on Set Associations
Choose file type that you want to associate to an application.
Click on Change Program
(Note: Your Windows must have an application that can open EMLX File Extension)

Conclusion

According to my view, Apple mail stores email as an individual mail instead of merging all the files together. This has both advantage as well as disadvantage. Limitation is that it may turn the Apple Mail slow when emails pile up with time. The Advantage of EMLX File Extension is that it becomes easy to search an email via Spotlight (a search feature in-built in Mac).