Extract text from Microsoft Mailbag files (MBG)
To convert MBG Mailbag files to another format, you need Mailbag Assistant or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Email Archive Database" file type, you need software like Mailbag Assistant or a similar tool.
The .MBG file format primarily functions as a legacy Microsoft Mailbag or a Mailbag Assistant Mailbox File developed by Fookes Software. These files store archived email messages, metadata, directory indexes, and sometimes attachments in a highly proprietary database structure. Historically, early Microsoft network email systems used this format to manage local message queues. Today, Fookes Software utilizes it to index and archive mailboxes for legal discovery, forensics, or deep-storage backups.
The main disadvantage of the .MBG format is its closed, proprietary nature. It is locked into the specific ecosystem that created it, meaning standard modern email clients like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, or Mozilla Thunderbird cannot read or open it natively. Files can become orphaned easily, and users are often forced to install or purchase legacy software just to access old correspondence. Additionally, without the exact accompanying index files, the raw database can be nearly impossible to reconstruct manually.
To ensure long-term data accessibility, users need to extract .MBG data into standard targets like EML, MSG, or PDF. Converting to EML or MSG preserves the raw email headers, routing data, and attachments, making it easy to migrate into standard mail servers. Converting to PDF is ideal for non-editable legal record keeping, though it flattens the data and sacrifices raw attachment extraction.
Because .MBG is a closed, binary database format, standard online converters almost always fail to process it. Often, only the original software can properly parse and export the email structures. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your MBG file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert MBG file to , you can use Mailbag Assistant or similar software from the "Email Archive Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to MBG, try Mailbag Assistant or another comparable tool in the "Email Archive Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our MBG converter.