Wondering how to insert email into Excel? This guide is just for you!

Exporting email data into a Microsoft Excel worksheet can feel like completing a long, multi-step process. It often eats up valuable time that you could have invested in things that matter. Not to mention, the manual process includes the risks of errors and frustration.

In this Excel tutorial, I’ll guide you through some easy approaches to input, organize, and manage email data in Excel. I’ve organized and designed the steps of each technique in such a way you can save time. Let’s get started!

Using the Object Command

The Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) service or simply the Object command in Excel allows you to embed files to an Excel workbook. It can import files from Microsoft 365 apps, like Outlook, Word, etc., or from third-party apps, like Adobe, Foxit PDF, etc. Therefore, you can use the Object command to insert an email into an Excel worksheet for future reference that even works offline. Let me walk you through the process below:

Firstly, open your preferred email client, like Outlook or Gmail.

Find the email you want to insert into an Excel sheet.

Click on the File tab and hit the Save As command in the left-side navigation panel of the Outlook desktop app.

Use the Save As dialog box to save the target email to a directory of your choice. You must be able to recollect the location so select a familiar or dedicated folder.

Hit Save to create a local copy of the email message in Outlook Message Format, the default one of the Save As dialog box.

Now, go to the worksheet where you need to insert this saved email.

Select the cell where you’d like to embed the email object.

Press the Alt + N + J keys all together to bring up the Object dialog box.

Click on the Create from file tab.

Hit the Browse button and navigate to the folder where you had saved the target email.

Select the Outlook Message Format file and hit the Insert button.

Checkmark the Display as icon checkbox on the Object dialog box.

Click OK to save the newly created object.

You should now see the object you just created as a floating Excel shape on the selected cell.

You can use dragging and dropping moves to adjust its position in the worksheet.

Double-click on the icon to bring up the Open Package Contents dialog box.

Hit Open to view the contents of the inserted email.

Windows app selection dialog box will show and ask you to choose an email client, like Outlook or Gmail.

Finally, the email will open in the selected email client. Internet isn’t needed to load the locally saved email.

Here are the downsides of this method:

• It only links an email with the Excel sheet like hyperlinking. Data isn’t embedded in the sheet. If you need to extract email data into an Excel worksheet, follow the next methods.
• Only suitable for Excel 2016 and later desktop apps.

Exporting Outlook Emails as CSV

You can also use the Open & Export command of the Microsoft Outlook desktop app to export emails in a CSV file format. Then, you can easily insert the email content by opening the CSV file in an Excel worksheet.

Open the Outlook desktop app and press the Alt + F + O keys all together to bring up the Open dialog box.

Click on the Import/Export command button.

The Import and Export Wizard will open. There, select the Export to a file option and hit the Next button.

Select the Comma Separated Values option on the next screen and click Next.

You’ll now see the Select folder to export from the dialog box. Use this window to select the email folder from which you’d like to insert emails in Excel. For example, you can try selecting the Inbox folder and click Next.

Now you’ll see the Save exported file as window. Click the Browse button, give the CSV file a unique name, and save it in a folder you can remember. Click Next.

Hit the Finish button on the Export to a File dialog to start the email data exporting process.

This method is suitable for any email client that offers a way to save emails as a CSV file. Also, most of the Microsoft Excel desktop app editions support this technique.

Now, go to the destination Excel worksheet and press the Alt + F + O + O keys all together to bring up the Open dialog box.

Select the previously exported Outlook CSV file and hit Open.

The Text Import Wizard will show up.

Select the Delimited option and hit Next.

Checkmark the checkbox for Comma below the Delimeters column and click on the Next button.

You should see multiple columns in the next window. Use various Excel data and number formatting options in the Column data format section to select the appropriate data format.

Select a column, like Subject, and choose Text since most email subjects are texts.

Now, go to another column, like Mileage, and set it to the General since it’s highly likely that the column will contain numbers.

Now, click on the Finish button to start importing the email data into your Excel worksheet.

Excel will create a new workbook for the imported data.

You can copy the dataset from the source workbook and paste it into the destination Excel file.

Using Power Query Editor

If you need to insert email data into your Excel worksheet at regular intervals you can create a dynamic process using Power Query. In this method, you’ll create a connection between the Excel worksheet and your email client, like Microsoft Outlook. Whenever you get new emails containing datasets, tables, etc., the existing connection will refresh and fetch new data.

I’ll show you how to set up a connection between your Outlook account and Excel in the steps outlined below.

Open the destination workbook and select a worksheet where you’d like to import the email data. Note that you’re not going to simply copy and paste email content in cells. Instead, you’ll be converting all emails into a queryable database from which you can extract the data you need.

Go to the Data tab in the Excel ribbon menu and click on the Get Data drop-down arrow in the Get & Transform Data block.

Hover the cursor over the From Other Sources option and select the From Microsoft Exchange option.

Type in your Outlook email address into the Mailbox address field of the Microsoft Exchange dialog box.

On the Microsoft Exchange dialog box, enter the Outlook account password and hit Connect.

Alternatively, choose your Microsoft account and sign in to the email mailbox.

Once the connection has been set up, click on the Connect button.

The Navigator dialog box will show. You can use this box to choose the email mailbox data type you want to export to Power Query Editor. The options you get vary with the email account and email provider. However, the default options are the ones outlined below:

• Calendar
• Mail
• Meeting Requests
• People
• Tasks

Select the folders from which you want to insert data in Excel, like Mail.

Click Transform Data to further sanitize the raw email data and organize the output for your worksheet.

The imported email data will create multiple columns and rows in the Power Query Editor interface.

Click on the Choose Columns button in the Manage Columns block of the Home tab.

Uncheck the Select All Columns option and checkmark the checkboxes for only those columns you need.

You’ll now have a manageable dataset in Power Query.

If any of the selected columns contain the term Record, it means there are multiple options to choose from.

Click on the two-way arrow in the column headers of such columns. Now, choose the option you want to include. The rest of the data will be automatically removed.

The final dataset ready to be exported to an Excel worksheet should look like the one shown above.

Click on the File tab and choose the Close & Load To option from the context menu.

It’ll take you to the active worksheet. You’ll also see the Import Data dialog box.

Select the Existing worksheet option and click on the destination cell where you want to paste the dataset from Power Query.

Excel will import and organize the dataset in a table format.

From now on, whenever you receive a new email in the same mailbox folder Excel will automatically fetch the new email data when you press the keyboard shortcut for Refresh All, which is Ctrl + Alt + F5.

Conclusions

Now you know how to insert email into Excel in three different ways.

If you simply need a reference to an email or a bunch of emails use the Object command method. This is fast and simple.

Use the export as CSV option when you need to insert data from a small to medium-sized email inbox.

Finally, if your email inbox contains hundreds and thousands of emails choose the Power Query-based method.

Which one did you like the most? Comment below!