2 Best Ways to Convert Windows Live Mail to CSV File

  Kumar Raj
Written By Kumar Raj
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh  
Modified On July 21st, 2025
Reading Time 7 Minutes Reading

If you’re also searching to convert Windows Live Mail to CSV file format, then don’t feel you’re alone. After the discontinuation of WLM by Microsoft, many users want to export WLM to CSV format, which can also be accessed by other clients. If you want to back up, migrate, transfer, or convert WLM to CSV, then this article will help you manage your data efficiently.

In this article, we’ll guide you on how to convert WLM to CSV using both manual and automated solutions so that you can easily access your file in another email client.

Know Facts About CSV File Format.

Before we get into the solution, let’s understand what the .CSV format is:

Comma-separated value, mostly known as CSV file format, which is a text-formatted file which saves tabular-like data, mostly in Excel, which includes email addresses, name, and subject.

This file represents a recorded dataset with separated values. WLM format is not acceptable by many email clients, but a CSV file is widely acceptable by others. So, it’s important to convert Windows Live Mail to CSV format.

Why Do I need to Export WLM to CSV File?

Many reasons support that we need to convert WLM to CSV file, given below:

  • WLM format cannot be accessed in most areas, whereas CSV files are compatible and can easily run in Outlook, Contacts, or Excel.
  • These files are easily transferred or backed up because of their smaller size.
  • It’s important to convert Windows Live Mail to CSV as you want to switch the email client or maybe operating system.
  • It‘s easy to analyse the exported data in CSV format also quick to edit.

Here, while converting WLM to CSV, only items are included as contacts, email metadata, and some content of the email etc.

Recommended: How to Convert Windows Live Mail to MSG File Format

Effective Solutions to Export Windows Live Mail to CSV File Format

Whether WLM is installed on your system or not, there are best methods which can help to transfer WLM to CSV format:

  • Using a Professional Tool
  • Or Manually Convert WLM to CSV

Let’s quickly understand:

Solution 1: How to Convert Windows Live Mail to CSV Using an Automated Tool

Most of the users’ queries are that WLM doesn’t allow exporting emails in CSV format directly or manually, so to solve the problem, we recommend using an automated method, which is SysTools Windows Live Mail Converter, which helps to export WLM to CSV format quickly and easily without any data loss.

Download Now Purchase Now

This alternative tool can easily mass convert WLM to CSV format by keeping your structured data intact, which includes formatting, attached files, and other items. Let’s discuss their effective advantages.

Pros of this Professional Tool

  • This software can convert emails, subject, sender, date, time, etc, into a CSV file to access quickly.
  • It preserves the file’s formatting and attachment structure intact.
  • Can bulk export Windows Live Mail to CSV format
  • No need to install any other tool to operate.
  • It has a user-friendly interface where a normal or non-tech user can also able to operate.

Let’s walk to its working:

Steps to Convert Windows Live Mail to CSV Format

  1. Download and Launch this automated tool to migrate WLM to CSV file
  2. launch

  3. Press Open tab to add file from your system, then click Browse button to add the path directory of your file if WLM is not installed.
  4. browse

  5. Upload the file or folder by clicking OK.
  6. ok

  7. Click Export button, then select CSV tab to convert WLM to CSV format.
  8. csv

  9. According to your choice, you can add a Destination by clicking on Browse to save a CSV file.
  10. desitnation

  11. Also, make a New Folder to store the converted output file.
  12. new folder

  13. Apply Filters like date, categories, etc, then press Save.
  14. filters

  15. Press Ok button when your process of converting WML to CSV format is done.
  16. ok

  17. Go to Location you selected to check the report of the exported CSV file.
  18. location

Note: Many users are not used to handling this professional software; they are more comfortable using manual method, maybe it’s more convenient to them. So here’s an easy explanation to export Windows Live Mail to CSV manually.

Solution 2: Manually Converting WLM to CSV File Format

There is an indirect method to export WLM to CSV format. You can follow these steps given below:

Steps to use:

#1 Installation of Windows Live Mail

  • Install Windows Mail Live is already installed, then open it.
  • Choose a folder or file in WLM, then select the emails or contacts by clicking Ctrl+A.
  • Drag and drop these copied items into a folder in your system.

#2 Export Windows Live Mail to CSV using Excel

  • Select metadata such as subject, time, date, etc. and copy them from files.
  • Paste the content into Excel
  • Save file in .CSV format.

Note: This manual method to convert WLM to CSV has many cons, as it’s time-consuming and only works with emails which have a small volume. Take a look at its disadvantages.

Limitations of Converting Windows Live Mail to CSV Format

  1. This method is very time-consuming as you have to manually copy-paste the data into Excel, which becomes problematic for bulk emails.
  2. Also, it only converts into CSV file format directly as there is no in-built option for exporting.
  3. It involves risk of accidental deletion of data while using manual method, which can be due to human error.
  4. The data structure may not be preserved while pasting into an Excel sheet.
  5. It doesn’t support any bulk option to export WLM to CSV file.
To prevent these consequences, remember these points before migrating Windows Live Mail to CSV file format:

  • Always take a backup of your mails, contacts or any data that you are converting.
  • Also, before exporting, take a look at duplicates, if present, then remove them.
  • Recommend using an automated solution instead of manual method, which can save you time, effort and will give you the best result.
  • Verify the data structure in Excel after the conversion process.

Read also: Step-by-Step to Convert Windows Live Mail to EML.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve discussed how to convert WLM to CSV file quickly and effectively using both manual and an automated solution without any loss of data. If you want your data to be exported in no time with accuracy, then use suggested automated tool above, which can help you to solve your problems. Whether you want to export WLM to CSV format to access your file in different email clients or platforms, this step-by-step guide will help you a lot without facing any problems.

FAQs on Converting Windows Live Mail to CSV File Format

Q.1 Can I open the WLM file, which is exported in Excel?

A. Yes, if you’ve already export WLM to CSV file format, then only you can access it in Excel, also there you can edit the file according to your choice.

Q.2 Is it possible to convert both emails and contacts from WLM to CSV?

A. Yes, both can be transferred where contacts can be exported using manual method, but for emails, you should have to opt automated method.

  Kumar Raj

By Kumar Raj

Kumar Raj has more than 14 plus years of expertise in migration technology. He likes to create, edit, and optimize web material on topics conversion of email data, and migration of email data. For the majority of the past ten years, he has been a devoted fan of the technology scene.