# Export Apple Mail to Markdown

Alto Index writes each email in Apple Mail as a Markdown file, a folder per year, with sender, recipients and mailbox, kept in sync. 200 emails free.

Transform emails into searchable markdown documents.

## What you get

- One Markdown file per email, in a folder per year, named by its date and subject
- The email as Markdown, without the quoted history, footers or tracking links
- Each file starts with `from`, `to`, `mailbox`, `read`, its `created` and `modified` dates, and a `message://` link that opens the email in Mail

## Where the files go

```
alto-index/mail/2025/2025-08-15 Your order has shipped 2110.md
```

## What you choose

- Tick the kinds (Primary, Transactions, Updates, Promotions) and the accounts and mailboxes: an email is written when both are ticked
- A new connection starts with Updates, Promotions, Drafts and Trash unticked

## Left out

- Junk and deleted messages
- Attachments
- An email whose body Mail has not downloaded says so in its file

## Free and paid

Your first 200 emails export and keep syncing free. Then one purchase unlocks Mail: on its own, as one of any three apps, or with all of them. See [pricing](/pricing).

## With Claude

The [MCP server](/mcp) lets Claude Desktop search your mail, and `/altoindex:search` in the [Claude plugin](/claude-plugin) searches it with everything else.

Source: https://altoindex.com/mail