How to Save Outlook Emails and Attachments to OneDrive

For an attachment, open the email in Outlook on the web, click the arrow on the attachment card and choose Save to OneDrive. For a whole email, use More actions (…) > Download, then upload the file.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to save Outlook emails to OneDrive, both attachments and full messages, what works in the Windows apps, and what to check when the option isn’t there.

Save an email attachment to OneDrive in Outlook on the web

I tested this in a Microsoft 365 work mailbox for my made-up business, Bluebird Landscaping Co. I sent myself an email called “Riverside Cafe – spring 2026 price list” with a PDF attached.

Open the email and find the attachment card, here Spring 2026 Price List.pdf. Click the small arrow on the card. The menu shows Preview, Save to OneDrive, Copy and Download.

Click Save to OneDrive. Microsoft’s help says you then pick a folder and click Save, and the default is the last folder you saved to.

What you see may differ. In my work account, there was no folder picker at all. It saved right away, and the card changed to say Saved to OneDrive with a checkmark.

If you’d rather keep the file on your computer, the same menu has Download. My guide on how to download emails from Outlook Online covers that side.

Whole emails need a download first, then an upload

Here’s the honest part: Outlook doesn’t have a button that sends a whole email straight to OneDrive. Save to OneDrive only appears on attachments.

The route that works is two steps. First save the message as a file, then put that file in OneDrive.

1. Open the email in Outlook on the web.
2. Click More actions (…) at the top of the message.
3. Point to Download and pick Download as EML or Download as MSG.
4. Upload the downloaded file to OneDrive.

Which one should you pick? An EML file opens in most mail apps. MSG is Outlook’s own format, so it’s handy if you’ll only reopen it in Outlook.

Saving lots of messages this way can also clear space in your mailbox. Here’s how to check your storage space in Outlook first.

New Outlook and classic Outlook for Windows

New Outlook for Windows works like the web version. Click the dropdown arrow on the attachment and choose Download or Save to OneDrive, then pick a folder and click Save. You can also drag the attachment to your desktop.

Classic Outlook is different. The attachment’s dropdown has Save As for one file and Save All Attachments for every file in the message. Microsoft lists no Save to OneDrive option there, and files go to Documents by default.

If OneDrive syncs your Documents folder, those saves end up in OneDrive anyway. I didn’t test that setup for this post, so check your OneDrive tutorials if you’re not sure how yours is set up.

When Save to OneDrive is missing or the save fails

• You’re on classic Outlook. Use Save As, then move the file into your OneDrive folder.
• The file type is blocked. Outlook blocks attachments that could be unsafe, such as .bat, .exe, .vbs and .js files, so you can’t save those.
• You’re looking at the message, not the card. Save to OneDrive sits on the attachment card’s arrow, not in the message’s More actions menu.

Hunting for the email with the big attachment? Sort your emails by size and the largest ones show up first.

Use Gmail too? I also wrote about how to save an email to Google Drive.

Keep going with OneDrive and Outlook

• Back up OneDrive to an external drive
• Find deleted files in the OneDrive recycle bin
• Create inbox rules in Outlook Online
• All Outlook Online tutorials

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