Email Backup

Backing up old email threads to TransitChat

Email Backup to TransitChat

TransitChat makes it easy to preserve institutional knowledge by forwarding email threads, even from years ago. If you have a folder full of messages or attachments you'd like to document, you can simply forward them to [email protected], and we'll help you archive and organize them in one place.

What is an .eml file?

An .eml file is a standard email file format that stores the full content of an email, including:

  • The message body (HTML and plain text)

  • Attachments

  • Timestamps

  • Headers (To, From, Subject, etc.)

When you forward an email as an .eml file (sometimes called "Forward as Attachment"), you’re preserving the original message exactly as it was sent, including metadata like the original send time and sender.

Sending backups to TransitChat from Outlook

To send archived or important conversations to TransitChat from Microsoft Outlook:

Option 1: Forward as Attachment

  1. Open Outlook.

  2. Select one or more emails.

  3. Click Forward as Attachment:

    • In desktop Outlook, use the More > Forward as Attachment menu.

    • In web Outlook, right-click > Forward as Attachment.

  4. Compose a new email to [email protected].

  5. Add context if needed in the email body or subject.

  6. Click Send.

Each attached .eml file will be processed and the first message inside will be saved into TransitChat using:

  • The original send date and sender

  • The cleaned-up HTML or text content

  • Any included attachments

What about attachments?

If the original .eml file includes attachments (e.g. PDFs, images, Excel files), TransitChat will save them alongside the message. These become part of the conversation history and can be viewed or downloaded later.

Note: Attachments must be part of the .eml file. Files added to your forwarding email outside of the .eml (i.e. in your new message) won’t be processed.

Why aren’t all of the messages showing up?

TransitChat will only extract the first message in each .eml file.

This is by design — our goal is to let you quickly preserve the original issue, question, or comment from older threads without including long reply chains or quoted text.

If your forwarded .eml file includes multiple nested messages (like forwarded threads or reply chains), only the earliest/original message is extracted.

If you want to document multiple individual messages:

  • Forward each one separately as its own .eml

  • Or forward a group, but know only the earliest in each file will be parsed

What about intelligent tagging?

TransitChat can auto-tag forwarded messages based on keywords in the main email body — but not within attached .eml files. That means:

  • If you want a message to be tagged by route, department, topic, etc., include those keywords in your email body or subject when forwarding.

  • Tags won’t be applied based on content inside the attached .eml — only the wrapper message you send.

Best Practices for Backup Forwarding

  • ✔ Forward one .eml per issue when possible

  • ✔ Use meaningful subject lines when forwarding (“Old stop request from Feb 2023”)

  • ✔ Add tags or keywords in your message body if you want smart tagging

  • ✔ Check TransitChat after sending to confirm messages landed in the right place