cosmira/outlook-msg

Read and write Microsoft Outlook MSG files in modern PHP

dev-master 2026-04-14 14:56 UTC

Requires

• php: ^8.2
• brick/math: ^0.12|^0.13|^0.14|^0.15|^0.16|^0.17
• illuminate/support: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0

Requires (Dev)

• driftingly/rector-laravel: ^2.1
• infection/infection: ^0.32.6
• laravel/pint: ^1.2
• phpstan/phpstan: ^2.1
• phpstan/phpstan-phpunit: ^2.0
• phpstan/phpstan-strict-rules: ^2.0
• phpunit/phpunit: ^11.5|^12.0
• rector/rector: ^2.3
• symfony/var-dumper: ^7.0

MIT

• php
• email
• laravel
• writer
• msg
• reader
• outlook

README

Modern PHP library for reading and writing Microsoft Outlook .msg files.

It gives you a clean high-level API for message content, recipients, attachments, embedded messages, and raw MAPI properties, while still exposing the low-level building blocks when you need them.

Installation

composer require cosmira/outlook-msg

What You Get

• Read Outlook .msg files into a friendly Message object
• Access subject, sender, recipients, headers, plain text, HTML, and RTF
• Extract regular attachments and embedded .msg attachments
• Create new .msg files with a fluent builder API
• Preserve unmapped MAPI properties for round-trip scenarios
• Work with low-level compound file and RTF helpers when needed

Read a Message

use Cosmira\OutlookMessage\Message;

$message = Message::from(
    file_get_contents('example.msg')
);

echo $message->subject();
echo $message->senderName();
echo $message->senderEmail();
echo $message->preferredBody();

Message::from() and Message::parse() are equivalent.

Work With Recipients

foreach ($message->recipients as $recipient) {
    printf(
        "[%d] %s <%s>\n",
        $recipient->type,
        $recipient->name ?? '',
        $recipient->email ?? ''
    );
}

echo $message->to();
echo $message->cc();
echo $message->bcc();

Work With Attachments

foreach ($message->attachments as $index => $attachment) {
    $name = $attachment->fileName
        ?? $attachment->displayName
        ?? "attachment_{$index}";

    file_put_contents(__DIR__."/out/{$name}", $attachment->content);
}

Inline attachments

foreach ($message->attachments as $attachment) {
    if ($attachment->isInline) {
        echo $attachment->contentId;
    }
}

Embedded .msg attachments

foreach ($message->attachments as $attachment) {
    if ($attachment->embedded !== null) {
        echo $attachment->embedded->subject();
    }
}

HTML, Plain Text, and RTF

For the best available body, use:

$body = $message->preferredBody();

If you want explicit access:

• $message->body() for plain text
• $message->bodyHtml() for HTML
• $message->bodyRtf() for decompressed RTF text

To work with raw compressed RTF payloads directly:

use Cosmira\OutlookMessage\Rtf\RtfDecompressor;

$rtf = RtfDecompressor::decompress($rawRtfBinary);

Create a Message

The best writing experience is the fluent builder API:

use DateTimeImmutable;
use DateTimeZone;
use Cosmira\OutlookMessage\Message;

$draft = Message::make()
    ->from('Taylor Otwell', '[e-mail]')
    ->subject('Ship it')
    ->text('The plain text body')
    ->html('<p>The <strong>HTML</strong> body</p>')
    ->withHeaders("X-App: outlook-msg\r\n")
    ->sentAt(new DateTimeImmutable('2024-01-01 10:00:00', new DateTimeZone('UTC')))
    ->to('Abigail', '[e-mail]')
    ->cc('Jess', '[e-mail]')
    ->bcc('Ops', '[e-mail]')
    ->attach('notes.txt', 'Remember the meeting at 11:40')
    ->attachInline('logo.png', $logoBinary, 'cid:logo');

$draft->save('message.msg');

Named Payload Constructors

If you want more control, you can create payload objects directly:

use Cosmira\OutlookMessage\Writer\AttachmentPayload;
use Cosmira\OutlookMessage\Writer\RecipientPayload;

$to = RecipientPayload::to('Abigail', '[e-mail]');
$cc = RecipientPayload::cc('Jess', '[e-mail]');
$bcc = RecipientPayload::bcc('Ops', '[e-mail]');

$file = AttachmentPayload::file('report.pdf', $pdfBinary);
$inline = AttachmentPayload::inline('logo.png', $logoBinary, 'cid:logo');

Embedded Message Attachments

You can attach one .msg inside another:

use Cosmira\OutlookMessage\Writer\MessageBuilder;

$nested = MessageBuilder::make()
    ->from('Nested Sender', '[e-mail]')
    ->subject('Nested message')
    ->text('Hello from inside');

$draft = MessageBuilder::make()
    ->from('Parent Sender', '[e-mail]')
    ->subject('Parent message')
    ->attachEmbedded($nested, 'forwarded.msg');

Raw MAPI Properties

Known message fields are mapped onto friendly objects. Everything else can still be preserved and inspected via raw properties:

$raw = $message->rawProperties();

This is useful when:

• you need round-trip fidelity
• you care about Outlook-specific metadata not mapped by the library
• you want to inspect or write custom MAPI values

Low-Level APIs

The package also includes lower-level APIs for advanced scenarios:

• Cosmira\OutlookMessage\CompoundFile\CompoundFile for CFBF/OLE storage access
• Cosmira\OutlookMessage\Support\BinaryBuffer for binary reads
• Cosmira\OutlookMessage\Rtf\RtfDecompressor for compressed RTF payloads

Testing

php vendor/bin/phpunit
php vendor/bin/rector process
php vendor/bin/phpstan a src --level=max