Reviewed by Shubham Dixit, Independent Expert in Email Forensics and Data File Conversion. Shubham is an external reviewer and not a PCDOTS employee.
Table of Contents
Want to back up your Opera Mail before something goes wrong? Smart move, the client was discontinued years ago and is living on borrowed time. But there is a free backup that feels safe and quietly is not. Here is the difference between a backup that just exists and one you can actually use.
Summary To back up Opera Mail emails, you can copy the Opera Mail data folder for free, but those .mbs files are hard to read on their own. For a backup you can actually open and search, use a converter to save your emails as PDF or another readable format with attachments kept intact.
What counts as a real email backup?
A backup is only useful if you can read it when you need it. That sounds obvious, but it is exactly where most Opera Mail backups fail. A pile of files you cannot open in an emergency is not a backup, it is false comfort.
So a real backup of your Opera Mail emails should tick 3 boxes.
- Readable without Opera Mail. The client is dead software. Your backup must open even when Opera Mail will not install on a modern PC.
- Complete. Message text, attachments, dates and folder structure all need to survive, not just the body text.
- Portable. You should be able to move it to another drive, computer or cloud and still open it there.
Hold those 3 boxes in mind, because the free method below only ticks one of them.
The free way: copy the Opera Mail folder
The zero cost backup is simply copying Opera Mail’s data folder. It is worth doing as a first step, and here is how to find it.
- Open Opera Mail and find the mail store location. It usually sits under your Windows user profile in the Opera Mail application data folder.
- Close Opera Mail so no files are locked.
- Copy the entire mail folder to an external drive or cloud storage.
- That copied folder is your raw backup. Keep it somewhere safe.
Do this today even if you plan to make a better backup later. A raw copy now is far better than nothing, especially on aging hardware.
Why the free copy is not enough on its own
Here is the catch the free method does not advertise. Opera Mail stores messages in .mbs files, an MBOX style format. Open one in Notepad and you get a wall of raw text and encoded blocks, not your tidy inbox. Attachments are encoded inside, not sitting as normal files.
So the folder copy ticks the portable box but fails the readable box. To actually read that backup you would need to reinstall the dead Opera Mail client or load the files into something that understands the format. In a real emergency, that is exactly the scramble you were trying to avoid.
“A backup nobody can open is not a backup. I have watched people copy a mail folder, feel safe for years, then discover the dead client will not reinstall when they finally need a single old email. Keep the raw files, yes, but also save a readable copy in a format that does not depend on the original software.”
Shubham Dixit · Independent Expert, Email Forensics and Data File Conversion
The readable backup: save your emails as files you can open
This is the backup that actually protects you. The PCDOTS Email Converter reads your Opera Mail files and saves them in formats anyone can open, no Opera Mail required. Save the whole archive as PDF for readable records, or as MBOX or EML if you want to load it into another mail client later. Either way you end up with a backup of your Opera Mail emails that does not depend on the dead client.
The flow is short. Six steps to a readable backup.
Step 1: Install and launch the software
Download the setup on your Windows PC, install it and open the application.
Step 1: The Email Converter home screen after launch.
Step 2: Load your Opera Mail data
Open the Open menu, go to Desktop Email Clients and choose Opera Mail Accounts. Point it at your Opera Mail files or the folder you copied earlier.
Step 2: Choosing Opera Mail from Desktop Email Clients.
Step 3: Preview and select the emails
Every folder loads with a full message preview. Confirm the data reads correctly and untick anything you do not want in the backup.
Step 3: Previewing the Opera Mail data.
Step 4: Choose your backup format
Open the Export menu and pick your format. Choose PDF for readable records you can open on any device, or MBOX or EML if you may reload the mail into another client.
Step 4: Picking the backup format from the export menu.
Step 5: Set the destination and save
Browse to a save location, ideally an external drive or cloud folder, and click Save. The live process shows on screen.
Step 5: The backup running with live progress.
Step 6: Open your readable backup
When it finishes, open the destination folder. Your Opera Mail emails sit there as files you can open right now, no dead client required.
Step 6: The readable backup in the output location.
Useful extra. The Extract button can also pull attachments, email addresses and phone numbers into separate files, the same approach as our Opera Mail address extraction guide, so your backup includes a tidy contact list too.
Which backup format should you choose?
The right format depends on what the backup is for. Quick guide.
| Your goal | Best format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Read and archive records | Opens on any device, prints cleanly, no email app needed | |
| Reload into another email client | MBOX | Thunderbird and others import it directly |
| Keep individual messages | EML | One file per email, easy to share single messages |
| Raw safety copy of the source | Folder copy | Free and instant, but not readable on its own |
A solid approach is both. Keep the free folder copy as your raw source and a PDF or MBOX backup as the version you can actually open.
People also ask
Where does Opera Mail store its emails for backup?
Opera Mail keeps messages in .mbs files, an MBOX style format, inside its mail folder under your Windows user profile. You can copy that whole folder as a raw backup, though the files are not readable on their own.
Why can’t I read my copied Opera Mail files?
The .mbs files use an MBOX style format with encoded content and attachments, so opening one in a text editor shows raw code, not your inbox. You need Opera Mail or a converter to read them, which is why a readable backup format is safer.
How do I save Opera Mail emails as a readable backup?
Load your Opera Mail data into a converter, choose a readable format like PDF, MBOX or EML from the export options and pick a save location. Each email is saved with its attachments, openable on any device without the Opera Mail client.
Do I need Opera Mail installed to back up the emails?
No. A converter reads the Opera Mail files directly from a copied folder, so you can build a readable backup even on a PC where Opera Mail is no longer installed.
How many emails can I back up for free?
The folder copy is fully free for the whole archive. The converter’s free demo handles 10 emails per folder so you can test the readable backup before buying the full edition.
The short version
So backing up Opera Mail is really about whether you can open the backup later. Copying the data folder is free and worth doing, but those .mbs files are unreadable without the dead client. A readable backup in PDF, MBOX or EML is the version that actually saves you in an emergency, openable on any machine with nothing else installed. Keep both, the raw copy and the readable one, and your mail is genuinely safe.
If you needed one old email tomorrow, could you open your current backup?
