feat: outlook ".msg" file converter (#196)

* feat: outlook .msg converter
* add test, adjust docstring

pyproject.toml

@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "pdfminer.six",
   "puremagic",
   "pydub",
+  "olefile",
   "youtube-transcript-api",
   "SpeechRecognition",
   "pathvalidate",

src/markitdown/_markitdown.py

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 import mammoth
 import markdownify
+import olefile
 import pandas as pd
 import pdfminer
 import pdfminer.high_level
@@ -1077,6 +1078,79 @@ def _get_llm_description(self, local_path, extension, client, model, prompt=None
         return response.choices[0].message.content
 
 
+class OutlookMsgConverter(DocumentConverter):
+    """Converts Outlook .msg files to markdown by extracting email metadata and content.
+
+    Uses the olefile package to parse the .msg file structure and extract:
+    - Email headers (From, To, Subject)
+    - Email body content
+    """
+
+    def convert(
+        self, local_path: str, **kwargs: Any
+    ) -> Union[None, DocumentConverterResult]:
+        # Bail if not a MSG file
+        extension = kwargs.get("file_extension", "")
+        if extension.lower() != ".msg":
+            return None
+
+        try:
+            msg = olefile.OleFileIO(local_path)
+            # Extract email metadata
+            md_content = "# Email Message\n\n"
+
+            # Get headers
+            headers = {
+                "From": self._get_stream_data(msg, "__substg1.0_0C1F001F"),
+                "To": self._get_stream_data(msg, "__substg1.0_0E04001F"),
+                "Subject": self._get_stream_data(msg, "__substg1.0_0037001F"),
+            }
+
+            # Add headers to markdown
+            for key, value in headers.items():
+                if value:
+                    md_content += f"**{key}:** {value}\n"
+
+            md_content += "\n## Content\n\n"
+
+            # Get email body
+            body = self._get_stream_data(msg, "__substg1.0_1000001F")
+            if body:
+                md_content += body
+
+            msg.close()
+
+            return DocumentConverterResult(
+                title=headers.get("Subject"), text_content=md_content.strip()
+            )
+
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise FileConversionException(
+                f"Could not convert MSG file '{local_path}': {str(e)}"
+            )
+
+    def _get_stream_data(
+        self, msg: olefile.OleFileIO, stream_path: str
+    ) -> Union[str, None]:
+        """Helper to safely extract and decode stream data from the MSG file."""
+        try:
+            if msg.exists(stream_path):
+                data = msg.openstream(stream_path).read()
+                # Try UTF-16 first (common for .msg files)
+                try:
+                    return data.decode("utf-16-le").strip()
+                except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                    # Fall back to UTF-8
+                    try:
+                        return data.decode("utf-8").strip()
+                    except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                        # Last resort - ignore errors
+                        return data.decode("utf-8", errors="ignore").strip()
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+        return None
+
+
 class ZipConverter(DocumentConverter):
     """Converts ZIP files to markdown by extracting and converting all contained files.
 
@@ -1286,6 +1360,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.register_page_converter(IpynbConverter())
         self.register_page_converter(PdfConverter())
         self.register_page_converter(ZipConverter())
+        self.register_page_converter(OutlookMsgConverter())
 
     def convert(
         self, source: Union[str, requests.Response, Path], **kwargs: Any

tests/test_markitdown.py

@@ -63,6 +63,15 @@
     "AutoGen: Enabling Next-Gen LLM Applications via Multi-Agent Conversation",
 ]
 
+MSG_TEST_STRINGS = [
+    "# Email Message",
+    "**From:** [email protected]",
+    "**To:** [email protected]",
+    "**Subject:** Test Email Message",
+    "## Content",
+    "This is the body of the test email message",
+]
+
 DOCX_COMMENT_TEST_STRINGS = [
     "314b0a30-5b04-470b-b9f7-eed2c2bec74a",
     "49e168b7-d2ae-407f-a055-2167576f39a1",
@@ -232,6 +241,10 @@ def test_markitdown_local() -> None:
     result = markitdown.convert(os.path.join(TEST_FILES_DIR, "test_mskanji.csv"))
     validate_strings(result, CSV_CP932_TEST_STRINGS)
 
+    # Test MSG (Outlook email) processing
+    result = markitdown.convert(os.path.join(TEST_FILES_DIR, "test_outlook_msg.msg"))
+    validate_strings(result, MSG_TEST_STRINGS)
+
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     skip_exiftool,