How Do I Save An Email On My iPhone, iPad, Or iPod Touch?

Saving a message on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch is not as easy as it is on a computer.

This is because of 2 main reasons:

• Lack of screen space on the iOS device to place menus and icons.
• The way Apple mobile devices handle different file types is not the same as a traditional Mac or Windows computer.

However, Apple has created a way to save:

• An email as a PDF file.
• Email attachments as files.
• Messages in folders, called mailboxes.

This easy-to-read guide shows each of the 3 ways to save an email on an Apple device quickly and easily.

Best of all, you don’t need any extra software or apps to do it. You can simply use iCloud or the Files app which is bundled with iOS on your Apple device.

Read on to find out how…

To find out how to set up a Mail account on your device, see How to setup POP3 email.

Save an email message as a PDF on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch Mail app

When you save an email as a PDF file you need to decide where you want to save it to.

you have 2 choices to save the file:

• On your device, within the Files app.
• In your iCloud account, so it is accessible on other Apple products.

Regardless of where you want to save the file, the process is as follows:

1. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, open Mail.
2. Find the email you want to save as a PDF file.
3. At the bottom of the screen, type tap the Reply Arrow action key.
4. Scroll to the bottom, then tap Print.
5. On the screen, pinch the email with two fingers to open it full screen. To find out how to pinch, see How to use iPhone gestures and swipes.
6. At the top right, tap the Share icon.
7. Tap Save to Files.
8. Select where you want to save the PDF file to:
   • iCloud Drive so you can sync it with your other devices.
   • On My iPhone so you can save it on your device.
9. The PDF will be saved in the location you choose.

Find out more about iPhone email settings.

Save email attachments on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

Just like a PDF, you can save an attachment in an email message to your devices or to iCloud.

To save attachments on iPhone, use the following steps:

1. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, open the Mail app.
2. Find the email that contains the attachment.
3. Scroll to find the attachment you want to save.
4. To bring up the menu, press and hold the attachment.
5. From the menu select Save To Files.
6. Select where you want to save the attachment:
   • iCloud Drive so you can sync it with your other devices.
   • On My iPhone so you can save it on your device.
7. The attachment will be saved in the location you choose.

Save an email message to a folder on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

Apple says that they call a folder that can organize messages a mailbox.

My readers found this confusing because they tend to think of a mailbox as an email account, not a folder within it.

To keep things simple I will refer to mailboxes as folders in this guide.

A folder in Mail works like a folder on a computer; you can store items within them. You can also create sub-folders so you end up with a hierarchy like this:

• Top Folder
  • Sub-folder
  • Sub-folder
    • 2nd level sub-folder
    • 2nd level sub-folder
  • Sub-folder

How you design this structure is up to you.

How to create a Mail folder

1. Tap Mail.
2. Make sure you are on the Mailboxes screen.
3. At the top right, tap Edit.
4. At the bottom right, tap New Mailbox to create the folder.
5. Give it a name.
6. Tap Mailbox Location, and pick where you want to put the new folder. It could be at the top-level, or under an existing folder.
7. Tap Save.
8. Tap Done.

You can find your new mailbox in the Mailboxes list under the account where you created it.

How to move your email messages to a folder

1. On your device, open the Mail app.
2. Find the email you want to move in your Inbox.
3. At the top right, tap Edit.
4. Select the email you want to move.
5. Pick the mailbox you want to move the email message to.

If you can’t download your email messages, see How to fix “Message not yet downloaded from server”.