UtilibyWritten by the Utiliby editorial team · Last updated October 15, 2026 · Rules and formulas reviewed October 2026
What this free online email extractor does
Email addresses hide inside everything: exported inboxes, meeting notes, spreadsheets, web page source, old documents and contact files. Pulling them out by hand is slow and error prone. This free online email extractor reads any text you paste or upload and lists every email address it finds in seconds. It also finds addresses that were written in disguise, such as name [at] site [dot] com, addresses stored as HTML entities, and percent-encoded ones in links. It removes duplicates, skips file names that only look like emails, and lets you sort, filter by domain, skip role-based and free-provider addresses, and export a clean list as TXT or CSV.
A statistics tab shows how many matches, unique addresses and domains were found, and a chart shows your top domains. Everything runs in your browser, so your documents never leave your device. The extractor is meant for lawful uses such as gathering contacts from your own files, building an address book and cleaning up exports.
How to extract email addresses step by step
- Add your text. Paste it into the box or upload one or more files.
- Check the options. Hidden-form detection, duplicate removal and lowercase are on by default.
- Filter if you need to. Limit the list to some domains, or skip role-based and free-provider addresses.
- Sort. Choose original order, A to Z, by domain or most frequent first.
- Pick a separator. One per line for spreadsheets, or commas and semicolons for the To field of an email program.
- Copy or download. Take the list as text or as a CSV with the domain and a count.
- Validate. Run the list through the Email Validator and List Cleaner.
Hidden and disguised email addresses
| Disguise | Example | Found as |
|---|---|---|
| Words in brackets | jane [at] example [dot] com | [email protected] |
| Round brackets | jane(at)example.com | [email protected] |
| HTML entity | jane@example.com | [email protected] |
| Percent encoding | jane%40example.com | [email protected] |
| Mailto link | mailto:[email protected]?subject=Hi | [email protected] |
| Words only | jane at example dot com | [email protected] (option) |
Websites disguise addresses to stop simple spam robots. The same tricks appear in forum posts, old pages and signatures. The words-only option is off by default because phrases such as meet me at the park can be mistaken for part of an address.
Filters that save time
- Only these domains: keep contacts from one company or a list of partners.
- Skip these domains: remove your own company or known test domains.
- Skip role-based addresses: info@, sales@ and support@ reach groups, so they are often poor for personal outreach.
- Skip free providers: useful for business lists. Leave it off for consumer lists.
- Skip file-like names: hides image and script names that contain an @ sign.
Good uses for an email extractor
- Collect the addresses on a conference attendee list that you exported yourself.
- Move contacts from old notes or text files into a mailing tool where people already agreed to hear from you.
- Pull the addresses from a forwarded thread to build a group message.
- Check which domains appear most in your own inbox export.
- Find addresses to remove from a website, so that you can protect people's privacy.
- Prepare a list to import into a CRM or address book.
The law and good manners
Having an address does not give you permission to market to it. In the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act sets rules for commercial email and requires a working opt-out. In the European Union and the United Kingdom, GDPR and PECR generally require consent for marketing email to individuals. Canada's CASL is stricter still. Many countries forbid sending bulk email to addresses collected by scraping. Even where it is legal, sending unwanted email damages your sender reputation and gets your domain blocked. Use extracted addresses for people who have a real relationship with you, and always give an easy way to opt out. This page is general information, not legal advice.
What to do after you extract
Run the list through the Email Validator and List Cleaner to fix typos such as gmial.com and to drop invalid, role-based and disposable addresses. Before you send, authenticate your domain with the DMARC and SPF Record Generator, check your wording with the Email Spam Word Checker and let people join through a clear sign-up, for example one built with the Newsletter Sign-up Form Generator. If you publish your own address on a page, the Mailto Link Generator can hide it from simple robots.
Privacy and protecting the addresses you hold
A list of addresses is personal data. Keep it only as long as you need it, store it securely, share it with as few people as possible and delete addresses when someone asks. The extractor does not upload, store or log what you paste, so you stay in control. If you find addresses of people who did not expect to be on your list, do not email them for marketing.
Quick glossary
- Email harvesting: collecting addresses in bulk, often by scraping websites. It is the practice spam laws target, so use this tool only on content you may use.
- Obfuscation: writing an address in a disguised form, such as name [at] site [dot] com, to confuse robots.
- Regular expression: a pattern used to find text that looks like an address.
- Role-based address: an address that reaches a team, such as info@ or support@.
- Domain: the part of an address after the @ sign.
- Deduplication: keeping one copy of each address.
- CSV: a plain table file that opens in Excel and Google Sheets.
- Opt-in: a person's clear agreement to receive your email.
Accuracy, limits and responsible use
The tool finds text shaped like an address using pattern matching. It can miss addresses broken across lines, those in images and those written in unusual ways, and it can return a few strings that are not real mailboxes. Treat the output as a draft list and check it. Use the extractor only on content you have the right to use and only for lawful purposes.
Frequently asked questions
How do I use this free email extractor?
Paste your text, web page source or file contents into the box, or upload files. The tool lists every email address it finds. Then choose sorting and filters, and copy or download the list.
Is this email extractor really free?
Yes. It is a free online email address extractor with no sign-up and no limits other than your browser's memory.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. All the work happens in your browser. Nothing you paste or open is sent to a server or stored.
What file types can I use?
Plain text, HTML, CSV, TSV, EML, VCF, JSON, XML and Markdown files, or anything you can paste as text. Word processor and PDF files should be copied out as text first.
Can it find emails written like name [at] site [dot] com?
Yes. With Find hidden forms turned on, it reads the common patterns such as [at], (at), [dot] and (dot), HTML entities for the @ sign and percent-encoded addresses. A separate option reads at and dot written as words.
How do I remove duplicate emails?
Leave Remove duplicates on. Addresses are compared without regard to capital letters, and the first one found is kept. The statistics show how many times each was found.
Can I extract emails from a website?
Open the page, view its source or select its text, and paste it here. This tool does not fetch web pages itself, which keeps your data private.
Can I extract emails from a PDF or Word document?
Copy the text from the document and paste it into the box. If the document is a scan, you need text recognition first.
How do I filter by domain?
Type the domains you want in Only these domains, or the ones to leave out in Skip these domains. Subdomains match too, so example.com also matches mail.example.com.
What are role-based addresses?
They are addresses such as info@, sales@ and support@ that reach a team, not a person. You can skip them if you want personal contacts only.
Why does it skip [email protected]?
Web pages are full of file names with an @ sign, such as [email protected], that look like email addresses. The tool recognizes common image, script and font endings and skips them by default.
Can I export to CSV or Excel?
Yes. Download CSV gives you email, domain and the number of times it was found. Open it in Excel, Google Sheets or any spreadsheet program.
How many emails can it handle?
Tens of thousands of addresses in most browsers. Very large inputs can be slow, so split huge files.
Is it legal to extract email addresses?
Finding addresses in your own documents is fine. Sending marketing to people who did not agree can break laws such as CAN-SPAM, GDPR, PECR and CASL, and scraping addresses to spam people is not allowed. Use the list only for lawful, permission-based contact.
Can I verify the addresses I extracted?
Run the list through the Email Validator and List Cleaner to check formats, fix common typos and remove role-based and disposable addresses.
Does it find every email?
Not always. It finds text shaped like an address. Unusual formats, addresses split across lines or hidden in images are missed, and a few matches may not be real mailboxes.
Can I print or save the results?
Yes. Copy the list, download it as TXT or CSV, or print or save a one-page report with the statistics and addresses.
Sources and further reading
- U.S. Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A compliance guide for business.
- Information Commissioner's Office, Direct marketing and electronic communications.
- European Commission, Data protection in the EU.
- Government of Canada, Canada's anti-spam legislation (CASL).
- IETF, RFC 5322: Internet Message Format.
- MDN Web Docs, Regular expressions.
Sources were consulted in October 2026. Standards and rules can change, so always check the official page for your situation.