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C-A-R-T-ACompilatore Automatico di Righe, Testi e Anagrafiche Open C-A-R-T-A

Open an EML file or a PEC online, in your browser

An .eml file (a saved email) or a PEC (Italian certified email) opens directly in C-A-R-T-A, in the browser of your computer, phone or tablet. There is no mail program to install and the file is not uploaded to any server: the message is read on your device.

Open C-A-R-T-A

Try it now → (a PEC with an order attached, made-up data)

How to open it

  1. Open C-A-R-T-A and press "Open" (or Ctrl+O), or drag the .eml file onto the page. With C-A-R-T-A installed as an app, you can also use "Open with…" from your system.
  2. The header (from, to, cc, date, subject), the text of the email and the list of attachments appear, with the type and size of each.
  3. Tap an attachment: it opens in a new tab. "Back" takes you to the email, where you can open another one.

Each attachment opens with the features of its format: a PDF with all the PDF features, a signed .p7m file with signature checking, an XML e-invoice in readable form. The full list is on the formats page.

PEC messages

A PEC opens like an email, with an extra "Certified mail" panel showing the message type (acceptance, delivery, certified mail…), the sender, the recipients, the date and the provider.

The body shows the original message, contained in the postacert.eml file. The provider's "envelope" stays available: daticert.xml and smime.p7s appear among the attachments as service files.

A limit to be aware of: the PEC provider's signature is not verified. C-A-R-T-A shows what is in the PEC, but it does not state whether the PEC is valid.

HTML emails, safely

Many emails are written in HTML. C-A-R-T-A shows them without running scripts and without downloading remote images, so without the "tracking pixels" the sender could use to know whether and when a message was read. Images embedded in the email are shown. Links can be read but not clicked, so that no request is sent out.

Damaged emails and encodings

If the file is damaged or incomplete, C-A-R-T-A shows the headers and whatever it can read, with a warning. Accented characters, older emails in iso-8859-1 and windows-1252 and attachments with accented names are all handled.

Other ways to get there

An .eml attachment also opens inside Outlook (as a component) and inside a ZIP archive: from the archive list, tap the file and it opens like any other email.

What is not there yet

Your files stay on your device

The email does not go to any server: header, text and attachments are read in the browser. Details on the privacy page.

Quick questions

Do I need a mail program?

No. A browser is enough: the .eml file opens directly in C-A-R-T-A.

Does C-A-R-T-A say whether a PEC is valid?

No. It shows the content of the PEC and the provider's envelope, but the provider's signature is not verified.

Are the images in the email shown?

Those embedded in the message are. Those that would be downloaded from the internet are not, to avoid tracking pixels.

Can I open signed attachments?

Yes. A .p7m attachment opens in a new tab with signature checking; see digital signatures.

See also