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Recruiter guide | Updated 17 October 2026

How to download all CVs from your email at once

You posted a job, and now 200 applications are sitting in your inbox, each with a CV attached. Opening every email and clicking Download takes hours. This guide shows the faster ways to get every resume out of Outlook, Yahoo, or your company mailbox and into folders you can actually work with.

The short answer

Email services only let you save attachments one message at a time. To download CVs from many emails at once, you need a program that connects to your mailbox and saves the attachments for you. Applicant Packager is a free Windows app built for this: it finds the application emails, lets you review them, and saves the CVs you pick into folders by job and applicant.

Option 1: Download them by hand

For a handful of applications, the built-in way is fine:

The problem is scale. Files arrive named CV.pdf, Resume (1).pdf, and Resume (2).pdf, all landing in the same Downloads folder, and you lose track of which CV belongs to which email.

Exporting your whole mailbox gives you every message in one large file, but not a folder of CVs, so it doesn't solve the problem on its own.

Option 2: Download every CV at once with a free app

Applicant Packager reads your mailbox, finds job applications, and saves their attachments in bulk:

  1. Connect your mailbox. Choose a Thunderbird mailbox on your computer, or an email account over IMAP (settings below).
  2. Describe the job. Enter the role and keywords, for example electrical engineer, commissioning, AutoCAD. The app scans the newest emails first.
  3. Review the matches. Each application shows the sender, subject, attachments, and why it matched. You decide which ones to keep. Scores are search aids, not a hiring decision.
  4. Download the selected CVs. The app saves the attachments into folders by search, role, and applicant. Existing files get a new name rather than being overwritten.

It is read-only: it never deletes, moves, or marks your emails as read. Everything runs on your own computer, and nothing is uploaded to us. Next time you scan, applications you have already seen are skipped, so you only review new arrivals.

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Connecting Outlook.com or Microsoft 365

Microsoft no longer accepts passwords or app passwords from third-party mail apps for Outlook.com accounts; it requires a sign-in method called OAuth, which Applicant Packager does not support directly. Use Thunderbird as the bridge:

  1. Install the free Mozilla Thunderbird email app and add your Outlook account. Thunderbird signs in to Microsoft for you.
  2. Let it download your mail. In the account's Synchronization & Storage settings, keep the option to store messages on this computer turned on.
  3. Close Thunderbird, then choose its mailbox in Applicant Packager.

Connecting Yahoo Mail and other providers

Yahoo Mail lets you generate an app password in your Yahoo account security settings. Use it with server imap.mail.yahoo.com, port 993, SSL/TLS on. Most other providers, including many company and hosting mailboxes, publish their IMAP server details in their help pages. If a provider only offers OAuth sign-in, use Thunderbird.

Applications forwarded from job boards

Many recruiters receive applications as email notifications from job boards such as JobStreet or Indeed. When the CV is attached to the email, Applicant Packager handles it like any other application. If the email only contains a link to the candidate's profile, there is no attachment to download, so the CV has to be fetched from the job board itself.

A note on applicant privacy

CVs contain personal information. Download them only from mailboxes you are authorized to use, keep the folders somewhere access-controlled, and delete applications you no longer need under your organization's retention policy. Applicant Packager keeps its scan history on your computer and includes tools to delete it.

Questions recruiters ask

Is it really free? Yes. Every feature, no time limit, no account. Donations are welcome but optional.

Does it work on Mac? No. Applicant Packager is a Windows 10/11 app.

Will it change my inbox? No. Mailboxes are opened read-only.

Can it rank candidates for me? It shows keyword matches to speed up your review, but you decide who moves forward.

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