message header view

• Ablebits blog
• Outlook email

How to view Outlook Email Headers (internet headers)

Microsoft hid one really handy and essential feature - the possibility to view message headers. The truth is that it contains a lot of information for you to retrieve.

• The real address of the sender (not the one you see in the From field since it can be easily falsified). For example, you received an unexpected email from yourbank.com. It looks exactly like all emails you usually get from your bank, still you have doubts… You open the message headers just to see very.suspiciouswebsite.com instead of the sender's server mail.yourbank.com :).
• The sender's local time zone. It will help you avoid entering Good morning when it is late night on the recipient's side.
• Email client from which the message was sent.
• The servers that the email passed. With emails it is just like with letters sent by post. If your and recipient's inboxes are not on the same website, the letter will need to pass some break points. On the Internet their role is played by special email servers that resend the message via third party websites until it finds the recipient. Each server marks the message with its time stamp. It can be really entertaining to see that an email from somebody who is in the same room crossed half of the world to get into your inbox. It can happen that an email gets stuck within one of the servers. It can be broken or it can fail to find the next third party server. If you don't know about this you can blame the sender who did reply an hour ago. However that happens really seldom.

Each Outlook version keeps email headers in a different location:

View message headers in Outlook

To see message headers in Outlook 2010 and higher, this is what you need to do:

• Open the email with the headers you need to see.

• It is 2013 already, but Microsoft haven't made the Properties dialog stretchable and the details are shown in a tiny field. So I suggest clicking within the Internet headers field and then pressing the Ctrl + A keyboard shortcut to copy the information to clipboard. Now you can paste the details to a new Word document or Notepad to have them at a glance.

How to always have the Properties dialog at hand

The Properties box is a really handy option and it would be nice to be able to get it at your earliest convenience. You can use it to add a digital signature to an email, or turn on the option "Do not auto archive this item". With the help of this feature you can also enable such tracking flags as "Request a delivery receipt for this message" and "Request read receipt for this message" to be sure that the email was received.

• Go to the File tab and select Options from the left menu list.
• In the Outlook Options dialog, pick Quick Access Toolbar.
• Select All commands from the Choose commands list.
• In the below list find and select "Message options" (you can press M to be able to scroll faster). Please don't make the mistake I made, it is "Message options" you need, not "Options".

• That's it! Now you can see the message headers without opening the email itself and enable the necessary options for the outgoing emails in a few clicks.

See email headers in Outlook 2007

• Open Outlook.
• In the list of emails, right-click on the one with the headers you need to view.
• Select the "Message Options…" from the menu list.

Find message headers in Outlook 2003

In the old Outlook versions where the ribbon is absent, you can view message headers in this way:

• You'll see the Options dialog that hasn't really changed much over the years. So please find the details above.

View Internet headers in Gmail

Please follow these steps if you read emails online:

• Log into your Gmail account.
• Click on the email with the headers to view.

Find email headers in Outlook Web Access (OWA)

• Log into your inbox via Outlook Web Access.
• Double-click on the email to open it in a new window.
• Click on the "Letter" icon.
• In the new window you'll see the message headers under "Internet Mail Headers".

You may also be interested in

• How to create and use e-mail templates in Outlook
• How to get delivery receipt in Outlook
• How to configure Outlook Junk Mail Filter to stop spam email
• How to backup Outlook emails and other items
• How to encrypt Outlook messages with digital ID
• How to archive in Outlook automatically or manually

Table of contents

13 comments

Outlook Version I am using 1.2023.712.100 I would like to view the 'source' of an email without it opening up automatically. On Xplornet email, you can see the source and elect to delete it without it opening, nice feature. Any suggestions with this latest outlook program. Susan

Thanks for the post!

Hey, buddy, I haven't Outlook environment but need to view My PST file emails headers. Can you suggest me any free solution for that like Free Viewer PST Viewer to open PST email headers without having Outlook environ?

Every site I've googled for an answer has proffered the same info. In my Outlook 2016, the Properties box has been empty in 6 random email I selected from my sent folder. Your solution is not an end-all, be-all! Sorry!

If it is in your sent items it wouldn't have any metadata yet because it is saved there before it goes anywhere.

Thanks for posting this. Used to be easy to see but not any longer.

This is a nifty way to make that info easier to find. What would be super is a way to be able to click and option that would either copy the header int to the body of a new email or add it to clipboard making it easy to do that same. I have often used the header contents when trying to track down the true identity or sending location of unwanted spammers. Ctrl+a, Ctrl+c, Ctrl+v gets tedious A one-click tool to copy the internet header to clipboard would be nice

I have outlook 2010, I do not see the file tab or the message tab at the top right of any of my emails when I open them, in order to get to the properties, do ad a header. I looked at all your instructions above and I don't have the file and message tab at all, can I change my view?

When I try this for a Sent email the Internet Header field is blank, how can I get that info? OR when sending an email to someone in 'contacts' with multiple email adresses how can I see which email address the email was sent to?

I'm using Outlook 2013

We have Win 7 Prof 64-bit. Several places I have seen the Open email / File/ Properties sequence to obtain the Properties pop-up with the 'Internet headers' box half-way way down. DOESN'T WORK!!! No 'Return-Path', 'Received from' etc info shown - the box is empty. is there some setting I need to change?

The Properties window is opened differently in different Outlook versions. If you let me know what Outlook version you have installed, I'll point out the proper way.

If you can open the window but don’t see some of the properties, then most likely your organization uses an Exchange server that cuts off some headers. If you are viewing a sent message, you won’t see the return-path there.

Thanks, this is really useful. Do you know if, when replying to or forwarding a message, it is possible to include the time zone (and not just time) in the header part of the forwarded/original message (I'm using Outlook 2010)?

Excellent thanks - was really hacking me off that MS had hidden such a necessary function. Their lookups were no help on the issue so thanks a mill.

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How-To Geek

How to read message headers in outlook.

Check your email headers to identify scams with a free add-in for Outlook.

Quick Links

Outlook's basic header view, using the message header analyzer add-in.

Phishing and other email scams are on the rise. One of the best ways to identify scam emails is to examine the email header for detailed information about the sender. Here's how to do that in Outlook.

Outlook itself provides a basic view of email headers . If that's not enough, there's a free add-in that breaks down the headers to give you a more human-friendly view. We'll cover that as well.

To get a basic view of the headers for an email, open the email in Outlook and click File > Properties.

In the Properties window that opens, the header is displayed in the "Internet Headers" text box at the bottom.

This text box isn't very large, so we suggest you select all of the text and copy it into your text editor of choice to make it more visible.

However, the header information is one large block of text, which isn't that easy to read, especially if you don't read headers very often. To get a more useful view, there's a free add-in you can use.

If you've never installed an add-in to Outlook, we've written about the process before . The install process is a pretty simple one plus the add-ins are validated by Microsoft, so they're safe to use.

And if you install the add-in to the desktop client, as we're going to show you, the add-in will also automatically be added into the Outlook web app. This enables you to use it when you're logged into Outlook in a browser, too.

To get started, open Outlook and click on Home > Get Add-Ins.

In the search box in the top right, start typing "message header" and select the "Message Header Analyzer" add-in.

Click the Add button to install the add-in.

Once the add-in is installed, the Add button will change to say "Added." Click the "X" in the top right to close the window.

When you have an email selected in Outlook, a "View Headers" button will now be visible in the menu bar.

Click this button to see the email headers for the selected email. The add-in has the following tabs:

• Summary:  Information (this is the default tab when you open the add-in).
• Received:  Information about where the message was received from, and when.
• Antispam:  Information from Microsoft's Exchange Online Protection anti-spam scan of the email.
• Other:  All of the other header elements broken down into individual blocks.

Best of all, where there are suitable web pages that relate to an element, the Message Header Analyzer includes a link to that page. This includes links to the exact section in the email specification---such as  Authentication-Results ---and Microsoft's information on the anti-spam elements they add to emails that go through Exchange.

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• Exchange Server

Email Fundamentals: How to Read Email Message Headers

Table of Contents

Reading the headers of an email message can reveal very useful information for Exchange Server administrators who are diagnosing problems.

Email message header information includes details such as the route that the email took (ie which email servers were involved in the transmission of the message), who sent it, who it was addressed to, and whether the email message was scanned for spam or viruses.

This is useful for both internal and external email messages. As just one real world example, I often need to use email message header information to diagnose message delivery delays.

How to Access Email Message Header Information in Outlook

Each version of Microsoft Outlook lets you access the email message headers, but they do it in slightly different ways.

To read the email message headers in Outlook 2013 click on the arrow next to Tags in the ribbon menu.

To read the email message headers in Outlook 2010 click on the arrow next to Tags in the ribbon menu.

To read the email message headers in Outlook 2007 click on the arrow next to Options in the ribbon menu.

The message options will appear with the email message header information towards the bottom.

Reading Email Message Headers in Notepad

First let’s take a look at how difficult it actually can be to read the raw message header information that you get out of a message in Outlook. If you copy the message header information into Notepad will look like a complete mess.

Even though it is is quite messy and difficult to read you can still see useful information in the message headers. First there is the basic information about the email message itself.

Then there are the email servers that the message passed through on it’s way to the destination. To follow these in order start at the bottom and read upwards.

These lines are generally in the following format:

Received: from servername (IP address) by servername (IP address) with MTA-name ; timestamp

When a message passes over several hops this can get a bit confusing to read, especially when the timestamps are all from different time zones. Fortunately there are some useful tools you can use to present the email message header to you in a much easier format to read.

Reading Email Message Headers Using Header Analyzer Tools

Here are three online tools you can use analyze email message headers. For demonstration purposes I’m using the message headers from a spam email message that I recently received in a mailbox in my test lab.

Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer

The Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer includes a Message Analyzer tool. Paste the message headers into the field provided and click Analyze headers to produce the report.

MXToolbox also has a section of the website for analyzing message headers. Again simply paste the header information into the field provided and you get a nice, graphical report out of it.

Google Apps Toolbox

Finally there is the Google Apps Toolbox which includes a Messageheader analyzer tool that has similar functionality to the others.

As you can see reading email message headers provides you with a lot of very useful information for diagnosing email problems. You can retrieve email messages easily using email clients such as Outlook, and then use any of the third party message header analyzer tools to produce an easy to read report from that message header data.

About the Author

Paul Cunningham

Is there a way to determine the sending Exchange server’s version from the header?

If they excluded this kind of information in the E-mail-Header it is not possible to determine the exchange version.

I’ve tried all 3. Google totally fails saying “We were not able to recognize email headers in the text you entered.” The other two “worked”, but didn’t give me what I want. At the end of my source, there is this:

Content-Type: image/jpeg; name=”image004.jpg” Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-ID:

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAeAB4AAD/2wBDAAoHBwkHBgoJCAkLCwoMDxkQDw4ODx4WFxIZJCAmJS

It goes on a good while as the junk data is some form of the JPG file identified. I cannot find the image004.jpg on “TomsMainPC” which is the PC on which the email was retrieved. I need to see what the image looks like. What header analyzer will interpret the JPG data into a viewable image? This was a “sent” message. Furthermore, I am not happy that “TomsMainPC” or the image therefrom were sent with the email, and I want to prevent it.

Come across an interesting issue when deploying a Hybrid scenario with the following inbound route to and EXO mailbox:

Internet –> 3rd party Cloud Scanning –> On-Prem –> EXO

in this, On-Prem to –> EXO treats the email as safe flagging the X-Forefront-Antispam-Report with SCL:-1 and SFV:SKI and of course the other headers as:

X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthAs: Internal X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: -1

So as such, the destination for the user in EXO Junk Email Filtering Block list is ignore and thus the email goes into the users Inbox. Is this a known flaw with Hybrid? Thanks.

I suspect your Cloud Scanning -> On-Prem hope is flagging the mail as Internal, which can be caused by the configuration of the receive connectors that are handling the inbound mail to the on-prem org. Did you create custom receive connectors for that or are you just using the default connectors with no modifications?

Would be nice if the message analyzer went further and decoded the anti-spam codes and other codes that Microsoft puts in to see which rules were ran, why a message was sent to Quarantine or the attachment failed a check, etc.

I’m sure if you provide that feedback to Microsoft they’ll consider it.

Is there a way to retrieve header information in EMS or logging on Exchange Server (non email client)?

Found a solution: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/How-to-export-Email-7f63a63c . Just replace the path Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll for Exchange 2013.

No. Headers are stored in the message.

Is any way to determine from the e-mail headers what device sent an email if the account is on microsoft exchange?

No, that info is not stored in the headers.

header parsing, and mail-server-hops received from … received from … may it be parsed on EXCHANGE SERVER? i want to create FILTER based on suspicious mail-from servers included in mail delivery path pisibli power-shell script on Exchange server?

Nice article. But don’t forget about other important parts of message header, like antispam tags and other useful information.

Pingback: Reading email headers using apps for Outlook | Bhargav's IT Playground

There is a MessageHeaderAnalyzer app that can be imported into Outlook 2013 and just a 1 Click drop down on the app – it gives the header info with a neat view; (App uses testexchangeconnectivity.com’s Message header Analyzer in the back-end)

Same App for Exchange 2013 mailbox will be available in Outlook and OWA.

Nice article

How can I determine when an email was created? My boss stated that she sent an email to the staff on a Thursday but the staff didn’t receive until Friday. I believe she is lying. The sent time indicates it was sent on Friday at 4:09 and it was received by me on Friday at 4:09. Is the scenario she describe possible.

Nice article- sorry for posting a question on and old thread but have you ever noticed the contents of the headers and their values when the Cache on option is selected ?

In Outlook 2007 If I turn on cache (Tools / Account settings / Change / Check the Use Cached Exchange Mode box) email headers in the SENT box are not populated, with cache off the header contains emailid information. Do you have any clues as to why ? – it is causing a problem with a tool we use here.

I can’t reproduce the behaviour you’ve described.

Funny – that is what the vendor is telling me too … We can reproduce the behavior on any account here.

mxtoolbox has a tool for analysing headers that could be quite useful.

http://www.mxtoolbox.com/EmailHeaders.aspx

Hope this helps

In Outlook 2010 the headers have been moved to the ‘File’ Tab of an email opened in its own window, select ‘File’ and then under the Info section click Properties’ to view the message headers.

hope this helps

Nice Article.

Check out the Email Message Header Parser i wrote for the Hey Scripting Guy Blog, it parses email header and calculates delays between different hops. Part1 : http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2011/08/18/use-powershell-to-parse-email-message-headers-part-1.aspx Part2 : http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2011/08/19/analyze-email-headers-with-powershell-part-2.aspx

thanks Thiyagu

Hey that looks really useful, I’ll have to put that to use at work 🙂

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Trace an email with its full header

You can check the full header of an email you received from a Gmail account to know where it's from.

View & copy the full header of an email

• From a browser, open Gmail .
• Open the email you want to check the headers for.

• In a new window, the full header shows.
• Click Copy to clipboard .
• Log in to your AOL account.
• Open the email you want to see the headers for.
• In the "Action" menu, select View Message Source .

The headers will show in a new window.

Excite Webmail

• Log in to your Excite account.
• Click  View Full Headers .
• Log in to your Hotmail account.
• Click  Inbox .
• Right-click the email you want to see the headers for.
• Click  View Message Source .

Yahoo! Mail

• Log in to your Yahoo! Mail account.
• Select the email you want to see the headers for.
• Open Apple Mail.

The headers will show in the window below your inbox.

• Open Mozilla.
• Open Opera.
• Click the email you want to see the headers for so it shows in the window below your inbox.
• Right click the body of the email.
• Click View All Headers and Message .

The headers will show in the window below.

• Open Outlook.

The headers will show in the "Internet headers" box.

Outlook Express

• Open Outlook Express.
• Right click the email you want to see the headers for.
• Click  Properties .
• Click the Details tab.

The headers will show in the box that pops up.

Analyze an email header

• On your computer, open Gmail .
• Open the email that you want to analyze.
• Open Google Admin Toolbox Messageheader .
• In the box, paste your header.
• Click Analyze the header above .

Check if an email is delayed

• Open the email that you want to check.
• Next to "Created at," check the delivery time.

Need more help?

Try these next steps:.

Byte Bite Bit

How to View Message Headers in Outlook: A Step-by-Step Guide

Viewing message headers in Outlook is a straightforward process, and we believe it’s an essential skill for anyone using email professionally. When we talk about email headers, we’re referring to the detailed route that an email takes from the sender to the recipient, including timestamps, sending and receiving servers, and other technical details. These headers can be particularly useful for troubleshooting issues related to email delivery or for identifying the source of spam or phishing emails.

In our experience, while everyday email users might rarely need to access message headers, understanding how to view them in Outlook can be vital for IT professionals or those mindful of their cyber security. Outlook makes it a relatively simple task to get this information. It’s a matter of a few clicks, and you can reveal a treasure trove of technical data that’s usually hidden from the casual viewer.

When we’re assisting someone in viewing message headers, we always highlight that Outlook has these details tucked away in a place that’s easy to overlook, unless you know where to look. Knowing how to access this information lets us peer into the underlying framework of email exchanges, reflecting the complexity and sophistication of the communication systems we rely on every day.

• 1.1 Outlook Desktop Application
• 1.2 Outlook Web Access (OWA)
• 2.1 Examining the Components
• 2.2 Identifying the Source
• 3.1 Message Header Analyzer Add-In

Accessing Email Headers in Outlook

When exploring email issues or verifying the authenticity of messages, accessing email headers in Microsoft Outlook is a crucial step. These headers contain details about the sender, recipient, and the path the email has taken. Here’s how to view them in the desktop application and Outlook Web Access (OWA).

Outlook Desktop Application

• Open the Microsoft Outlook application on your computer.
• Double-click to open the email in question, taking you out of the Reading Pane.
• Navigate to the File menu.
• Select Properties from the dropdown menu.

Inside the Properties dialog box, you will find a section labeled Internet Headers . You can select, copy, and paste this information elsewhere for more detailed examination.

Outlook Web Access (OWA)

Accessing email headers within OWA can also provide insightful information about your emails.

Both in Outlook for Windows and macOS, as well as in OWA, the Internet Headers provide you with essential details such as the ‘from’, ‘to’, ‘cc’, and the email’s journey across servers. With this knowledge, we can better understand how our emails operate and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

Understanding Email Headers

Email headers are a crucial aspect of understanding the journey and origins of an email message. They consist of a trail created by servers that handled the email, containing several important pieces of information.

Examining the Components

• Received: The ‘Received’ fields are the most reliable indicators of the email’s path, listing the servers it passed through.
• From: This is the email address of the sender. However, be wary as this can be spoofed.
• To: This shows the intended recipient’s email address.
• CC: Indicates other recipients who were copied into the email.
• Date and Time: Each server transfer adds a timestamp, showing when it processed the email.
• Subject: The topic or title of the email as provided by the sender.

Identifying the Source

The ‘Received’ lines in the email headers are particularly important for identifying the source of an email. We look for the first ‘Received from’ line, which indicates the initial sending server. This is essential for tracing the origin of an email and verifying its legitimacy. In Microsoft Outlook, to view these details, we check the email’s properties, where the header information is located within the “Internet Headers” box. Here, we can analyze whether the email passed through expected servers or identify potential red flags indicating a spoofed email.

Utilizing Message Header Tools

In managing emails, it’s essential for us to view message headers to troubleshoot issues or understand more about the email’s origin and path. A useful tool for this within Microsoft Outlook is the Message Header Analyzer add-in.

Message Header Analyzer Add-In

We use the Message Header Analyzer add-in to get an in-depth look at email header information. This is our go-to utility when we need to view detailed message headers without leaving Outlook. It’s particularly handy in identifying routing issues, verifying sender information, and troubleshooting email problems.

Here’s how we add the Message Header Analyzer to Outlook:

Once installed, we can access the Message Header Analyzer by opening an email message, clicking on the add-in, and viewing the detailed breakdown of the header information. It’s clear and convenient, providing us with crucial information about the email’s route and origins. If necessary, we can even copy this information into Notepad or Word to analyze it further.

Tip: Always verify the actual address of the sender for security purposes, as the visible address might be misleading.

In our experience, understanding an email’s journey and authenticity is much easier with the Message Header Analyzer. It streamlines our workflow and informs our decisions when assessing email validity and safety.

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Email headers: What are they and how to read them

Back to Deliverability

Email headers include valuable information. Find out what they are, why they are important, and how to get them in email clients like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo.

PUBLISHED ON January 25, 2024

Hands up if you heard someone talk about email headers but had no idea what they were. Or, even worse, maybe your technical team asked you to send them the full header of your email, and you’re frantically looking for it everywhere.

In this post, we’re going to tell you about email headers, how they can help you, and of course, where exactly you can find them.

Table of content

What is an email header?

What are email headers used for, improving email deliverability, checking for errors or changes, protecting against spam and phishing, tracking an email’s route, identifying the sender and receiver, what are the standard parts of an email header, how do you find an email header in your email client, email headers in gmail, email headers in microsoft outlook (hotmail) website and app, email headers in yahoo mail, email headers in apple mail, email headers in mozilla thunderbird, email headers in protonmail, email headers in aol mail, email headers in zoho, email headers in gmx, email headers in mail.com, key things to remember about email headers.

01 What is an email header?

02 What are email headers used for?

03 What are the standard parts of an email header?

04 How do you find an email header in your email client?

05 Key things to remember about email headers

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Emails contain three main elements:  the message body, the envelope, and the message header . You probably already know what the body of an email refers to – the main text of the message. That’s  where your design goes . Everything written in an email, from “ Dear Professor Dumbledore ” to “ Sincerely Yours, Harry Potter ,” is considered the body of the message. The message’s sender and recipient can both see this information.

The message envelope is something that neither the sender nor the recipient sees.  The envelope is the information that the email program and outgoing server use to communicate and deliver the message to the correct email address. When the message writer hits send, this information is created before the email lands in the recipient’s inbox (hopefully not the  spam folder ).

Finally,  the email header is a log of an email’s technical details  that both the sender and recipient can see, though it can’t be as easily viewed as the email body. It contains details regarding the sender, receiver, and message. This includes any email addresses that are involved in the conversation, the servers the email passed through while being sent, and more.

Email headers appear complicated, but they include valuable information for email professionals and SMB marketers.

Email headers are typically used to see information, such as who sent and received a message, where the message passed through a mail server, and what kind of errors may have prevented the email from reaching its intended destination.

Let’s explore the multitude of ways email headers can be used.

For  email deliverability , headers can provide helpful information about positive or negative interactions with a message. They help identify any errors that may have impacted delivery. This data is invaluable to understanding why messages may be failing to reach the intended recipient and can provide clues on how to fix deliverability problems.

Email headers help you verify if the message was secure in transit and  reached its recipient without errors or changes . If the message encountered a problem on the way to its destination or was never delivered at all, a tech-savvy user can review the header and figure out exactly what affected the message. Did Harry's email go to Aberfoth Dumbledore, instead of Albus ?

After identifying issues, the user can then fix problems that help new emails get where they need to go.

Email headers are a great way to verify the source of an email and can help protect against spam and  phishing attacks . It is recommended to always inspect email headers to verify the sender’s address before responding to an email. Doing this can help ensure that messages are coming from trusted sources, and can warn users against responding to  spoofing  or malicious emails. No one wants to be duped!

Since the header contains the email’s routing information, you can view exactly which mail servers, ISPs, and email platforms the message has been through. This can help with tracking the originator of a message, as well as identifying any points where the email may have been tampered with. Knowing all the stops an email has gone through is especially helpful in cases of malicious activities.

Email headers can also be used to identify who sent an email as well as the recipient's information. This is especially useful in understanding whether or not a message was actually sent from the sender in question, or if it was a third party attempting to  impersonate the purported sender .

Due to their ability to quickly help solve many issues, headers are a valuable resource for organizations concerned with deliverability and the technical process of sending an email.

If you’re beginning an email marketing campaign, it’s important to  correctly configure your delivery systems  beforehand and send a few test emails. With the right tools in place, you will be able to give yourself a leg up in deliverability before your email even leaves your outbox.

Landing in the inbox: Email marketing deliverability basics

Don’t let great emails go to waste. Discover everything you need to know to land in the inbox.

Email headers provide you with important information. The standard parts of an email header are below:

Elsewhere in the header, you can also find the following:

Almost all webmail providers contain email headers for each message. Below, you can see instructions for finding headers on popular email clients.

To find headers in Gmail, you:

Click on the three dots in the top right corner of the email message

Select “Show Original”

This will show you the email header

A few clicks is all you need to find email headers in Gmail.

To find mail headers on the Microsoft Outlook web browser , you:

Click the three dots in the upper right corner of the email

Click "view message source" in the drop-down menu

The full email header should then appear

The popular Microsoft Outlook email client makes it easy to find email headers.

In the Microsoft Outlook app , you:

Double-click the email to open it in a separate window.

Then, right click “file” and “properties”.

Then, you can see the header information in the “internet headers” section at the bottom of the screen.

To find email headers in Yahoo Mail:

Open the message in the webmail client

Click the “more” icon (three dots) above it.

Then, right click “view raw message.”

The mail header should then appear.

Quickly locate email headers with Yahoo Mail.

To find email headers in Apple Mail, you:

Open the message and select the “view” option in the menu.

Then, choose the “message” option

Then, click on “All Headers”.

This will display your message’s email header.

Apple’s emphasis on transparency includes making headers easy to locate on the Apple Mail client.

Viewing email headers in Thunderbird is straightforward as well:

Simply open an email message

Then click “View”, “Headers”, and “All”

This will make the email header visible

To find headers in ProtonMail:

Log in to your email ProtonMail account

Then, open your email message

Click the three-dot icon at the top of the message.

Next, select “View headers.”

The email headers will pop up in a new window.

How to find email headers in ProtonMail with just a few clicks.

To view the full headers for an email message in AOL Mail:

Open an email message

Then click, “More” in the top menu.

Then select “View Message Source.”

To find email headers in Zoho mail:

Open the email that you’d like to view

Then click, the downward arrow for “More Actions” in the upper right corner.

Next, click “Show Original”.

This will still show only the major header details. To view the entire HTML source of the formatted email, click the “Show Full Content” option.

Zoho has a number of options for viewing and downloading full email headers.

To find email headers in GMX:

Log in to your GMX account

Then, click the “information” icon, which is positioned in the top right corner of the message.

A popup will appear that shows the “Extended Header Information”.

It just takes two steps to find and view full email headers in GMX.

To access the full email headers on Mail.com:

Log in to your account

Then, click the information icon in the top right corner.

A popup should appear that provides “Extended Header Information”.

It just takes two steps to find and view full email headers in Mail.com.

Email headers may seem unfamiliar to those who have never viewed them. However, they’re an important part of a good deliverability strategy.

You can use email headers to find outdetailed information about your emails’ journey and if they’re being properly delivered. Becoming familiar with them will help you launch successful email campaigns and view their results.

Content Manager at Sinch Mailjet

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Email Header Analyzer

About email headers.

This tool will make email headers human readable by parsing them according to RFC 822.  Email headers are present on every email you receive via the Internet and can provide valuable diagnostic information like hop delays, anti-spam results and more. If you need help getting copies of your email headers, just read this tutorial.

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How to show original message details (full headers, text, url, etc.) in microsoft 365, outlook on the web.

• In the message reading pane, click the Reply all button down arrow. Then click View message details .

Outlook for Windows

• Double-click the message to open it in a new window.
• Click the File menu and then click the Properties button.

Outlook for Mac

• Right-click or CONTROL + click the message and then select View Source .
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View full headers in outlook on the web.

If you are having problems with your email, one common diagnostic aid is a complete list of the message's headers. Headers show the path a message took to get from the sender to the recipient. The IT Service Desk or other technical support may ask you to provide a message's headers.

This article applies to: Outlook on the Web

On This Page

Get and send headers as an attachment, get headers from view message details, get headers from message header analyzer.

There are several ways to get message headers for the IT Service Desk. Whenever possible, get and send headers as an attachment. The attachment will capture the relevant information that the IT Service Desk needs.

While in Outlook on the web, click and drag the message from the list of messages to the body of the email you will be sending to the IT Service Desk. The message will become an attachment which has all the header information inside it. 

While in Outlook on the web,

• Near the top of the message, next to the reply , reply all  and forward  icons, click the three dot icon. On a Mac, alternatively, press  control + click on the message to open a context menu.

Select  View , then View message details . The Message details pane will open.

• Click at the beginning of the contents of the Message details  pane, then scroll to the end of the box and shift-click just after the last character. The entire contents of the pane   should now be selected (highlighted).
• Press ctrl-c (Mac: command-c ); this copies the text to the clipboard.
• Then, with an email message or other document open, press ctrl-v  (Mac: command-v ) to paste the header text into that document.
• Near the top of the message, next to the reply , reply all  and forward  icons, click the  Apps icon (four circles in a square). The Apps pane will open. Note: If your window is minimized or very narrow, the Apps icon may not be visible until clicking on the three dot icon.
• Click Message Header Analyzer .
• At the bottom of the Message Header Analyzer pane, click the plus sign icon next to Original Headers .

If you need to copy the headers (to paste somewhere else),

• Click at the beginning of the contents of the Original Headers box, then scroll to the end of the box and shift-click just after the last character. The entire contents of the Original Headers box should now be selected (highlighted).

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 Google Admin Toolbox Messageheader

How to use this tool.

• Extract a message header from a mail you want to investigate.
• An example of message header is attached below
• Copy/Paste into the input box and click on "Analyze the header above"
• This is an example of a message sent from New York library to the user [email protected] which is actually a forwarded address which ends up on [email protected]. Watch how the tool normalizes the time across the various hops. Also notice that the tool quickly identifies where the 19 minute delay could have happened.
• Identify delivery delays.
• Identify approximate source of delay.
• Identify who may be responsible.

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View internet message headers in Outlook

An email message internet header provides a list of technical details about the message, such as who sent it, the software used to compose it, and the email servers that it passed through on its way to the recipient. Most of the time, only an administrator will need to view internet headers for a message. If you want to add a header to your email message, see Apply stationery, backgrounds, or themes to email messages.

Some senders use spoofing to disguise their email address. By checking the header, you can find out if the email address is different than it appears, and add it to your blocked senders list.

View message headers in Outlook on your desktop

Double-click an email message to open it outside of the Reading Pane.

Click File > Properties.

Header information appears in the Internet headers box. Tip :  You can highlight the information in that box, press Ctrl+C to copy, and paste it into Notepad or Word to see the entire header at once.

Contents of email headers

Consider an email exchange between two people, Anton Kirilov and Kelly J. Weadock. Anton's email address is [email protected] and Kelly's address is [email protected] . Kelly uses Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. The Internet header associated with Kelly's message to Anton looks as follows:

Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0Received: from mail.litwareinc.com ([10.54.108.101]) by mail.proseware.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.0);Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:39:22 -0800Received: from mail ([10.54.108.23] RDNS failed) by mail.litware.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.0);Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:38:49 -0800From: "Kelly J. Weadock" <[email protected]>To: <[email protected]>Cc: <[email protected]>Subject: Review of staff assignmentsDate: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:38:31 -0800MIME-Version: 1.0Content-Type: multipart/mixed;X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 12.0.4210X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165Thread-Index: AcON3CInEwkfLOQsQGeK8VCv3M+ipA==Return-Path: [email protected]: <[email protected]>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 12 Dec 2007 21:38:50.0145 (UTC)

Note:  The sample header might not contain all items found in your email headers. These are the most common entries.

When Kelly sends an email message to [email protected] , she composes it from her computer, which is identified as ( i101-177.nv.litwareinc.com ). The composed text is passed from her computer to the email server, mail.litwareinc.com. This is the last that Kelly will see of her email message, because further processing is handled by email servers with no intervention from her. When Kelly's email server receives the message for [email protected] , it contacts Proseware's email server and delivers the message to it. The message is stored on the proseware.com server until Anton checks his Proseware email messages.

Interpreting email headers

The following is an explanation of the common email header fields.

This header is added by Outlook.

This information says that the message transfer occurred on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, at 13:39:22 (1:39:22 in the afternoon) Pacific Standard Time (which is 8 hours later than Coordinated Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time); thus the "–0800").

This message transfer occurred on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, at 13:38:49 (1:38:49 in the afternoon) Pacific Standard Time (which is 8 hours later than Coordinated Universal Time (UTC); thus the "–0800").

This message was sent by Kelly J. Weadock from the email address [email protected] .

This is the person to whom the email message is addressed.

These are the person or persons who receive carbon copies of the message.

Note:  Recipients of blind carbon copies (Bcc) do not appear in the header.

This is the subject of the email message.

This indicates the date and time that the email message was sent, based upon the computer clock on the sender's computer.

This parameter specifies the version of the MIME protocol that was used by the sender.

This is an additional MIME header. It tells MIME-compliant email programs about the type of content to expect in the message.

This information indicates that the message was sent by using Microsoft Office Outlook with a build version of 12.0.4210.

This entry indicates the email software (MIME OLE software) used by the sender.

This header is used to associate multiple messages with a similar thread. For example, in Outlook, the conversation view uses this information to find messages from the same conversation thread.

This entry specifies how to reach the message sender.

The message has been assigned this number by mail.litware.com for identification purposes. This ID will always be associated with the message.

This is a time stamp placed on the message when it first passes through a server running Microsoft Exchange.

View message headers in Outlook on the web or Outlook.com

Find the sender's address

Scroll down in the Message source  until you find the From field.

Highlight the email address enclosed within < > and right-click to  Copy .

Use this email address to block the sender. Read how to  block or unblock senders .

View message headers in new Outlook   

Scroll down in the Message details  until you find the From field.

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Message Header Analyzer

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How to View Full Message Headers in Mozilla Thunderbird

Checking out headers can help you troubleshoot email problems

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What to Know

• Open Thunderbird and select a message in the reading pane to open it in a new tab or window.
• Select View > Headers > All to display the full message headers. Select View > Headers > Normal to revert.
• Select View > Message Source to see or copy the header lines in their original unformatted state.

This article explains how to reveal headers that are normally hidden in emails in Mozilla Thunderbird . The header can help you troubleshoot email problems.

How to View Hidden Mozilla Email Header Data

All emails consist of two parts: the header and the body. The standard header—which is the part you normally see—typically lists the sender and recipient of the message, date, and subject. Behind the scenes, though, the header contains much more information, such as the path it took from sender to recipient, the sender's IP address, and the message's priority. This information isn't particularly easy to interpret and isn't usually of interest to the recipient, so it's hidden.

When you're asked to pass along all message headers to thwart a spammer or troubleshoot an email problem, or if you're simply curious, you can reveal all the hidden info.

Open Thunderbird.

Select a message in the reading pane to open it in a new tab or window.

Select View > Headers > All from the menu bar to display the full message headers.

To return to the standard set of headers, select View > Headers > Normal from the menu.

Viewing a Message's Source

If you want to see or need to copy the header lines in their original unformatted state, open the message's source in Mozilla Thunderbird by selecting View > Message Source . The source code is more extensive than just headers and includes the coding for the entire email.

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View the QuickPay Person Process Results

Run QuickPay and view the Person Process Results page from the QuickPay Summary page. Use the process results page to do the following:

Drill down into the details for each processed person

View the task details and parameters used for submission

See all records that completed, has errors, or still to be processed

View analytical graphs

Use the Process Results task from the Actions menu on the Payroll Person Search page to generate the Person Process Results page for a person.

The page has three distinct regions as explained here.

Header Region

Use the header region to view static processing information such as Flow Name, Process Name, Payroll Name, Period Name and so on.

Summary Region

Use the summary region to view summary level information concerning the data that's processed or is being processed for the selected person. Information contained within this region includes records processed, errors raised, processing time, and so on. You can also view analytical graphs that display details of the process such as parameters used, the submitting user, and logging information.

Click on an item to view detailed information pertaining to the item. You can view the following information from this region:

Error Messages: Displays all the errors that the process has encountered.

Record Processing: Displays information regarding total records processed, unprocessed, processing, encountered error, marked for retry, and skipped.

Process Status: Displays the start time, finish time, and elapsed time of the process.

Process Results Region

Use the process results region to see the records processed with a brief summary of total values processed. The summary level information is dependent on the process that has been selected. For example, the payroll process shows the Gross and Net payments for each employee, whereas costing process shows the total debits and credits for an employee. You can view the processed information for a list of individuals in a single page.

Use the Actions Menu at the end of each record, to perform any of the following actions on a process:

Mark for Retry

View Results, such as viewing the Statement of Earnings

View Messages

Dive into the Summer ’24 Release

As an admin, you can help your organization succeed by staying up to date with the latest Salesforce releases and getting familiar with product enhancements.

Check out the Summer ’24 release notes for a list of new features and available updates.

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• /r : Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. The disk must be locked. 

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