In general, the process for retrieving full message headers is similar across different email services/providers, though there may be some variations. In this article, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of extracting email headers using Gmail as an example.
Gmail provides powerful tools for searching and analyzing emails, and one of those tools includes the ability to view email headers. Email headers contain important information like the sender's IP address, routing information, and time stamps. If you need to find the detailed routing of a message or identify its authenticity, here’s how you can search and view email headers in Gmail:
Step 1: Open Gmail
Start by logging into your Gmail account. You can do this by navigating to gmail.com and entering your login credentials.
Step 2: Locate the Email
Find the email whose headers you want to inspect. You can either use the search bar at the top or browse through your inbox and folders to find the specific email. Click to open the email you want to examine. This will bring up the full content of the email in your inbox.
Step 3: Access the Email Header
Once the email is open, you’ll need to click on the three vertical dots in the upper-right corner of the email window. This will open a drop-down menu. From the drop-down menu, select “Show original.” This will open a new window with the full email header and the raw source of the message.
Step 4: View the Email Headers
In the "Original Message" window, you will see a large section of text. This is the email's full header information.
Step 5: Analyze the Headers
You can now analyze the headers for specific information, including any discrepancies or details you're looking for:
From: The sender’s email address.
To: The recipient’s email address.
Date: The exact time the email was sent.
Subject: The email’s subject line.
Return-Path: The return email address.
Received: A series of entries that show the email’s journey through mail servers.
X-Originating-IP: The IP address of the device that sent the email (can be useful for identifying the sender's location).
Message-ID: A unique identifier for the email. This can be helpful in tracking email threads or identifying a specific email in a system. Our CS Team may ask you about this parameter during log analysis.
Step 5: Other Providers
Every major email provider offers headers for analysis, which can be accessed in the following ways:
AOL: in the "Action" menu, select "More" -> "View Message Source".
Excite Webmail: Look for the "More Options" and click "View Full Headers".
Hotmail: "More actions" -> click "View Message Source".
Yahoo! Mail: click "More" and select "View Raw Message"
Apple Mail on macOS: click "View", select "Message" and then "All Headers".
Mozilla Thunderbird: Look for the "More" button (three horizontal dots) -> select "View Source"
Outlook Desktop: click "File" and select "Properties" -> View the headers
Outlook Web: Click on the three dots (More actions) -> select "View message source"
Note! If you wish to share the message header with your Support Team, please make sure that you copy it to .txt and attach it to your message to us! You can also paste the headers directly into the chat window or email.