How to View the Headers of Emails
The header information is like the envelope around an email telling
the senders address, the time it was sent, and where it was sent
from. Email header information is includes the "To" and
"From" data about an email. More importantly, it also
contains a lot of other information about the source of and email.
Knowing how to get to the header is important if you ever want more
information about where the email came from. Many email programs
hide much of the header information because most of the time you
don't need it. This tutorial will teach you how to read and view
the full header of emails in different email programs. What the
header information "means" is beyond the scope of this
tutorial.
Tracking down email, virus and spam problems can be a challenge
because spammers often fake or spoof information in emails so that
they can hide their true identity. Many viruses take advantage of
the fact that it's quite easy to spoof "most" of the information
in an email header. In other words, unless you know what you're
doing, don't believe everything you read.
Outlook Express 4, 5, & 6
(Windows) |
This must be done for each email or news message:
While viewing the message, click the File menu, then click Properties.
On the Details tab, you will need to right click, choose select
all (this should highlight all the text). Then right click again,
and choose copy. You must then paste the headers into the forwarded
message (click the Edit menu, then choose Paste) |
Outlook Express 4.5 & 5
(Macintosh) |
This must be done for each email or news message: While viewing
the message, click the View menu, then click Source. Highlight
the headers of the message, then copy them (either control click
and choose copy, or use the keyboard shortcut CMD+C). You must
then paste the headers into the forwarded message (click the
edit menu, then choose Paste). |
AOL
(Win & Mac) |
While viewing the email message, click the File menu and select
Save as... Select the Desktop as the Save in folder and provide
a name in the file name box (such as spam). If possible, select
the type as html. If your browser does not show html tpe, select
All Files and add .html to the file name (such as spam.html).
Click Save. You can now report this spam message by attaching
the html file to the abuse report. |
Eudora
(Win & Mac) |
Open the spam and click the BLAH BLAH BLAH button on the upper
left hand corner of the message |
Netscape Mail & News
(Win, Linux & Mac) |
Click the Options menu, choose Show Headers, then select All.
(Note: Some older versions of Netscape may not be able to show
the complete headers) |
Pine 3.9x
(DOS, Unix, Linux) |
Load Pine. Select option "M" to go to the main menu.
Select option "S" to go to the setup options, then
select option "C" to change your configuration. Scroll
through the options until you find "enable-full-headers-cmd"
and enable it. Now when you read a message, use the option "H"
to view the full headers, and option "H" again to
hide them. You must be viewing the full headers when you forward
the message for them to be included. |
Forté Agent
(Win) |
Press CTRL-R to display in RAW mode. Use CTRL-A to highlight
all the message and headers, then CTRL-C to copy it. You must
then paste the headers into the forwarded message (click the
edit menu and choose paste). Press CTRL-R again to hide the
headers. |
Mac OSX Mail
(Mac) |
Click the Mail menu and click Preferences. Then, click Viewing
and change Show header detail to All |
Microsoft Outlook 98 & 2000
(Windows) |
Double click the message to open it in a new window. Go to
the View menu and choose Options. Copy the text in the Internet
Headers window by right clicking and choosing Select All, then
right clicking again and choosing Copy. Then paste the headers
when you forward the message (click the Edit menu and choose
Paste). |
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