Originally posted in 2011, updated in 2017
Have you ever tried to report spam, or report a spammer, only to be asked to copy and paste and send them the full email headers of the spam? Have you experienced frustration trying to figure out what it is that you are supposed to send, and where to find that email header? Well, the Internet Patrol to the rescue! Here is a simple, plain English, straight-forward tutorial to find your email headers, for nearly any email program!
First, just what is an email header?
An email header is the part of the email that tells all of the computers through which the email passes important routing and other identifying information, such as who sent the email and from what computer, and to whom they sent it and at what other computer, and via what Internet paths.
So, when you receive an email, and it says something like:
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From: jane@example.org
To: john@example.com
Subect: I’d like to teach the world to sing
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 12:56
..the actual (full) headers will look something like this:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Sender: jane@example.org
Received: by 10.142.213.16 with HTTP; Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:47:56 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:47:56 -0500
Delivered-To: john@example.com
X-webmail-Sender-Auth: FqZkpw1fGE6dtbSQwTfXYdKPim8
Message-ID: < BANLkTimAwmaVAx+0bUBBbbC_y7zaybEtSQ@mail.example.com>
Subject: I’d like to teach the world to sing
From: jane@example.org
To: john@example.com
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=000e0cd2e042896a6e04a0bece9b
–000e0cd2e042896a6e04a0bece9b
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Delivered-To: john@example.com
Received: by 10.142.225.4 with SMTP id x4cs47732wfg;
Wed, 6 Apr 2011 12:56:15 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.52.172.34 with SMTP id az2mr36649vdc.143.1302119774760;
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:56:14 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path:
Received: from smtp-verifiedoptin-03.example.org (smtp-verifiedoptin-03.example.org
[207.106.200.9]) by mx.example.org with ESMTP id b10si1078199vdw.100.2011.04.06.12.56.14; Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:56:14 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (
example.com: domain of zAwsHMxstCzs7IyM7OyctEa0nKzMjOxMTA==@smtp-verifiedoptin 03.example.org designates 207.106.200.9 as permitted sender) client-ip=207.106.200.9;
Authentication-Results: mx.example.com; spf=pass (example.org: domain of zAwsHMxstCzs7IyM7OyctEa0nKzMjOxMTA==@smtp-verifiedoptin-03.example.org designates 207.106.200.9 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=zAwsHMxstCzs7IyM7OyctEa0nKzMjOxMTA==@smtp-verifiedoptin-03.example.org; dkim=pass header.i=@example.org
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; d=example.org; s=dkim_s1024; c=relaxed/simple; q=dns/txt; i=@
example.org; t=1302119772; h=Sender:Subject:Date:From:List-Unsubscribe:To:Content-type;
bh=fjZ+6mNLNz9yjX1c7CNNOHJ1kCQ=;
b=N/XNWRlBub9vbhyjZ4vlSySGfCgI8REG3A2OQW7HizUed4CacXHaJowc+AyxwhDt
IRyo4bgdMhXnokC8K2Td0dUz0AOZiTrzSsI6Ow1wZyaXDsWU0rr2AXSbkFMzTu3Q
At6B9KnQK/piKED7BppBueY9Ih9xIjXduUIB13QDoMc=;
Received: (webmail 26125 invoked by uid 0); 6 Apr 2011 19:56:12 -0000
Message-ID: <48.AF.15048.C55CC9D4@ec3>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
To: “John”
From: “Jane”
Sender: jane@example.org
X-Loop: jane@example.org
X-Mailer: Outlook Express
X-Subscription: Subscribed on 03/30/2009, via email, by 74.200.203.98, from jane@example.org
X-Verification: Verified by 66.25.7.3
X_Id: 304836:04-06-2011-15-22-46:john@example.com/304836
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 15:56:12 -0400
List-Unsubscribe: , >
—
Whew! That’s a lot, isn’t it? Aren’t you glad that you only have to copy and paste them and send them along, and not decipher them?
So, how do you find your full headers to send to them along?
It’s really quite simple, once you know how!
Here are directions for some of the most popular webmail providers and email programs. If yours isn’t listed here, please leave us a comment letting us know. Similarly, if you can provide instructions for an email program not listed here, please leave a comment with those instructions!
GMAIL
• Log in to your Gmail account.
• Open the message you want to view headers for.
• Click the Down arrow next to the Reply button, located at the top right of the message pane.
• Select Show Original.
YAHOO
• Log in to your Yahoo mail account.
• Select the message you want to view headers for.
• Click the Actions dropdown and select View Full Header.
HOTMAIL
• Log in to your Hotmail account.
• Select Inbox from the left-side menu.
• Right-click the message you want to view headers for and select View Message Source.
AOL
• Log in to your AOL account.
• Open the message you want to view headers for.
• In the Action menu, select View Message Source.
EXCITE WEBMAIL
• Log in to your Excite account.
• Open the message you want to view headers for.
• Click the View Full Headers icon, located to the right of the From line.
APPLE MAIL
• Open Apple Mail.
• Click on the message you want to view headers for.
• Go to the View menu.
• Select Message, then Long Headers.
OUTLOOK EXPRESS
• Open Outlook Express.
• From your Inbox, find the message you want to view headers for.
• Right-click the message and select Properties.
• Open the Details tab in the Dialogue Box.
OUTLOOK
• Open Outlook.
• Open a message.
• On the Message tab, located in the Options group, click the Dialog Box Launcher icon.
• In the Message Options dialog box, the headers will appear in the Internet Headers box.
For older versions of Outlook:
• Open Outlook.
• Open the message you want to view headers for.
• Click the View menu and select Options.
MOZILLA
• Open Mozilla.
• Click on the message you want to view headers for.
• Click the View menu and select Message Source.
[Note: This articles was originally posted in 2011, and was updated in 2017]
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.