Email headers contain information about who sent the message, the route it has travelled before reaching you, and things that may have happened to it along the way. Header information is very important when trying to trace email containing spam, viruses, etc. If you wish to report any sort of email abuse, you will need to be able to forward the headers so the person investigating the complaint has something to work with.

The following guide will provide instructions on how to extract headers from various email clients and programs.

AOL Mail

• Open the desired email message.
• Make sure it reads Sent from the Internet near the top.
• Click Details next to that phrase.

Claris E-Mailer

• Under Mail select Show Long Headers.

Eudora (before ver. 3)

• Select Tools , Options... , then Fonts & Display then Show all headers

Eudora (ver. 3.x, 4.x IBM or Macintosh)

• Press the BLAH button on the incoming mail message

For Mac Eudora 4.x

• hitting the following will cause Eudora to alter its default setting so that BLAH will be automatically selected for all new email received after this switch is set:
• x-eudora-setting: 123=y
  When checked, Eudora will show all the headers from messages, not just an abbreviated set.

For Lotus Notes 4.6.x

• From the menu bar, select Actions, then Delivery Information.
• Copy the information from the bottom box into your e-mail report at the top of the spam.

For Lotus Notes R5

• From the menu bar, select Actions, then Tools, then Delivery Information.
• Copy the information from the bottom box into your e-mail report at the top of the spam.

Netscape 3

• In the mail viewing window: Options Show Headers All
• When all the headers are displayed in the NS3 mail window, they are formatted.
• This is much more readable than the display in a text editor such as Notepad.

Netscape 4.xx

• Double click on the email in your inbox.
• Click on View - Headers - All.

Mozilla Thunderbird

• Click on the View drop-down menu and select Headers and then select All.
• This will show the headers for any message you view.

PINE

• If the feature is enabled, you simply press "H" to toggle full headers.
• If the feature is not enabled, you must enable it first.
• From the main menu, press (S)etup, (C)onfig. Scroll down about 40 lines to the option labeled "enable-full-header-cmd." Press [ENTER].
• Press (E)xit, (Y)es - to save.
• Then you can return to the message window and use "H" to display the headers.

Outlook Express 4, 5 and 6

Start by opening the message in its own window (or when viewing the message in the preview pane).

With the keyboard:

1. CTRL-F3 (Message Source Window)
2. CTRL-A (select all)
3. CTRL-C (copy)
4. ALT-F4 (close)

With the mouse:

1. Click the "File" menu
2. Click "Properties"
3. Click the "Details" tab
4. Click "Message Source"
5. Highlight, copy and paste everything from this window (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C)

Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, Outlook 2003

1. Open the message in a separate window (double click)
2. Under the View menu select Options
3. Copy the text in the Internet Headers window (unfortunately it doesn't include the message itself).
4. Paste
5. Close the options window

Outlook 2007

1. In Outlook 2007 you can view the headers without opening the message.
2. Just right click on the email message in your Inbox and choose Message Options.
3. This will show you the headers.

• Or you can open the email message. You can open the email message by double clicking on it.
• Outlook 2007 has a new ribbon user interface.
• Look at the right of Options and you will see an arrow.
• Click on the arrow and in the bottom section there is the message options menu with internet headers.
• This will show you the email headers.

Web-Based Email Software

Outlook Web Access
(as accessed through http://mymail.outlookmail.com/exchange/logon.asp)

1. Left click on the letter you want to open and click on properties
2. When that opens click on the details tab
3. Then on message source
4. This will open the email so the full headers will be available for viewing

HotMail

1. First, configure your options
2. On the upper right "Options | Help" links, click on "Options."
3. Click on the "Mail Display Settings" link, find the item "Message Headers."
4. Choose "Advanced" and click the "OK" button.

Yahoo

• Log into your Yahoo! Mail account.
• For the full header of an individual email, just click Full Headers in the lower-right corner of the page, below the message.

If you'd like to see full headers ALL the time, you can set that up, too. Here's how:

• Click Options in the upper-right corner of the page.
• Under "Management", click General Preferences.
• In the "Messages" section, find "Headers" (listed first) and select "all."
• Click Save to put your new settings into effect.

Gmail

1. Open the email in Gmail
2. Click on the combo-box titles Reply and select Show original.
3. That's it!

The email with full header details is displayed in a separate window / tab (depending on your browser configuration).

Double-click the e-mail you want to view the headers on.