How to find the email headers of a message

Email Headers include details like sender, recipient, subject, sending time stamp, receiving time stamps and routing information. They are very useful in troubleshooting common issues, such as tracking spam and bounced messages.

Find Email Headers in Outlook Online

  1. Log into Outlook Online with your full Bowdoin email address e.g. username@bowdoin.edu.
  2. Find the message you would like to obtain the headers from.
  3. Double click on the message so it opens in a new pop-up window.
  4. Click on the ellipsis … towards the upper right corner of the screen.
  5. In the drop-down menu, scroll down and click on “View message details”.
  6. In the “Message Details” window that opens, select all the contents by using Crtl + A or Command + A  and then copy the contents by using Crtl + C or Command + C.
  7. Paste the headers into the body of the new email by using Ctrl + V or Command + V.
  8. Send the email to the desired recipient, i.e. ServiceDesk@bowdoin.edu

 

 

Find Email Headers in Outlook for Windows

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Find the message you would like to obtain the headers from.
  3. Double click on the message from the left hand ribbon to open it in a separate window from the Outlook client.
  4. In the upper left corner of the newly opened message select "file" 
  5. There will be five square tiles in main body of the file menu, select the "Properties" tile
  6.  At the bottom of the message there is a box containing "Internet headers" copy the contents of that box. First use Ctrl + A to get the contents, then Ctrl + C to copy.
  7. Paste the headers into the body of a new email. 
  8. Send the email to the desired recipient, i.e. ServiceDesk@bowdoin.edu

Once the headers have been received members of Information Technology can analyze the contents of the headers to decipher things such as message routing and spam score.

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