Displaying Email Headers | Bluehost Support
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Displaying Email Headers

Overview

The full Internet email headers include useful and sometimes necessary diagnostic information. Typical reasons include blocking spammers (unsolicited junk email), problems with delivery or receipt of a particular message, and certain identity troubleshooting issues that involve fake "from" addresses. Displaying headers in some email programs is an easy task. However, both Outlook and Outlook Express are more difficult in this regard.

How to Display Full Headers


Select your email client from the list below:


Show me an example of a message with full headers.

Gmail

  1. In Gmail, open 'original' email.
  2. Click for the menu button (down arrow next to the Reply button).
  3. Choose Show original.

Horde

  1. Log in to Horde Webmail.
  2. Open the email message.
  3. Click the "Message Source" link in the text menu at the top of the message.

Hotmail

  1. Open the email.
  2. Click for the menu button (down arrow next to the Reply button).
  3. Choose View source.

Mail for Mac OS X

  1. From the View menu, select Message.
  2. Select All Headers.

Mozilla & Netscape (all versions)

  1. Turn off any HTML formatting that may be present.
  2. From the Edit menu, select Preferences
  3. Mail & Newsgroups.
  4. Click Send
  5. Format and select Convert the message to plain text...
  6. Open the message in question so you can see it on your screen.

Outlook and Outlook Express

  1. Right-click on the email message.
  2. Select Properties.
  3. Click Details.
  4. Select Message Source.

For Mozilla 1.4 and earlier

  1. From the View menu, select Headers and then All when displaying the message.

For Mozilla 1.5 and later

  1. From the View menu, select Message Source.

Outlook

  1. Turn off any HTML formatting that may be present.
  2. From the Edit menu select Preferences
  3. Mail & Newsgroups.
  4. Click Send
  5. Format and select Convert the message to plain text...
  6. Open the message in question so you can see it on your screen.

Outlook Express

From the File menu, select Properties, then select the "Details" tab.

RoundCube:

  1. Log in to RoundCube Webmail.
  2. Double click to open the email message.
  3. Click on the"More" option, then select the "Show Source" icon.

Take Note: The currently supported version of Roundcube is version 1.4.7 (stable version), 1.3.14 (Old Stable). If the "More" option is not available, please consult Roundcube Support.

Thunderbird:

  1. Open the message in question.
  2. In the Menu, select View.
  3. Select Message Source.

AOL

  1. Open the message you want to view headers for.
  2. In the Action menu, select View Message Source.

See an example below.

-----------------------Example Full Header Below----------------------------

Return-path: 
Envelope-to: john@example.com
Delivery-date: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 15:06:11 -0600
Received: from [46.165.209.232] (port=36531 helo=delivery.antispamcloud.com)
	by box309.Bluehost.com with esmtps (TLSv1:RC4-SHA:128)
	(Exim 4.82)
	(envelope-from )
	id 1WVSMM-0003oR-Ny
	for john@example.com; Wed, 02 Apr 2014 15:06:10 -0600
Received: from mail-ig0-f195.google.com ([209.85.213.195])
	by mx7.antispamcloud.com with esmtps (TLSv1:RC4-SHA:128)
	(Exim 4.82)
	(envelope-from )
	id 1WVSMJ-00049k-3X
	for john@example.com; Wed, 02 Apr 2014 23:06:10 +0200
Received: by mail-ig0-f195.google.com with SMTP id uq10so212231igb.2
        for ; Wed, 02 Apr 2014 14:06:02 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
        d=gmail.com; s=20120113;
        h=mime-version:date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type;
       bhbhovkRL3Im017b5m7rMRTWVa1olgzE1U+yr8FXykLSM=;
        b=I9n1lRLh2EbEic44CPWv6doKf6m9+z1G9tVmowbugj99p5jn5ImorW2oBqZ1BRbOFD
         3CnQkj7koUZfajma0Q0bbjJFB27CHfIMKvFLzOeWjeLP2bu3Z5X/d+lmCdFMSG8FQBoO
         c2Pz5n0d85zQyxkzy4lvL4D5kVevuJ5n+s7y6nCZTpYw1iwtQciGgr8XO77wGJq0S2FY
         WZC7jqB5c3CmpT8EytMEJwsH3UQAD7hxYq3FZHL7Ici89x8vDG/ZNQOla9TsfSrmC9qO
         mMLFWCZs1A1Hfe2gwOxBpRXgAqxf1/hlFfAf0CIIRTcD/03kSaWB7L/lPy++CTvkzpbB
         Ro4A==
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Received: by 10.42.107.67 with SMTP id c3mr2836464icp.28.1396472762166; Wed,
 02 Apr 2014 14:06:02 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.50.216.193 with HTTP; Wed, 2 Apr 2014 14:06:02 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2014 15:06:02 -0600
Message-ID: 
Subject: I can haz headers
From: Bluehost Tutorials
To: john@example.com
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=20cf302075e4ed71d604f615a6cd
Received-SPF: pass (mx7.antispamcloud.com: domain of gmail.com designates 209.85.213.195 as permitted sender) client-ip=209.85.213.195; envelope-from=Bluehosttutorials@gmail.com; helo=mail-ig0-f195.google.com;
X-SPF-Result: mx7.antispamcloud.com: domain of gmail.com designates 209.85.213.195 as permitted sender
X-Filter-ID: XtLePq6GTMn8G68F0EmQveOvoFo7+04sHaU+aQGjobYi0opp2x9AytcIxrAv/iEuaWmMHd4i6wCz
 ASsx7ILyBvmrHcqsgpX6d4SIG6yP47bDMFgiN2el8cbE99y5VERdERWeKKG4PAQYNyavp7c49C7S
 5JHQ4xOsiG8cGbGY8Ju2qts0ILWtXEEZmkE2vLlbG/45LuYWJsWNKzGzAznZ/oq+Kj8XsfH6M1iC
 r9Pl7cS2FeLaw8TKFNoyhNvcmkCU2LIKoGx11NpkPoCtYTihVFvHjmVhGT2LR+SRHRnJSjexOaDD
 7DhwsYoQmALxTDsg5YE5enyccp7RH4WQio3uGcdGxQ6d5hivGO7oPpIBNraJdlCnvQ+khpxZdnh3
 Rg+eq6FYx9JcxaWalMnLitersKkGD1ysZpHhKaUh/7HiGlCtDNmfymkhdU0FFLdsJzH+bncTWq+l
 t2yLUdZkS4XDsBY2SdcAejSFbwPMuc/8+8bnfBK8XMz156Rrx4gJt1rfVwqJrV8TZUiWxNy0V2Qu
 LFYFvf25LVONYbYifH5OzZDcKP8EIfERgwZdrj+yX3bZ9HVqUY3tkBcsuKQ2aA7N/8zfymEUbuPk
 n06aNthuTeE=
Authentication-Results: antispamcloud.com; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=Bluehosttutorials@gmail.com
Authentication-Results: antispamcloud.com; dkim=pass header.i=gmail.com
X-Spampanel-Class: unsure
X-Spampanel-Evidence: Combined (0.15)
X-Recommended-Action: accept
X-Identified-User: {0000:box309.Bluehost.com:local:local} {sentby:Delivered locally}

If you need further assistance, feel free to contact us via Chat or Phone:

  • Chat Support - While on our website, you should see a CHAT bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Click anywhere on the bubble to begin a chat session.
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You may also refer to our Knowledge Base articles to help answer common questions and guide you through various setup, configuration, and troubleshooting steps.