How to view Email Headers & their terminology

By Prempal Singh 0 Comment August 30, 2016  email header, email header analyzer, email header trace, email trace, header, header mail, header php, html email, ip address, ip tracker, ip whois, message header, my ip, trace an email, track email

Introduction of Email Header

Details of sender, recipient, subject, receiving time, Sending time stamp and most important IP address of sender and receiver are save into email headers. Email headers are use to troubleshooting common issues, like tracking spam emails.
This guide is only for learning purpose, how to read and properly understand an email headers.

Understand Email Header Basic Terms

From
This displays who the message is from, yet, this can be create fake very easily and is the least reliable.

Subject
This is exactly what the sender located as a topic of the email content.

Date
This kind of shows the date and time the e-mail communication was composed.

To
This kind of shows to whom the message was addressed or composed, but not contain recipient’s address.

Return-Path
Email address for return email. This is just like “Reply-To: “.

Envelope-To
This kind of header shows that this email was delivered to the mailbox of a subscriber whose current email address is user@example. com.

Delivery Date
This kind of shows the date and time where the email was received from your service or email user.

Received
The received is the vital part of the email header and is usually the most reliable. They form a listing of all the servers/computers by which the message traveled to be able to reach you. The received lines are best read from bottom to top.

Dkim-Signature & Domain key-Signature
It is related to keys of domain which are currently not recognized services.

Message-id
An exclusive string designated by your mailbox system when the message is first created. These can simply be forged.

Mime-Version
(MIME) Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions are Internet standard which extends email format.

Content-Type
Generally, this will tell you the format of the message, such as in clear text or HTML.

X-Spam-Status
Displays a fake score created by your service or mail client.

X-Spam-Level
Displays a fake score usually created by your service or email client.

Message Body
This kind of is the actual content of the email itself, written by the sender.

Steps on how to view Email Headers on different type of Email Service Provider

For Yahoo

1. Log into Yahoo web mail.
2. Open Mail.
3. Click on more and select view raw message.

• Header will appear on new tab or according to your browser settings.

For Gmail client:

• Log into Gmail.
• Open Mail.
• Click the down arrow next to Reply, at the top-right of the message pane.
• Select Show original.

• Header will appear on new tab or according to your browser settings.

For Rediffmail

• Log into Rediffmail.
• Open Mail.
• Click on see details.
• Click on Show full headers.

 

• Header will appear on new window or according to your browser settings.