How to Get the Message Header from Gmail or Outlook
Email message headers are a vital tool for diagnosing delivery issues, identifying spam or phishing attempts, and tracing the route of an email. Headers contain metadata such as sender IP address, email server hops, SPF/DKIM/DMARC results, and more — all invisible in the standard email view. Here's how to access message headers in Gmail and Outlook.
What is an Email Header?
An email header is a block of metadata that precedes the body of an email message. It includes:
Sender and recipient details
Timestamp
Email routing path (from server to server)
Authentication results
MIME version and content-type info
Headers are useful for IT administrators, security analysts, and anyone needing to verify the legitimacy or trace the journey of an email.
How to View Message Headers in Gmail
Open Gmail in your web browser.
Open the specific email you want to analyze.
Click the three vertical dots (More) in the top-right corner of the email.
Select "Show original" from the dropdown menu.
A new tab will open showing the raw email including its headers, plain text, and DKIM/SPF/DMARC authentication results.
You can click "Copy to clipboard" to paste the data elsewhere for further analysis.
If you just want to analyze the route or IPs, look for lines starting with:
Received: from ...How to View Message Headers in Outlook
For Outlook Web (Outlook.com / OWA):
Open Outlook Web in your browser.
Open the email message.
Click the three dots (More actions) in the top-right of the message window.
Choose "View" > "View message details" or "View message source".
A pop-up window will appear showing the full email header.
For Outlook Desktop App (Windows):
Open the message in a new window by double-clicking it.
In the toolbar, click on "File" > "Properties".
Look under the Internet headers section at the bottom of the pop-up window.
You can copy the header text for further use.
For Outlook on Mac:
Open the email in Outlook for Mac.
Click "View" > "Message" > "Internet Headers".
A new window will open with the full headers.
Other emails:
Apple Mail (Mac)
Open the email.
Click View > Message > All Headers or Raw Source.
Yahoo Mail
Open the email.
Click More (three dots) and select View raw message.
Thunderbird
Open the email.
Click View > Message Source.
Tools to Analyze Email Headers
Once you’ve copied the headers, you can use free tools to make sense of them:
MXToolbox: https://mxtoolbox.com/EmailHeaders.aspx
Sublime Security: https://analyzer.sublime.security/
These tools break down each hop, delay, and server used in the transmission path.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to access and interpret message headers is essential for troubleshooting email issues, spotting spoofed emails, and enhancing cybersecurity awareness. Whether you're using Gmail or Outlook, it only takes a few steps to unlock this detailed information.