How To: Obtain Email Message Headers

Description

If you have received a message that you believe is phishing, follow the steps below obtain the message headers to include in your "Report Issue" for the Service "Phishing and Spam Emails."

Table of Contents

Steps

Retrieving Message Headers in the Outlook Web App

1. Double click the message to open it in a new window.

2. Click the three dots (…) next to the Forward Arrow () near the top of the email.

3. Click on “View” on the dropdown menu.

4. Click on "View Message Details."

5. A new window will pop up with the header information. Copy all of the information and paste into the desired location (Text document, Email, Word).

To easily grab the information, you can right click (Ctrl + Click on Mac) and "Select All", then press "Ctrl + C" to copy, (Cmd + C on Mac)

Retrieving Message Headers on Outlook for Windows

  1. Double-click on the email you are trying to retrieve message headers for
    Double-click on email
  2. Click File in the upper-left hand corner
    File on header
  3. Click Properties
    Properties
  4. Click on the text inside the Internet headers box and press CTRL+A (the CTRL key and the A key at the same time). Then, right-click and press Copy
    Copy-paste headers
  5. Right-click to paste the headers wherever you need them posted

Retrieving Message Headers on Outlook on Mac

  1. Right-click on the email from which you are trying to receive message headers
  2. Click View Source
    Viewing source on Outlook for Mac
  3. Copy the Header Information from the prompt which comes up

Retrieving Message Headers on Mac Mail

  1. Click on the email you are trying to retrieve headers from
  2. In the upper left-hand corner of the screen, click View
  3. Then, highlight Message, and click All Headers
    Viewing All Headers on Mac Mail
  4. The header information will be available to copy in the prompt that comes up
     

Note about iOS and Android

You cannot retrieve email headers in the iOS Mail app or in the Outlook app for Android and iPhone.

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Related Services / Offerings (3)

Computing and Technology Services (CTS) offers cybersecurity training for all faculty, staff and students.
Students, faculty and staff receive University email account through our Microsoft Office 365 subscription, which provides access to email, calendaring and other collaboration tools.
While there are many tools in place to filter and block a large volume of phishing or spam emails, some of these messages may be delivered to your inbox.