How to Analyse Outlook Email Header (Internet Headers)

Introduction

Do you know some hidden parts of emails contain important information? Yes, apart from the message it contains, it has information to identify and verify messages. It can be helpful for you if your work involves handling emails extensively. Email headers provide essential information about the email’s origin, route, and other details. Being familiar with email headers can help you troubleshoot issues, trace email paths, and enhance your overall email management skills.

This article will teach you how to analyze Outlook email headers. But before this let’s understand what email headers are.

What is an E-mail header?

An email header is the record of the technical details of the email which remains invisible until it is checked. It has information about the email’s route and authentications used, to reach the receiver’s inbox or spam folder. The email header is among the three main elements of email. These elements are:

• Message body – The main text of the email is the body.
• Envelope – It’s the information the email client and server use to deliver the email to the right address.
• Email header- It provides email addresses, servers, and other relevant information about the message.

Before learning how to view Outlook email headers let’s have a look at what email headers contain.

Important Parts to Analyse Outlook Email Header

Email headers are not only about the sender, receiver, and email subject, there is much more to it. If you check the email header you will find there is so much information. But you need to get into all of it. Let us first see the standard parts of email headers.

Standard Part of Email Header

• From: Name and email address of the sender
• To: Name and email address of the receiver.
• Date: time and date when the email is sent.
• Subject: concise preview of the email.

Additional Parts of the Email Header

The additional parts of the Email header let the viewer retrieve information about the journey of the email. Moreover, it lets you know about any errors that may have occurred.

• Return path: The “Return-Path” of the Email header specifies the address where delivery notifications and bounce messages are sent.
• Authentication results: In an email, it is used to record how well the email passed tests like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. If everything is okay, it gets a “pass”.
• Received*: This section shows the path the email has followed. If there are any problems you can see where the changes have happened.
• Message ID: It is like a special code created when the email is made for the first time, giving each email a unique identifier.
• MIME- version: This label on the emails means, it is using a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) to include different types of content.
• Content-Type: It indicates the format of the message, such as plain text, HTML, or other multimedia types. Content-Type: text/plain- refers to the plain email body, while Content-Type: text/html – refers to HTML content.
• Precedence: Consider it as some kind of signal used by the sender to tell Google that this email was sent in bulk. This optional header helps to make sure that the emails don’t end up in the spam folder.

Reason to Analyze Outlook Email Header

Email Headers contain important information about the origin, route, and content of an email.

• Forensic experts trace email paths and detect spamming or spoofing using email headers.
• Helps to reconstruct the journey of an email through various servers through which understanding of the sequence of events can be done.
• Abnormalities in sender information can be detected which helps to identify potential threats.
• Organizations use email header analysis to set up legitimate email campaigns, ensuring the legal standards.
• Changes in headers serve as red flags that prove malicious activities.

Manual Technique to Analyze Outlook Message Header

Microsoft Outlook is a widely used email client. To keep you and your organization safe you should know how you can view internet message headers in Outlook. Here are some simple steps you can follow step by step.

1. Launch MS Outlook on your computer
2. Choose the email whose email header you want to analyze.
   

3. Select the email and click on File and then Properties.
   
4. Lastly, you can view the email headers.

Limitations of using the Outlook method

• You can examine the headers one by one, bulk option is unavailable.
• Can not analyze headers if Microsoft Outlook is not working.
• The Outlook method cannot help if you use another email client like Thunderbird, Yahoo, or Apple Mail.

Professional Technique to Examine Outlook Email Header

The PST Viewer offers a convenient solution for users to analyze Outlook email headers. You can perform the task without relying on Microsoft Outlook. Moreover, there is no size limitation as users can add large files. The application allows users to analyze email providing essential information such as sender, recipient, subject, and date. Additionally, the software supports both ANSI and Unicode PST files and is compatible with all versions of Outlook. Users can take advantage of the high compatibility with various Windows operating systems, including Windows 11.

Conclusion

As discussed in the blog, before clicking on any email from a new sender, check the header first. In the above sections, we have shared information on how you can analyze the Outlook email header. However, the method of viewing the email header depends on the email client you are using. Furthermore, the SysInfo PST viewer is independent of the email client. You can download the free version to avail the free version.

About The Author:

Simran Bhatia

Simran Bhatia is a technical content writer engaged in writing clear, concise, and SEO-optimized content. With a background in computer science and a passion for writing, I thrive to deliver complex technical content in simple layman terms.