HOW TO TRACE AN EMAIL USING HEADERS:
How to find the Full Headers in your Email Program
eMailTrackerPro allows you to trace an email using headers copied from any email program you may be using. Tutorials on how to view the full headers for an email using some popular email clients are below. Just click on the email client you are using and you will be taken to the relevant section on this page.
Finding the Full Headers Hint Hotmail/MSN Yahoo Lycos Outlook Express Mail.com Netscape AOL Gmail
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Hint: Full Headers (aka Message Source, Details, Internet Path, Origin) show the entire path an email traveled from the author's computer to yours. When we track an email, we work back down the path to the author's computer. (See How to Track Emails) Without the Full Headers, it's impossible to report Spam or Scam email since the Brief Headers (just the From, To, Date, and Subject) don't provide any information that can be used to find out where the malicious email is coming from.
Email services hide the access to the Full Headers in all sorts of interesting places, including in plain sight!
Be sure to look around your email program window, in both Closed Letter View and Open Letter View, for the words "View Details" or "View Headers" or any combination using the above names for the full path.
If nothing works, click on the Help for your email program. If you still cannot find what you are looking for, contact your email program's Support.
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By default your Hotmail account will be set to 'Basic' which does not allow you to view full headers for an email. This 'basic' setting has to be changed to 'Advanced'. The first stage in doing this is to open your Hotmail options. To do this you need to click the 'Options' link in the top right hand corner of the hotmail window as shown below in fig 1. Make sure you have your inbox in view when clicking this link.
By clicking this link you will be taken to the 'Mail Options' window as shown below in fig 2.
You need to select the 'Mail Display Settings' option as shown above in red. This will take you to the header settings you need to change as shown in fig 3 below.
Fig 3: Mail Display Settings
(Click on image to enlarge)
The section you want is 'Message Headers'. To switch from Basic to Advanced just click the radio button to the left hand side of the Advanced text and make sure it turns green to ensure it has been selected correctly. Once this has been done click the 'Ok' button and return to the inbox.
Once you have returned to the inbox click on an email you wish to trace. You will note that the view has now changed and you can see full headers for the email just above the main email text. This can be seen below in fig 4.
You can just use these headers to trace the email but for more advanced headers click the 'View E-mail Message Source' link just beneath the headers in fig 4. This will launch a pop up window like the one below in fig 5 and shows you the full headers and the main email text.
To use these headers in eMailTrackerPro you have to follow the simple instructions below:
Highlight the headers by clicking and dragging your cursor over the header text. Hold down the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard and the press the 'C' key once, this has copied the highlighted headers. Open eMailTrackerPro if it is not already open and click inside the dialog box where the headers are to be pasted. The headers should be automatically pasted into the dialog box, if this is not the case then hold down the 'Ctrl' key again and press the 'V' key to paste the headers into eMailTrackerPro. Once the headers have been pasted click the 'Trace' button to initiate the trace.
The process of viewing the headers of an email in Yahoo is very simple. First of all click on the email you wish to trace in your inbox; when the email loads up you will see a 'Full Headers' link in top right hand corner of the email window as shown below in fig 1.
Once you have clicked on this link the full headers for the email will appear along with main body of the email at the bottom of the window. The headers will look like fig 2 below.
Note from Fraud Aid: The Full Headers option has moved to the bottom right hand side, just below the letter in open view, to the immediate right of "Save Message Text." If you want all of your emails to display the Full Headers, you can switch back and forth between that and Brief Headers by following this path: Options > General Preferences > Messages > Show all headers on incoming messages.
Fig 2: Email Headers
(Click on image to enlarge)
To use these headers in eMailTrackerPro you have to follow the simple instructions below:
Highlight the headers by clicking and dragging your cursor over the header text. Hold down the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard and the press the 'C' key once, this has copied the highlighted headers. Open eMailTrackerPro if it is not already open and click inside the dialog box where the headers are to be pasted. The headers should be automatically pasted into the dialog box, if this is not the case then hold down the 'Ctrl' key again and press the 'V' key to paste the headers into eMailTrackerPro. Once the headers have been pasted click the 'Trace' button to initiate the trace.
By default your Lycos account will be set not to display full headers. To change this setting the first thing you have to do is click on the 'Settings' link in the top right hand corner of the Lycos window as shown below in fig 1.
Once you have clicked the 'Settings' link the following screen will appear in a pop up window as shown below in fig 2.
Fig 2: Settings
(Click on image to enlarge)
In the settings window above you need to choose the 'Personal Settings' option by clicking on the image shown in red above. Once you have clicked this you will get the settings list below in fig 3.
Fig 3: Advanced Settings
(Click on image to enlarge)
By default the 'Display full header information of received message' option will be set to 'No'. Simply select 'Yes' from the drop down menu shown in red above and then click the 'Save' button, also shown in red. By clicking 'Save' you will be taken back to the previous menu (fig 2) where you need to click 'Close'.
Once you are back to your Lycos inbox click on an email that you wish to trace. When the email comes up you will notice a 'Display Full Header' link to the right hand side of the screen as shown below in fig 4.
By clicking the 'Display Full Header' link a pop up window will launch as shown in fig 5 below. This pop up window has the full headers for that particular email.
Fig 5: Email Headers
(Click on image to enlarge)
To use these headers in eMailTrackerPro you have to follow the simple instructions below:
Highlight the headers by clicking and dragging your cursor over the header text. Make sure you have got the whole header as some headers are too big for the window and you will be required to scroll down. By dragging it should automatically scroll down for you. Hold down the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard and the press the 'C' key once, this has copied the highlighted headers. Open eMailTrackerPro if it is not already open and click inside the dialog box where the headers are to be pasted. The headers should be automatically pasted into the dialog box, if this is not the case then hold down the 'Ctrl' key again and press the 'V' key to paste the headers into eMailTrackerPro. Once the headers have been pasted click the 'Trace' button to initiate the trace.
The process of viewing headers for an email in Outlook Express is very simple. The first thing you have to do is right click on the email you wish to get the header for. The right click menu will appear as shown below in fig 1:
From the menu above choose 'Properties'; this will launch a dialog box like the one below in fig 2:
Fig 2: Details Tab in Properties
(Click on image to enlarge)
When the dialog box first launches it will be on the 'General' tab; to view the headers click on the 'Details' tab as shown above in red.
To use these headers in eMailTrackerPro you have to follow the simple instructions below:
Highlight the headers by clicking and dragging your cursor over the header text. Make sure you have got the whole header as some headers are too big for the window and you will be required to scroll down. By dragging it should automatically scroll down for you. Hold down the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard and the press the 'C' key once, this has copied the highlighted headers. Open eMailTrackerPro if it is not already open and click inside the dialog box where the headers are to be pasted. The headers should be automatically pasted into the dialog box, if this is not the case then hold down the 'Ctrl' key again and press the 'V' key to paste the headers into eMailTrackerPro. Once the headers have been pasted click the 'Trace' button to initiate the trace.
To view headers for an email in Mail.com the first thing you have to do is view the email you wish to trace; so from your inbox click on the specific email you want. Then just above the main body of the email you will see a link saying 'Show Full Headers' (fig 1 below), click this.
Once this link has been clicked the email will refresh. Once it has refreshed the entire header for that email will appear above the main body of the email, see fig2 below:
Fig 2: Email Header for Mail.com
(Click on image to enlarge)
To use these headers in eMailTrackerPro you have to follow the simple instructions below:
Highlight the headers by clicking and dragging your cursor over the header text. Make sure you have got the whole header. Hold down the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard and the press the 'C' key once, this has copied the highlighted headers. Open eMailTrackerPro if it is not already open and click inside the dialog box where the headers are to be pasted. The headers should be automatically pasted into the dialog box, if this is not the case then hold down the 'Ctrl' key again and press the 'V' key to paste the headers into eMailTrackerPro. Once the headers have been pasted click the 'Trace' button to initiate the trace.
To view headers for an email in Netscape the first thing you have to do is view the email you wish to trace; so from your inbox click on the specific email you want. When your email come into view you should see a yellow arrow pointing upwards as shown in red in fig 1 below, you need to click this to view the header for the email.
Once you have clicked the yellow arrow the header information should look like fig 2 below:
Fig 2: Email header
(Click on image to enlarge)
To use these headers in eMailTrackerPro you have to follow the simple instructions below:
Highlight the headers by clicking and dragging your cursor over the header text. Make sure you have got the whole header. Hold down the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard and the press the 'C' key once, this has copied the highlighted headers. Open eMailTrackerPro if it is not already open and click inside the dialog box where the headers are to be pasted. The headers should be automatically pasted into the dialog box, if this is not the case then hold down the 'Ctrl' key again and press the 'V' key to paste the headers into eMailTrackerPro. Once the headers have been pasted click the 'Trace' button to initiate the trace.
To view headers for an email in AOL the first thing you have to do is view the email you wish to trace; so from your inbox click on the specific email you want. When your email come into view you should see a link saying 'Detail' just above the main body of the email (as shown in red below in fig 1). You need to click this link to view the full header for the email.
Once you have clicked this link you should see a dialog box like the one below in fig 2
Fig 2: Email header view in AOL
(Click on image to enlarge)
To use these headers in eMailTrackerPro you have to follow the simple instructions below:
Highlight the headers by clicking and dragging your cursor over the header text. Make sure you have got the whole header as some headers are too big for the window and you will be required to scroll down. By dragging it should automatically scroll down for you.
Hold down the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard and the press the 'C' key once, this has copied the highlighted headers.
Open eMailTrackerPro if it is not already open and click inside the dialog box where the headers are to be pasted. The headers should be automatically pasted into the dialog box, if this is not the case then hold down the 'Ctrl' key again and press the 'V' key to paste the headers into eMailTrackerPro.
Once the headers have been pasted click the 'Trace' button to initiate the trace.
How to view email headers in Gmail
Open email.
Click on Show Options next to the sender's email address.
Click on Show Original - a new window will open containing the Full Headers.
Highlight and copy the Full Headers
Open eMailTrackerPro if it is not already open and click inside the dialog box where the headers are to be pasted. The headers should be automatically pasted into the dialog box, if this is not the case then hold down the 'Ctrl' key again and press the 'V' key to paste the headers into eMailTrackerPro.
Once the headers have been pasted click the 'Trace' button to initiate the trace.
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