What are Email Headers?
Email headers are like the hidden backstage of an email. They contain important information about the email’s sender, recipient, subject, date, email authentication validation status for your emails, deliverability and alignment issues, etc. Although you usually can’t see them in your email client, they play a crucial role in how emails are delivered.
While the raw file for your email headers can be difficult to read, our Email Header Analyzer tool parses your email headers in a human-readable format that helps you easily read and understand this information.
Why do you need Email Header Analyzer?
Our email header analyzer helps you detect, analyze and investigate your email headers for compliance with authentication protocols. This header analysis tool helps you troubleshoot email issues faster and without any hassle, through a quick and accurate examination of your email headers.
How does an Email Header Analyzer work?
PowerDMARC’s email header analyzer tool examines the header section of an email to extract and analyze various details about the message. The header section of an email contains valuable information about the message’s origin, routing, and other metadata.
Here’s a general overview of how our email header analyzer works:
Read and Analyze Email Headers
You can follow the steps below to analyze email headers for your message:
How to check your email header analysis results?
Email Header Analyzer FAQs
Is Email Header Analyzer free?
We allow 15 days of free trial to visitors to perform email header analysis along with access to various other email authentication protocols, email security analysis, and reporting tools.
How to get email header in Outlook?
To view the email header in Outlook, open the email message, click on the “File” menu, select “Properties,” and then look for the “Internet headers” section. The email header information will be displayed there.
How to find an email header?
To find the email header, open the email message, and depending on the email client, look for an option like “View Headers,” “Show Original,” or “Message Options.” This will display the email header containing metadata about the message.
What sections of the email header have to be filled in?
The email header is automatically generated by the email server and doesn’t require manual filling. It includes essential fields like “From,” “To,” “Date,” “Subject,” “Received,” “Message-ID,” and others, which are automatically populated during the email transmission process.
What does an email header look like?
An email header typically appears as a series of lines containing key-value pairs. Each line represents a specific piece of information, such as the sender’s address, recipient’s address, date, and server details. It might look like this:
How to identify spoofed email from the header?
To identify a spoofed email from the header, look for discrepancies in the “From” and “Return-Path” fields. Check for mismatched domain names or IP addresses in the “Received” lines, which indicate unusual routing paths. Additionally, scrutinize the “Reply-To” and “Return-Path” fields for inconsistencies. If in doubt, verify the sender’s email address independently.
What can the email header tell you?
The email header provides valuable information about the email’s origin, route, and transmission details. It includes the sender’s and recipient’s email addresses, the date and time the message was sent, information about the mail servers involved in the message delivery, and message IDs. This data can help in troubleshooting email issues, tracking email sources, and detecting potential spam or phishing attempts.
