Email Headers and How To Extract Them in Gmail and Outlook

In the field of cybersecurity, knowing how to extract email headers plays a vital role in identifying and preventing phishing attacks.

In this article, I will explain to you what are email headers, when and why would you need to extract them, and I will show you as well how to get them in Gmail and Outlook.

Email headers play a vital role in identifying and preventing phishing attacks. Often not visible to the average user, they contain metadata that provides details about the email’s transmission and routing.

Email headers include information like the sender’s IP address, email client, server details, and the email’s route from sender to recipient.

An email header information looks like the screenshot below:

Users should extract and forward email headers to their IT departments whenever suspecting a phishing attack.

Headers such as “From”, “Return-Path”, “Received”, “Authentication-Results”, “DKIM-Signature”, “Message-ID”, and “Content-Type” will definitely help the IT staff in analyzing and identifying various aspects of the suspicious email, in order to check for potential spoofing or phishing attempts.

Note: Forwarding phishing emails with their headers to the IT department is one of multiple ways to report such attacks. To learn more about this, you can check Where and How To Report a Phishing Email.

The header information of an email can be accessed through specific settings within the email client, as I will show you below for Gmail and Outlook.

To extract the header information of an email in Gmail (web version) :

  1. Open the suspicious email.
  2. In the upper-right corner of the email, click on the three vertical dots (“More” options to the right of the “Reply” command).
  3. Then, choose “Show Original”.

  1. Gmail opens a new tab titled “Original Message” showing you the email headers along with its body (content).
  2. Click on “Download Original” link to download the source of the email as an EML file.

  1. Forward the EML file as an attachment to your IT department.

To extract the header information of an email in Outlook (web version) :

  1. If the suspicious email isn’t open, right-click on it (Don’t open it) and choose “Save as”.
    If it’s open, click on the three horizontal dots (“More actions” in the upper-right corner to the right of the “Forward” arrow icon); then choose “Save as”.

  1. An EML file (with the subject of the email as a name) will be downloaded containing the email header information along with its content.
  2. Forward it as an attachment to your IT department.

To extract the header information of an email in Outlook Windows app :

  1. Open the suspicious email.
  2. Click on “File”, then “Properties”.

  1. The “Properties” dialog box opens up.
  2. In the “Internet headers” section at the bottom of the dialog box, right-click and choose “Select all”.

  1. Copy and paste the selection into a text file (Notepad…).
  2. Forward it as an attachment to your IT department.

Knowing how to access email headers is paramount for users suspecting email phishing attempts or attacks.

By forwarding these headers to their IT department, they will help the IT staff in identifying potential spoofing or phishing attempts, hence effectively countering email phishing threats and contributing to a more secure online environment.

( IT Security Specialist and Web Publisher )

Brian is a dedicated professional in IT security since 2010. With a strong commitment to enhancing cybersecurity practices, he shares in this website valuable insights to empower individuals and businesses in securely navigating the digital world.

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