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Overview
Email headers provide detailed technical information about a message, including the path it took to reach you, sender details, timestamps, and more. This can be useful for troubleshooting delivery issues, verifying authenticity, or reporting spam/phishing. Most email clients hide full headers by default, but you can view them on a per-message basis in popular clients.
Google@UH Gmail (Webmail)
Google@UH Gmail is accessed through a web browser, so the interface may vary slightly with updates, but the process remains consistent.
- Log in to Google@UH Gmail using a web browser.
- Open the message you'd like to view headers for.
- In the top-right corner of the message, click the three-dot menu (More options).
- Select Show original.
A new tab will open displaying the complete raw message, including all headers at the top followed by the message body and attachments (if any). You can copy the headers from here for further analysis or to share with support.
For guidance on reading and interpreting these headers (e.g., checking SPF/DKIM/DMARC results or tracing the path), refer to Google's support article: Trace an email with its full header (link).
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Apple Mail (macOS)
Apple Mail is included with macOS and updates with the operating system (current version tied to macOS Tahoe 26 or later).
To view all headers for a specific message:
- Open the Mail app.
- Select the message in your inbox or folder (you don't need to open it fully).
- From the menu bar at the top of the screen, go to View > Message > All Headers.
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This expands the header section directly in the message preview pane, showing all detailed header lines.
Alternatively, for the complete raw source (including headers, body, and any encoded attachments):
- Go to View > Message > Raw Source.
This is helpful for advanced troubleshooting or copying the entire message.
For more options, such as customizing default header display, see Apple's support: Show detailed headers in Mail on Mac (link).
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Mozilla Thunderbird (Windows, macOS, and Linux)
Thunderbird is a free, open-source, cross-platform email client with frequent updates (current stable version around 146 as of December 2025).
To view full headers:
- Open Thunderbird.
- Select the message (click it once in the message list).
- From the menu bar, go to View > Headers > All.
This toggles the header display in the reading pane to show all available header lines, providing details like Received paths, authentication, and more.
For the complete raw message source (useful for copying everything exactly as received):
- Select the message.
- From the menu bar, go to View > Message Source (keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+U on Windows/Linux or Cmd+U on macOS).
- This opens the full raw text in a new window, starting with all headers.
Thunderbird's flexible view makes it easy to switch back to normal or default headers as needed.
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Microsoft Outlook (Windows)
Outlook for Windows has two main interfaces depending on your version: the classic desktop app (most common on campus) and the newer redesigned "New Outlook" (which resembles the web version and may be toggled on in some installations).
Classic Outlook (Microsoft 365 desktop app, most common)
- Double-click the message to open it in its own separate window (this is important—do not use the reading pane).
- In the new window, go to the ribbon and click File (top-left corner).
- Select Properties (usually at the bottom of the Info page).
- Scroll to the bottom of the Properties dialog—the full headers are displayed in the Internet headers box.
You can select and copy the text here for pasting into a support ticket or analyzer tool.
New Outlook for Windows (redesigned version)
- Open the message.
- Click the three-dot menu (⋯) in the top-right corner of the message window.
- Go to View > View message source (or View message details in some builds).
This opens the raw message source, including all headers.
For the latest details or variations, see Microsoft's support: View Internet message headers in Outlook (link).
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Microsoft Outlook (macOS)
Outlook for Mac (new version) provides a straightforward way to access the raw source.
- In the message list, right-click (or Control-click) the desired message.
- From the context menu, select View Source.
The full raw message—including all headers and the complete body—will open in a new text editor window (like TextEdit).
This method is quick and doesn't require opening the message fully.
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Additional Notes
- These steps focus on viewing headers for individual messages, which is the most common need for troubleshooting.
- Mobile apps (e.g., Gmail or Outlook on iOS/Android) often have limited or no direct access to full headers—use the web or desktop versions for best results.
- Header analysis tools online (search for "email header analyzer") can help newcomers interpret the information.
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