Original Message Headers for a sent email

Help your contact find the original Message Header for your email in their email client to troubleshoot why they received multiple copies, why your emails are landing in their spam folder, or why they're having authentication issues

Occasionally our Customer Support team may ask you to provide us with a copy of the “Original Message Headers” for an email campaign sent from your Constant Contact account.

• When are Message Headers necessary for troubleshooting?
• How do I help my contact find the message header in their email client?

When are Message Headers necessary for troubleshooting?

Message headers let us see any patterns or error messages that may shed some light on the root cause of the problem. There are a few situations where we may ask for Message Headers:

• Multiple copies of emails received
• Email Delivery troubleshooting
• Email Authentication errors

More often than not, the contact's server, firewall, or email relay service is the reason contacts may be receiving duplicate emails, having your emails land in their spam folder, or having authentication errors. Unfortunately when this is the case, there is nothing that you as the sender can do, but we can further investigate for you.

How do I help my contact find the message header in their email client?

Before contacting Support, you'll need to obtain the message header for each of the problematic emails. First find out what kind of email client your contact is using, and then ask your contact to find the header information by following the following instructions for their email client:

Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2013, and 2016

1. Double-click on the email.
2. Click the "Expand" option in the lower right-hand corner of the Options section in the Ribbon Bar.
3. Headers are located in the bottom in the "Internet headers" section.

For additional help finding Message Headers in Outlook, please see Microsoft's support.

Microsoft Outlook 2010

1. Double-click on the email.
2. Click the File tab.
3. Select Properties. The header information is located in the Internet headers field.

For additional help finding Message Headers in Outlook, please see Microsoft's support.

Microsoft Outlook Web Access

1. Double-click the message name to bring the email to a full window.
2. In the top bar, click the Envelope and Paper icon for message details.
3. The headers display.
4. Select and copy the text.

For additional help finding Message Headers in Outlook, please see Microsoft's support.

Outlook.com (Formerly Hotmail)

1. In the left pane, click on Inbox.
2. Open the email you want to view the message header.
3. In the upper right-hand corner of the message, click the three dots.
4. Select "View Message Source."

For additional help finding Message Headers in Outlook, please see Microsoft's support.

Yahoo Mail

1. In the email message, click the three dots at the top of the email.
2. Select "View raw message."
3. Copy the headers (right-click and select "Copy," or Ctrl-C, or select Edit > Copy from the file menus on the top of the screen).

For additional help finding Message Headers in Yahoo, please see Yahoo's support.

Gmail

1. In the email message, click the three dots next to the Reply arrow in the top right.
2. Select Show original.
3. The full headers appear in a new window.

For additional help finding Message Headers in Gmail, please see Google's support

Apple Mail

1. Click on the message for which you want to see the full header information.
2. From the menu, select View > Message > Raw Source.
3. The full message is displayed with all headers. Select the message header for copying.

For additional help finding Message Headers in Apple Mail, please see Apple's support

AOL Webmail

1. Double-click to open the message in the inbox.
2. In the toolbar above, click More > View Message Source.
   Note: If you have a pop-up blocker enabled, you may need to hold down the Ctrl button as you click View Message Source, or right-click the blocked pop-up message and choose "Temporarily Allow Pop-ups."
3. This opens a copy of the email with the message headers at the top.

For additional help finding Message Headers in AOL, please see AOL's support

Thunderbird

1. Click the message in the Reading pane to open it in a new tab or new window.
2. Select View > Headers > All from the menu bar to display the full message headers.
3. Copy the message headers that appear at the top of the page, above the email text.

For additional help finding Message Headers in Thunderbird, please see Mozilla's support

Questions?