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View Full Headers in Outlook on the Web

If you are having problems with your email, one common diagnostic aid is a complete list of the message's headers. Headers show the path a message took to get from the sender to the recipient. The IT Service Desk or other technical support may ask you to provide a message's headers.

This article applies to: Outlook on the Web

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Microsoft frequently updates the design of Outlook on the web, so your version may not match exactly the description given here.

There are several ways to get message headers for the IT Service Desk. Whenever possible, get and send headers as an attachment. The attachment will capture the relevant information that the IT Service Desk needs.

Get and Send Headers as an Attachment

While in Outlook on the web, click and drag the message from the list of messages to the body of the email you will be sending to the IT Service Desk. The message will become an attachment which has all the header information inside it. 

Get Headers from View Message Details

While in Outlook on the web,

  1. Near the top of the message, next to the reply, reply all and forward icons, click the three dot icon. On a Mac, alternatively, press control + click on the message to open a context menu.
  2. Select View, then View message details. The Message details pane will open.

  3. Click at the beginning of the contents of the Message details pane, then scroll to the end of the box and shift-click just after the last character. The entire contents of the pane should now be selected (highlighted).
  4. Press ctrl-c (Mac: command-c); this copies the text to the clipboard.
  5. Then, with an email message or other document open, press ctrl-v (Mac: command-v) to paste the header text into that document.

Get Headers from Message Header Analyzer

While in Outlook on the web,

  1. Near the top of the message, next to the reply, reply all and forward icons, click the Apps icon (four circles in a square). The Apps pane will open. Note: If your window is minimized or very narrow, the Apps icon may not be visible until clicking on the three dot icon.
  2. Click Message Header Analyzer.
  3. At the bottom of the Message Header Analyzer pane, click the plus sign icon next to Original Headers.
  4. The full headers are displayed in the Original Headers box.

If you need to copy the headers (to paste somewhere else),

  1. Click at the beginning of the contents of the Original Headers box, then scroll to the end of the box and shift-click just after the last character. The entire contents of the Original Headers box should now be selected (highlighted).
  2. Press ctrl-c (Mac: command-c); this copies the text to the clipboard.
  3. Then, with an email message or other document open, press ctrl-v (Mac: command-v) to paste the header text into that document.

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