Email Header Analyzer
When a specific email lands in spam and you need to know exactly why, the headers are the evidence. Paste the raw text into this mail header analyzer to check email headers for SPF, DKIM and DMARC results, trace the message route, and see where delivery failed.
From
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To
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Subject
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Date
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Authentication Results
Additional Details
Message Route
All Headers
What an Email Header Analyzer Shows You
This email header analyzer reads the raw header block of a message and turns it into three things: the authentication results (SPF, DKIM and DMARC), the route the message took, and the delay at each hop. It is a mail header analyzer built for deliverability work, so it focuses on the fields that explain why a message was filtered, delayed or rejected.
Support teams use it as an email header viewer to see who sent a message and when. Deliverability engineers use it for email header analysis, to find the hop that added a delay or the authentication check that failed. If you know the job as a message header analyzer, an email message header analyzer or an email headers analyzer, it is the same thing: parsing the Received, Authentication-Results, Return-Path and Message-ID lines into something you can read.
As an email header parser, it joins folded lines and splits each header into a name and a value, the way any header parser does. As a free email header tool it needs no account, and as an email header analyzer tool it adds the authentication verdicts and hop timing on top of the raw text.
Because it works on pasted text, it also acts as a mailbox header analyzer for any account you can open, including shared inboxes and saved bounces. It is not a web header analyzer: tools with that name read the HTTP response headers of a website, while this one reads email headers.
For a quick mail header check, start with the three authentication cards. A header check takes seconds when SPF, DKIM and DMARC all show Pass, and a Fail or Not Found tells you which record to fix first. The SPF record checker, DKIM record checker and DMARC record checker look up the DNS records behind each result, and the domain security scanner covers BIMI, MTA-STS and TLS reporting.
How to Analyze Email Headers
- Copy the full raw headers from your mail client. The client guides below show where to find them.
- Paste them into the box at the top of this page and press Analyze Headers. You can analyze email headers from any sender, not only your own domain.
- Read the SPF, DKIM and DMARC cards first. To analyze email header results for one message, look for Pass, Fail, Softfail, Neutral or Not Found on each card.
- Then read the message route. Each hop shows the server, its IP address and the delay since the previous hop, color-coded so that delays above 30 seconds stand out.
- Open All Headers to see every field, and use the same steps to analyze header fields such as Return-Path, Reply-To and Message-ID.
You can analyze header email text from any client, as long as you paste the raw header block and not the rendered message. For the fields that matter most in a healthy header, see the technical anatomy of an ecommerce email header and how an SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker verifies all three records.
How to Find Raw Email Headers in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and Apple Mail
How do I get email headers in Gmail?
Open the message, click the three dots, then choose Show original. Show original is the fastest way to check email header Gmail stores for a message, and Google's summary at the top of that page lists the SPF, DKIM and DMARC results, a basic Google email header analyzer for authentication. Copy the full text and paste it above for the route and delay breakdown.
How do I get email headers in Outlook?
Open the message, click the three dots and choose View message source (the exact menu wording varies by Outlook version), then copy everything. Paste it into this Outlook header analyzer, which works as a message headers analyzer for headers copied from any Outlook account.
How do I get email headers in Yahoo Mail?
Open the message, click the three dots and choose View raw message. Copy the header lines at the top, which end at the first blank line, and paste them into the analyzer.
How do I get email headers in Apple Mail?
Open the message and choose View, then Message, then All Headers. Select and copy the header text, then paste it into the analyzer. The same steps apply to any client that can show raw or full headers.
Understanding Email Headers
What are email headers?
Email headers are metadata attached to every email containing routing information, authentication results, timestamps, and server details. They're like a postal tracking slip showing every server that handled your email.
What do the authentication results mean?
SPF verifies the sending server is authorized. DKIM verifies the message wasn't altered in transit. DMARC aligns SPF and DKIM with the visible From address. All three passing means maximum trust.
Why are there delays between hops?
Each Received header represents a server that processed the email. Delays can indicate spam filtering, greylisting, server load, or network issues. Large delays (>30 seconds) may affect time-sensitive emails.
What is the Return-Path?
The Return-Path (also called envelope sender or bounce address) is where bounce notifications are sent. It's different from the visible From address and is used in SPF evaluation.
Related Free Tools
Why We Built This Tool
When a specific email fails, the headers hold the evidence — but raw headers are cryptic. Sent/received timestamps are jumbled, SPF results are buried in authentication headers, and server delays are invisible. This tool normalizes headers so you can trace the route and see exactly where delivery failed: SPF, DKIM, greylisting, or reputation blocking.
What Goes Wrong Without This
Header debugging is manual and slow. Teams copy-paste raw headers into notepad, squint at timestamps, and guess which hop failed. A 2-hour delay between hop 3 and hop 4 might indicate greylisting or ISP filtering, but without the tool, teams don't see it. Parsing headers manually wastes time; visual analysis prevents diagnostic dead ends.
Who This Tool Is For
E-commerce & DTC Brands
Marketing and technical teams debugging why specific campaigns landed in spam — tracing headers to pinpoint authentication, reputation, or server-side failures.
Email Marketing Agencies
Technical support teams auditing client header data to diagnose delivery failures and train clients on reading authentication results for self-service troubleshooting.
B2B SaaS & Outbound Teams
Developers and DevOps engineers investigating transactional mail failures, SPF/DKIM alignment issues, and message routing problems for notification systems.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are email headers?
What do SPF, DKIM, and DMARC mean in headers?
What do delays between hops mean?
What is email header analysis?
What can this email header checker tell me?
How do I do an email header trace?
Can I parse email header text without installing anything?
Does this email header lookup show who really sent a message?
Can I use this as an email header spam checker?
Is there a header analyzer Google offers?
Is this the same as an email header analyser?
Can I use this header analyzer email tool for any mail client?
Do I need an InboxEagle account to use this tool?
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