Showing Full Headers of a Message
When forwarding an unwanted or abusive email to postmasters for action, it's
very important that you include all of the header information. A great
number of spammers, for instance, will do all they can to blur the origin
of their message, but they can't forge everything! So here's a guide to
viewing full headers in a variety of popular mail clients.
Pine users
Elm users
Mutt users
Eudora users
Pegasus users
Netscape users
Microsoft Outlook users
- From the Main Menu of Pine, press S for Setup, and then
C for Configure.
- Move down through the list of options under "feature-list"
until you reach enable-full-header-cmd. (The feature-list
options are arranged alphabetically.) Press X to make an X
appear in the box next to that option.
- Press E for Exit Config, and then Y for
Yes when Pine asks if you wish to save the changes to your configuration.
- Now, whenever you want to forward a given message with full headers,
you can press H while viewing the message (so that all
headers appear on your screen), and then forward as usual.
Unfortunately, although Elm will happily show full headers while
viewing a message, it will not reproduce them when forwarding the mail.
So the only method is a bit ugly and time-consuming...
- While viewing the message you wish to forward, press h
to show the full headers.
- Press s to save the message to a file, and then
type any filename you like (i.e. "foo" or "headers"). Elm will
acknowledge the save, and then return you to the message index.
- Compose whatever message you want to send to the postmaster. When
you're at the spot where you wish to include the headers, insert the
file "foo" (or "headers", or whatever you named it). If you're using
Emacs, the command is CTRL-x i; in Pico, the command
is CTRL-r; in vi, ESC:r foo. The
file, consisting of the original message plus full headers, will be
included in your mail.
Older versions of Mutt handle headers beautifully: no muss, no fuss. Press
h to view the headers, then f to
forward the message. That's it!
In newer versions of Mutt (we first noticed it at Panix on version
0.93.2i, but we skipped a few revisions when upgrading) your
mime_forward variable must be unset. This is the default on
most, but not all, systems. If forwarding a message does not put the
full headers in the body, check that variable in your .muttrc.
- In Light versions 1.5.2 and below for the PC, 1.5.4 and below for
the Mac, or Pro 2.0.2 and below, you can view the full headers but the
program will not forward them--you will have to cut and paste the headers.
- Select Special from the menu bar, and
then Settings from the menu given.
- Scroll down until you see Fonts &
Display, and click on that item.
- From the list of settings that appears on the right side
of the dialogue box, click on the box next to Show all headers
(even the ugly ones). An X should appear in the box.
- Click on the OK button to save the settings.
- Now, when you view a message, the full headers will be
visible. To include them in mail you send out, highlight the lines
with your mouse, and select Copy from the
Edit menu; then, while composing your outgoing
message, select Paste from the Edit
menu.
- For Eudora Light 1.5.4 for Windows, use the 1.5.2 instructions; the only
difference is that instead of selecting "Settings" from the "Special"
menu, you will need to select Options from the
Tools menu.
- For Eudora 3.0 and newer (Light or Pro), the process is much
easier.
- While viewing a message, you will see a button that says
"Blah blah blah" (no, really!) in the upper left-hand corner of the
message window. Click it to turn on full headers.
- While the full headers are visible, just forward the
message; they will be reproduced in the outgoing mail.
Pegasus is another mailer which will show you full headers, but not
forward them, so you will need to use cut and paste.
- While viewing a message, go to the Reader menu
and select Show All Headers.
- Highlight the headers with the mouse and select
Copy from the Edit menu; then, while
composing your outgoing message, select Paste from
the Edit menu.
- In Netscape 3, you can forward full headers, but the recipient
will not see them unless that person enables his mailer to
show full headers. It doesn't behave as a bounced message, but rather
as mail with two sets of headers. Very odd.
- In Netscape Mail, go to the Options menu,
the Show Headers item, and select All.
- When you return to the message, you'll see all the
headers. Just forward the mail (as an attachment, which is the
default).
- In Netscape Communicator, just go to the View
menu, select Headers and then All,
then forward the message as an attachment (which is the default).
However, be aware that the recipient will have to view the attachment
separately to see the headers; just looking at the message won't show them.
helpmaster@panix.com
© Copyright 2000, Public Access Networks Corporation
Last modified:
Monday, 10-Sep-2001 15:33:22 EDT
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