Overview
This topic describes how to analyze message header information in Alibaba Mail.
Details
A message header contains useful information that helps you identify the email's source, sending method, and mail server.
Follow these steps to analyze message header information:
Open the email and convert it to plain text format.
Locate the message header. It typically starts with fields such as From:, To:, and Subject:.
Analyze the mailfrom and MF fields to identify the real sender address. The blacklists and whitelists for users or administrators are effective only for the real sender address.
Analyze the From: field to identify information such as the sender's address, name, and mail server.
Analyze the Received: field to determine whether the email was forwarded or routed.
Analyze the Return-Path: field to identify the email's return address.
Analyze the X-Mailer: field to identify the sender's client type and version.
Analyze the Message-ID: field to identify the email's unique identifier.
Analyze the Date: field to determine when the email was sent.
Analyze the Content-Type: field to identify information such as the email's content type and encoding method.
Analyze the MIME-Version: field to identify the email's Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) version.
Analyzing the message header helps you confirm the email's authenticity, identify the sender, and understand the transmission process.
Example 1
The following example shows the message header of an email sent between two users.
Sender address: from@example.net.
Recipient address: to@example.net.
Sent using the Alibaba Mail web client.
The following is a sample message header from Alibaba Mail:
X-Alimail-AntiSpam:AC=PASS;BC=-1|-1;BR=01201311R291e1;CH=green;DM=||false|;DS=||;FP=0|-1|-1|-1|0|-1|-1|-1;HT=ay29a033018047192;MF=from@example.net;NM=1;PH=DW;RN=1;SR=0;TI=W4_0.2.0_v5_212D484D_1688628380224_o7001c196i;
Received: from WS-web (from@example.net[W4_0.2.0_v5_212D484D_1688628380224_o7001c196i]) at Thu, 06 Jul 2023 15:26:20 +0800
Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2023 15:26:20 +0800
From: "=?UTF-8?B?xxxxxxxxxx=?=" <from@example.net>
Return-Path: "=?UTF-8?B?xxxxxxxxxx=?=" <from@example.net>
To: "=?UTF-8?B?xxxxxxxxxx=?=" <to@example.net>
Disposition-Notification-To: "=?UTF-8?B?xxxxxxxxxx=?=" <from@example.net>
Reply-To: "=?UTF-8?B?xxxxxxxxxx=?=" <from@example.net>
Message-ID: <7fd6623a-6f5b-4e83-b52d-e9d0e75ad5b1.from@example.net>
Subject: =?UTF-8?B?xxxxxxxxxx?=
X-Priority: 1
X-Mailer: [Alimail-Mailagent revision 85][W4_0.2.0][v5][Chrome]
MIME-Version: 1.0
In-Reply-To: <0eddb917-9d17-4015-af46-6c98b8be6b19.from2@example.net>
References: <0eddb917-9d17-4015-af46-6c98b8be6b19.from2@example.net>,<a82e752e-0098-4393-956f-3a438f32f3d2.from1@example.net>
x-aliyun-mail-creator: W4_0.2.0_v5_M3LTW96aWxsYS81LjAgKFdpbmRvd3MgTlQgMTAuMDsgV2luNjQ7IHg2NCkgQXBwbGVXZWJLaXQvNTM3LjM2IChLSFRNTCwgbGlrZSBHZWNrbykgQ2hyb21lLzExNC4wLjAuMCBTYWZhcmkvNTM3LjM2vN
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=ALIBOUNDARY_82652_7efbfbd9a700_64a66c9c_168057"The real information in this sample message header has been replaced with placeholder information, such as example.net.
Some fields in the message header are not mandatory and can be added or removed by the sending program. Non-compliant headers may cause the recipient's server to classify the email as spam or reject it.
Other information:
The to, cc, and bcc fields specify the recipient, carbon copy recipient, and blind carbon copy recipient, respectively. The bcc field is not typically displayed in the message header.
The From address is the display address shown to the recipient. It can be different from the real mailfrom address. However, this discrepancy increases the probability that the recipient's server will classify the email as spam.
The Reply-To field specifies the return address. When a recipient replies to the email, the reply is sent to this address. However, some clients may not support this feature.
The Received field typically contains server information. The server transmission times in this field can be used to determine where a delivery delay occurred.
The In-Reply-To field specifies the message to which the email is a reply. This field contains a single Message-ID value that informs the email client about the reply relationship. This allows the client to display the email as a reply to the original message.
The References field specifies the reply relationship chain. This field can contain multiple Message-ID values, which typically include the Message-IDs of previous emails in the thread. The values are separated by commas or spaces.
The Disposition-Notification-To field requests a read receipt to confirm that the recipient has received and opened the email.
The boundary is an identifier used to separate different parts of the email body.
In the X-Priority field, the values 1 (Highest priority) and 2 (High priority) are marked with an exclamation point in Alibaba Mail.
Applies to
Alibaba Mail