How do you display sender's real email address (or other header information)?

[mike.usenet]

Today I received a message which Outlook 2007's reading pane said was
from

PayPal [s e r v i c e @ p a y p a l . c o m]

Here's what "Message options..." says is in the header (spaces added
for viewing)

Return-path: <s e r v ic e @ p a y p a l . c o m>
....
Received: from 2.e5.5646.static.theplanet.com ([70.86.229.2]
helo=padik.com)
....
Received: from User [65.124.67.15] by padik.com with ESMTP
(SMTPD32-8.15) id A15633F0102; Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:30:30 -0600
Reply-To: <no reply>
From: "PayPal"< s e r v i c e @ p a y p a l . c o m>
Subject: Your account access has been restricted
....


How do I choose the fields from the header that gets displayed in
these views?

The reading pane.
The folder summary columns.

(I have not been able to find the header fields in the "Show Fields"
dialog box.)

The displayed email address is frequently bogus and if it could be
displayed along with the "Received:" field from the header, bogus
addresses would become obvious and would help in the tedious process
of identifying junk, spam, and phishing.

If it cannot be done within Outlook (that would be a shame), what
add-ins will display header information without having to click on
"Message Options"?

Thanks

 

[N. Miller]

Today I received a message which Outlook 2007's reading pane said was
from

PayPal [s e r v i c e @ p a y p a l . c o m]

Here's what "Message options..." says is in the header (spaces added
for viewing)

Return-path: <s e r v ic e @ p a y p a l . c o m>
...
Received: from 2.e5.5646.static.theplanet.com ([70.86.229.2]
helo=padik.com)
...
Received: from User [65.124.67.15] by padik.com with ESMTP
(SMTPD32-8.15) id A15633F0102; Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:30:30 -0600
Reply-To: <no reply>
From: "PayPal"< s e r v i c e @ p a y p a l . c o m>
Subject: Your account access has been restricted
...


How do I choose the fields from the header that gets displayed in
these views?

The reading pane.
The folder summary columns.

(I have not been able to find the header fields in the "Show Fields"
dialog box.)

The displayed email address is frequently bogus and if it could be
displayed along with the "Received:" field from the header, bogus
addresses would become obvious and would help in the tedious process
of identifying junk, spam, and phishing.

If it cannot be done within Outlook (that would be a shame), what
add-ins will display header information without having to click on
"Message Options"?

It is entirely possible to send email without a functional, or "real" sender
email address. This is not a function of the email client, but a function of
the way that SMTP works. The protocol is very simple. Once the TCP/IP
handshake is complete, and a connection to an MTA has been established, SMTP
only requires the following:

Client sends, "EHLO {string}", where "{string}" is usually a Fully Qualified
Domain Name (FQDN); unless the client is an MUA sending an email to a
Message Submission Server.

Server responds.

Client sends, "MAIL FROM: <email@ddress>", where "<email@ddress>" *should*
be an RFC 822 compliant string. Some MTAs can detect a non-compliant string
(i.e., lacking a name, '@', and FQDN; e.g., '(e-mail address removed)'), and
reject the connection on that basis. OTOH, there is no way to verify that
<[email protected]> doesn't exist on some mail system somewhere in the
world.

Server responds.

Client send, "RCPT TO: <email@ddress>. This is the *only* SMTP data which
*must* be valid; if it is not a valid email address, the domain gateway mail
server will reject it.

Server responds.

Client sends, "DATA", followed by the message. This will include any
previous header information stamped by MTAs which handled the message up
until now, and such optional header information as, "To:", "Cc:", "From:",
"Subject:", and "Date:". None of those items need be present; though some
MTAs can reject email for lack of one of those fields (on the assumption
that a lack of a "Subject:", for example, is an indication that the message
is likely to be spam).

Server responds.

Client either starts another queued message, or closes the connection.

When you download email, you don't, usually, get to see the "RCPT TO:" email
address. Unless your gateway mail server stamps it in the headers (as a
"Delivered-To:", or, in the case of Yahoo! Mail, as an "X-Apparently-To:"
header line.

The "MAIL FROM:" email address is, usually, stamped as the "Return-Path:"
email address; but as I have already explained, that can be either forged,
or phony.

As for what MS Outlook might be able to display, I will have to leave that
to an MSOL expert; I have never used it.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Today I received a message which Outlook 2007's reading pane said was
from

PayPal [s e r v i c e @ p a y p a l . c o m]

You've received a phishing message and, as far as Outlook (or any other mail
client) is concerned, that message came from the specified sender address.
Outlook has no options to enable showing of headers, except as you've used
(the message Options) and none at all to show them in the Reading Pane or
the header line of the message list. You can certainly get Pocketknife Peek
(http://www.xintercept.com/pkpeek.htm) to aid you.

 

[mike.usenet]

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:05:10 -0500, "Brian Tillman"

....

Outlook has no options to enable showing of headers, except as you've used
(the message Options) and none at all to show them in the Reading Pane or
the header line of the message list. You can certainly get Pocketknife Peek
(http://www.xintercept.com/pkpeek.htm) to aid you.

Thanks for the add-in recommendation. I'll check it out.

The "From:" field on the message list currently shows just the display
name. The reading pane shows the display name PLUS the supplied
(possibly bogus) email address with domain.

Is it possible to show the complete "From:" field (just like what's
shown in the reading pane) in the message list "From" column?

Thanks again.

 

[Brian Tillman]

The "From:" field on the message list currently shows just the display
name. The reading pane shows the display name PLUS the supplied
(possibly bogus) email address with domain.

The From address will always show the "friendly name" (the equivalent of an
outgoing message displaying a contact's Display Name), which is specified by
the sender. You can't control that.

Is it possible to show the complete "From:" field (just like what's
shown in the reading pane) in the message list "From" column?

No, but you can double-click the contents of the From line and see the
actual address used. FOr spam, however, it will be fake, so who care?