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Sometimes we need to know where an email was sent from, the IP address, the country, or even the city. There’s a tool from WhatIsMyIPaddress.com called Trace Email that can help you to do that. This tool attempts to locate the source IP address of an email based on the email headers, thus we can trace where did the email come from. To use the tool just copy and paste the full headers of the email you’ve received into the box below and press submit. When the page reloads scroll down to the bottom for the email header analysis and results.

This article explains how to trace an email that was sent with Gmail and Thunderbird. With the explanation provided, you should be able to trace any email sent with any other email programs like Yahoo Mail or Ms Outlook.

At the time of this writing, WhatIsMyIPaddress.com is in the process of compiling a set of instructions to obtain email headers from a variety of popular webmail services and email applications.

How to Get Email Header in GMail

Open the email to be traced in GMail. Look at the “Show Original” menu under the arrow icon near the “Reply” button:

Gmail will open a new window, showing the original email message with the header. Copy the email header section, which are the text just before the message comes. For example:

How to Trace the Email

Now, go to WhatIsMyIPaddress.com website. Click on the menu “Trace Email”. On the “Header” section, paste the email header you have just copied from Gmail before. Then press “Get Source” button.

Whoa! The email was traced and you can see the origin IP address who sent you the email, and the country, the state, the city, postal code, latitude longitude, and the area code.. You could also see the location on the map.

CAUTION: This E-Mail header analysis tool assumes all mail servers and clients in the transmission path are trustworthy. It does not attempt to detect forged e-mail headers. Forged headers are common in spam and other malicious e-mail, therefore this tool cannot be relied upon to accurately identify the source of such messages.

How to Get Email Header in Thunderbird

In Thunderbird, open the email to be traced. Then open the menu Message – Message Source:

A new will appear showing the email message in the original format with the header. Copy the email header which is the text just before the message comes. For example:

Copy and paste the email header just like the previous step, and you are done.