Ensuring mail delivery: Checking email headers

Overview

What are email headers?

Besides the most common identifications (from, to, date, subject), email headers also provide information about the route an email takes as it is transferred from one computer to another. To make sure emails from HoxHunt land up where we want them to - the user's email inbox - certain email headers must be present in Hoxhunt's simulation emails.

NOTE: This doesn't apply to customer using Google Workspace.

Checking header information

You may be instructed to check the headers of an email during Technical Testing or if some simulation emails are landing in Junk/Spam folder.

In this example we use Message Header Analyzer Outlook add-in to check the headers. You can install it from the Outlook Store. (NOTE: You can also use other methods, and you may be asked to send full header details to Hoxhunt for troubleshooting purposes.)

If you are instructed to check the headers of an email, do the following:

  1. Open the email you want to examine.
  2. Click MHA add-in. 
  3. Look for the following email headers in Other pane:
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-BypassClutter: true 
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-BypassFocusedInbox: true
SCL: -1

If you have Microsoft EOP or ATP, then also look for the following:

X-Forefront-Antispam-Report: SFV:SKI;

If you have Microsoft ATP, then also look for the following:

X-MS-Exchange-AtpMessageProperties: SA|SL

Outlook_Check_Headers.gif

 

Accessing full header information

You can access the full header information in case you are asked to provide them to Hoxhunt. 

  1. Open the email you want to examine.
  2. Click MHA add-in.
  3. At the end of Summary pane, select (+) Original Headers.
  4. You can now copy-paste the results wherever you want.

Some email headers are missing, what to do?

If you are missing any of the email headers above that you should have in your email environment, please check your whitelisting and mail flow rules.

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