Viewing Outlook's Internet Headers

New to Outlook 2003, view message source too.

Viewing Internet headers in Outlook is not the easiest thing to do....

You need to go to View | Options then scroll through the header to read it in a small text box. Alternately, you can select all, copy and paste into notepad - but it's still not point and click to view.

An easier method is to access the header information using CDO and display it in a message box, shown below. If you want to try this yourself, code samples are available at www.cdolive.com. The code works either as an Outlook VBA macro or can be used in Vb6 to create a COM add-in.

If you would like to try a very basic COM add-in, download this file. Install it from Tools | Options | Advanced | COM Add-ins. click the Add button and browse to the location of the file and select.

You need CDO installed - the add-in currently does not check for the presence of CDO. If the add-in does not work, rerun Office setup and install Collaboration Data Objects. The Email security "HELL" patch uninstalls CDO. At this early stage, you can only view the header, not select and copy it, for use in reporting spam. Also, the message box has a limit of 1024 characters, so some headers may be cut short. I'll correct these issues as time permits. Also, if you uncheck it in the add-ins dialog, the button should disappear from your message form. If the button remains, let me know.

***Coming eventually - an updated DLL***

Among the third party utilities which provide better options for viewing the header is Pocketknife Peek.