If you've ever received a suspicious email or wanted to trace the origin of a message, understanding how to find an email sender's IP address in Gmail can be invaluable. The IP address can uncover the sender's geographic location, helping you assess the message's authenticity.
In this blog post, we’ll show you how to extract this vital information from a received email. Ready to become a digital sleuth? Let’s get into it!
Can I find an IP address from an email?
Yes, you can find an IP address from an email by accessing the email's header information. We’ll show you how to do that in the steps below. Examining the header can give you information on servers that handled the email as it traveled from the sender to your inbox.
However, tracing personal IP addresses from emails sent through browser-based email software like Gmail or Yahoo Mail is challenging. Such services often route emails through their servers, masking the sender's original IP address.
Tracing becomes more feasible if the email is sent through a desktop client like Outlook Express or a private server.
How to find an IP address from an email in Gmail
Step 1: Open the email
In your Gmail inbox, locate and click to open the email you want to examine.
Step 2: Click “Show original”
In the email window, click the ‘More’ button (three dots). Next, click ‘Show original’ in the options that open. Once you have the ‘Original message’ open, you can search for the IP address in two ways. We’ll cover both below.
Step 3a: See the IP address in SPF check
Look at the header or the original message. The IP address may be displayed next to the SPF. However, the sender’s domain may not have an SPF set up, which may result in the IP not being displayed in the header. In that scenario, you can try the next option. Learn more about SPF records in Google Workspace.
Step 3b: Identify the IP address in SMTP code
Alternatively, you can search for the sender's IP address in the SMTP code under the header in the original message window.
Use the control find function (Ctrl + f) to search for the term ‘Client-ip’ to find the sender’s IP address.
Step 4: Look up the IP using a third-party tool
Once you have the IP address, you can use a third-party tool specifically to uncover more information. These tools offer features such as IP geolocation, reverse IP lookup and WHOIS information retrieval.
Users input the IP address they want to investigate, and the tool provides relevant data, including the approximate physical location, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and other network-related details. Here are a few tools to consider:
- Whois IP lookup
- Nord VPN
- WhatismyIPaddress IP lookup
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That's that for looking up IP addresses through Gmail. If you’re interested in mastering Gmail's full potential, you should dive into the YAMM blog.
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