How do I Find a Gmail Sender's Real IP Address?

Find a Gmail user's real IP address using the e-mail headers.

E-mail messages are sent with headers attached to the messages. These headers specify information that can be used to determine from where the e-mail message was sent. By accessing these headers, users can find out an e-mail sender's IP address.

Instructions

Gmail

1. Log into Gmail and click "Inbox" to view all the messages in the Inbox. Or if the message is in another location, such as "Spam" or "Trash," select that location. Click to select an e-mail message from the list to display the message. Look next to the "Reply" button and click on the upside-down triangle.

2. Click "Show Original" from the drop-down menu. Press "Ctrl" and "F" on the keyboard to open the "Find" toolbar, then type "Received: from" and press the "Enter" key.

3. Look at the number listed inside the brackets directly after the words "Received: from" to determine the sender's IP address. If there are multiple text lines reading "Received: from," then look for the IP address listed after the final "Received: from" text.

Yahoo! Mail

1. Log into Yahoo! Mail and click to select the "Subject" of an email message. Right-click on the message subject and select "View Full Headers" from the context menu.

2. Press "Ctrl" and "F" on the keyboard to open the browser's "Search" function.

3. Type "Received: from" and then press the "Enter" key. The sender's IP address is in between the brackets directly following the final instance of "Received: from" in the message.

Hotmail

1. Log into Hotmail and click on the "Inbox" to select the Inbox. If the message is in another folder, click to select the folder containing the message.

2. Look under the "Sort by" section for the sender's message. Right-click to select a message and select "View message source" from the context menu.

3. Type "X-Originating-IP:" and press "Enter" to search the header. If the message does not contain "X-Originating-IP:" then type "Received: from" into the search box and then press the "Enter" key. The sender's IP address is in between the brackets directly following the final instance of "Received: from" in the message.

AOL Mail

1. Log into AOL Mail and open an email message.

2. Click "Action" from the top row of buttons, then select "View Message Source" from the drop-down menu that appears to view the email headers.

3. Find the text "X-AOL-IP" and look at the numbers that come after it. These numbers are the sender's IP address.

References

• Arul's Tech Info: "Finding IP Address in Gmail"