Software & Apps MS Office How to View the Complete Email Message Source in Outlook Display message headers and find out the source of your incoming email by Heinz Tschabitscher Writer A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. our editorial process Heinz Tschabitscher Updated on February 19, 2020 reviewed by Jessica Kormos Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others. our review board Article reviewed on Jun 30, 2020 Jessica Kormos MS Office Outlook Word Excel Powerpoint Tweet Share Email Outlook takes messages it receives from the internet and stores the headers and individual message parts independently from the message body. When you select a message, Outlook collects the pieces to show just what is needed. Except when you want Outlook to display the headers. By default, Outlook removes certain header lines. Here's how to configure Outlook to preserve the complete source of email messages. Instructions in this article apply to Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2010, and Outlook for Microsoft 365. Make Available the Complete Message Source in Outlook To configure Outlook to retrieve the original source of messages as they were received at any time: Open Registry Editor. Go to the Windows Search box, enter regedit, and press Enter. Or, right-click the Windows Start button, select Run, enter regedit, and select OK. Navigate to the folder of the Windows Registry for your version of Microsoft Outlook: Outlook 2019 and 2016: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Options\Mail. Outlook 2013: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Options\Mail Outlook 2010: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Options\Mail Outlook 2007: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\Mail Outlook 2003: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Options\Mail Go to the Edit tab, select New, then choose either DWORD or QWORD: Choose DWORD (32-bit) Value if you have a 32-bit version of Office.Choose QWORD (64-bit) Value if you have a 64-bit version of Office. To name the value, enter SaveAllMIMENotJustHeaders and press Enter. Double-click the SaveAllMIMENotJustHeaders value. In the Value data text box, enter 1, then press OK. Close Registry Editor. Open Outlook. If Outlook is open, close and then re-open it. Outlook stores the message source and the message content. This means that future emails will take more space. Because PST files (where Outlook stores mail) have a size limit, regularly delete or archive email in Outlook. See the Complete Source of a Message To retrieve the source of newly retrieved POP messages (editing the SaveAllMIMENotJustHeaders value does not restore the complete message source for emails that were already in Outlook): Open the desired message in a separate window. Go to the File tab and select Info. Select Properties. To find the source of the email, look in the Internet headers section. Select Close when you're finished.