Parts of an email message

An email message consists of these three basic distinct parts:

  • Header,
  • Message body, and
  • Signatures

Figure 1 shows these three basic parts of an email message:

Parts of an email address: headers, body, and signatures
Figure 1 parts of an email address: headers, body, and signatures

Although there are many header fields in an email message, to the average email user only the following headers are probably the most important:

Header field Description What it contains Provided by
From This specifies sender’s email address. Sender’s email address Automatically by the sender’s email server.
To This specifies the person who will receive the message One or email address(es). For emailing multiple recipients, separate each email address with a comma. Note there is no comma after the last email address. By the sender.
Date/Time Indicates when the message was sent. Date and time. Automatically by the email server
Subject This specifies the subject of the email. Email subject The sender
Size This specifies the size of the email message. Email message size Automatically by the email server

 

Detailed headers of an email message.
Detailed headers of an email message.

Message body

This is the main part that the recipient is interested in. A message can be any number of things or combination of:

  • Text,
  • Graphics,
  • Web page,
  • Animation,
  • Video or audio, or
  • Attachments

Signature

A signature appears at the end. A signature can be a graphic, web page, or just plain-text. An email client can be configured to automatically add an signature to each outgoing message.

Posted on 8/20/2007
31,972 views
by Raj Singh