Tip 939: View Message Source in Outlook

The "View Source" option is sometimes a bit tricky to find in Outlook 2010's reading pane (or in opened messages).

When I right-click in the body of an email either in the reading pane or in the separate window containing the email, the "View Source" option is not always in the menu. It's listed for some HTML emails, but not all HTML emails.

It's available for all HTML messages. In some HTML messages, you can right click anywhere in the message and the menu will have the View Source command, but in other HTML messages (all of the messages I need to the view source of!) you will need to right click at the very bottom of the message to see the command. How close to the end of the message will depend on the message layout: you may be able to right click just under the last text block on some messages but will need to be at the very bottom on other messages.

The difference between where it works and where it doesn't work is just a few pixels, as seen in the following screenshot that compares the two menus.

Why the difference? Tables. The View source command is not present when you right click within a table.

Tip: If you open messages to read them, you can add the View Source command to the ribbon or Quick Access toolbar to make View Source easier to access.

Published December 12, 2011. Last updated on February 9, 2013.