About email delivery delays
It is a common misconception that email delivery is instantly completed.
Email is designed to be sent from Mail Server to Mail Server until it reaches the ultimate destination with no guarantee on how long it will reside at each intermediary stop.
Most cases of delayed email are due to slow or overloaded mail servers.
Email delivery delays are caused by spam, frequency of checking one's email, or other hardware issues.
When an email is delayed for a significant amount of time , the best way to check why an email is delayed is to analyse the email header on the delivery delay notification to see where the delay is occurring.
Finding the email header
Below are steps on how to locate the email headers for some common email providers:
AOL
Log in to your AOL account
Open the email you want to see the headers for
In the "Action" menu, select View Message Source
The headers will show in a new window
Excite Webmail
Log in to your Excite account
Open the email you want to see the headers for
Click View Full Headers
The headers will show in a new window
Hotmail
Log in to your Hotmail account
Click Inbox
Right-click the email you want to see the headers for
Click View Message Source
The headers will show in a new window
Yahoo! Mail
Log in to your Yahoo! Mail account
Select the email you want to see the headers for
Click More View Raw Message
The headers will show in a new window
Apple Mail
Open Apple Mail
Open the email you want to see the headers for
Click View Message All Headers
The headers will show in the window below your inbox
Mozilla
Open Mozilla
Open the email you want to see the headers for
Click View Message Source
The headers will show in a new window
Opera
Open Opera
Click the email you want to see the headers for so it shows in the window below your inbox
Right click the body of the email
Click View All Headers and Message
The headers will show in the window below
Outlook
Open Outlook
Open the email you want to see the headers for
Click File Properties
The headers will show in the "Internet headers" box
Outlook Express
Open Outlook Express
Right click the email you want to see the headers for
Click Properties
Click the Details tab
The headers will show in the box that pops up
Squirrel Mail
Open the email
In options click “View Full Header”
Roundcube
Log in to open your mail
You will find a drop down arrow at extreme right of the date within the email on clicking it you will see the raw headers
Horde
Login to open your mail
In the top menu you will find a drop down header menu, when you click it you will see show common headers which will reveal the header
How to read email full headers
To read your email full headers:
Open the email you want to check the headers for
Next to Reply, click the Down arrow
Click Show original
Copy the text on the page
Open the Message header tool
In "Paste email header here," paste your header.
Click Analyze the header above
See if message is delayed
To see if a message is delayed:
Open the email you want to check the headers for
Next to Reply, click the Down arrow
Click Show original
Next to "Created at", look to see how much time it took for the email to be delivered after it was sent
Example: The email reaches with a delay of 8 minutes in this case. In practicality we have come across some emails which came up hours after transmitted. The mail in this case goes through only two servers but there are cases where mail passes from 4 to 5 servers
Finding the reason
After getting to the headers of the mail the task further is much easier with the help of Google’s Email Analyzer
Utilize the link to use Google’s Email Analyzer: https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/messageheader/
Copy and paste the raw headers in the box and you get the full report of the mail from the point it was transmitted until it reached your mailbox.
The delay should be in the route in between. This tool facilitates the analysis rather than looking through the raw headers.