DIAGNOSTIC PLAYBOOK
Find an email delay using Received headers
Received timestamps can help locate the interval where a message waited, provided the relevant hops and clocks are trustworthy. Read the chain in delivery order and preserve timezone offsets.
HealthCheck Email editorial team · · Examples are illustrative
How to investigate
- Start with the original raw message and map the trusted Received entries from earlier to later hops.
- Convert times to one timezone and identify unusually large gaps.
- Correlate that interval with queue logs from the responsible system before attributing the delay.
What this looks like
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
The sender submits at 10:00 and the next trusted relay accepts at 10:25. A queue log can distinguish a local wait from repeated attempts at the destination.
A mistake to avoid
Clock skew and untrusted earlier headers can create misleading gaps. Header arithmetic alone is not a definitive latency measurement.
Keep the result in context
Inspect the original raw message rather than a forwarded screenshot. Headers can contain private addresses, message identifiers and routing information, so redact a separate copy before sharing. Give the most weight to results added by your own trusted receiving infrastructure.
Take the next step
Use the related check to gather evidence, then compare it with the affected message or service. Keep the result and time with your notes so a later change can be distinguished from the original problem.
Sources and further reading
The protocol references below explain the underlying behavior. Your sending or DNS provider supplies the account-specific settings for its service.