An email message consists of the following general components:

Headers

The message headers contain information concerning the sender and recipients. The exact content of mail headers can vary depending on the email system that generated the message. Generally, headers contain the following information:

• Subject. Subject is a description of the topic of the message and displays in most email systems that list email messages individually. A subject line could be something like "2007 company mission statement"
• Sender (From). This is the senders Internet email address. It is usually presumed to be the same as the Reply-to address, unless a different one is provided.
• Date and time received (On). The time the message was received.
• Reply-to. This is the Internet email address that will become the recipient of your reply if you click the Reply button.
• Recipient (To). First/last name of email recipient, as configured by the sender.
• Recipient email address. The Internet mail address of the recipient, or where the message was actually sent.

Body

The body of a message contains text that is the actual content, such as "This is an email advising of my new email address..." The message body also may include signatures or automatically generated text that is inserted by the sender's email system.

Attachments

Attachments are optional and include any separate files that may be part of the message.