Guides Reporting

Forward an email as an attachment

Forwarding as an attachment keeps the original headers, so we can verify the sender with DKIM. The steps differ in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail.

Send it to report@coldslop.com. Any address at coldslop.com works.

Why we ask for an attachment

A normal forward pastes the text of the email into a new one. The original headers are gone, and with them the proof of who sent it. Forwarding as an attachment sends us the complete original message as a file, unchanged.

That original carries a DKIM signature: the sending domain signs every outgoing email with a key it publishes in its DNS. We check the signature against the domain in the From line. When it matches, we mark the email DKIM verified, and the sender cannot claim that someone made it up or sent it in their name.

We let search engines index a sender page only after we verify at least one of its emails. Unverified emails still count, because they can appear inside a campaign that already has a verified copy.

Gmail

  1. Open the email on gmail.com, on a computer.
  2. Click the three dots (More) at the top right of the message.
  3. Choose Forward as attachment, and send it to us.

To forward several, tick them in the inbox list, click the three dots in the toolbar above the list, then Forward as attachment. The Gmail apps for iPhone and Android do not have this option.

Outlook

  • New Outlook and Outlook on the web: open or select the email, then More actions (…) › Forward › Forward as attachment.
  • Classic Outlook for Windows: select the email, then Home › More › Forward as Attachment, or press Ctrl+Alt+F.
  • Outlook for Mac: select the email, then Message › Forward as Attachment.

Apple Mail

On a Mac, select the email and choose Message › Forward as Attachment in the menu bar. Select several emails first to attach each of them. Mail on iPhone and iPad has no such option.

Sending several

One forward can carry up to 5 attached emails and 2 MB in total. Send larger piles in batches. We recognise copies we already have, so sending one twice does no harm.

On a phone

A normal forward is fine. We still read it, but it stays unverified. You can also save the email as an .eml file and upload it. In Gmail, choose the three dots, then Download message. In Apple Mail, choose File › Save As with the format Raw Message Source. We check an uploaded .eml the same way as an attachment.