How Emails Work

How Emails Work
First the sender needs to enter the email address of the recipient
along with the message using an email application.
This should be done at the local computers.
Once it is finished and the “Send” button is clicked, the email
will be going to the MTA (The Mail Transfer Agent).
This communication is done via the SMTP protocol.
The next step is DNS lookup.
The system sends a request to find out the corresponding MTA
of the recipient.
This will be done with the help of the MX(Mail Exchanger)
record.
In the DNS zone, for the receiver address’ domain, there will be
an MX record (stands for Mail Exchanger record).
This is a DNS resource record which specifies the mail server of
a domain.
So, after the DNS lookup, a response is given to the requested
mail server with the IP address of the recipient’s mail server.
This way the ‘to’ mail server is identified.
The next step is transferring the message between the mail
servers.
The SMTP protocol is used for this communication.
Now our message is with the recipient mail server (MTA).
Now, this message is transferred to the Mail Delivery Agent and
then it is transferred to the recipient’s local computer.
As we have seen earlier, two protocols can be used here.
If we use POP3, then the whole email will be downloaded to the
local computer and the copy at the server gets deleted.
If the protocol used is IMAP, then the email message is stored in
the mail server itself, but the user can easily manipulate the
emails on the mail server as in the local computer.
This is the difference when using both the protocols and this is
how your email gets delivered.
If some error occurred to send the email, the emails will be
delayed.
There is a mail queue in every mail server.
These mails will be pending in the mail queue.
The mail server will keep trying to resend the email.
Once the email sending fails permanently, the mail server may
send a bounce back email message to the sender’s email address.
There are many reasons for getting an email to bounce back
such as incorrect email address in the ‘to’ field.
ii)Structure of an email
There is a standard structure for emails. Email contents are primarily classified as two, the header
and the body. We are going to see the contents come under the two subparts.
The Header
The email header gives us common details about the message such as the unique identity of the
message. The details of the users of the ‘from’ and ‘to’ ends are also stored here. The email header
consists of the following parts. However, the exact contents of the header can vary according to the
email systems that generate the email message.
1) Subject
2) Sender (From:)
3) Date and time received (On)
4) Reply-to
5) Recipient (To:)
6) Recipient email address
7) Attachments
Subject
The subject part is the topic of the message. In most email systems, if the content view of the folders
is set to view each messages separately, the subject part also will be visible with the user’s name.
These subject fields are scanned by the spam scanners to evaluate the messages.
Sender (From:)
This field describes the ‘from’ address of the email. This will specify the sender’s email address.
Usually, it will be the “reply-to” address.
Date and time received (On)

This is the date and time the message received.
Reply-to
This field describes the email address that will become the recipient of the reply to the particular
email. When you reply, it will go to this email address despite the sender email address.
Recipient (To:)
This is the first/last name of the email recipient as configured by the sender.
Recipient email address
The email address of the recipient is specified here.
Attachments
Some emails could be attached with files such as text, image, audio, video etc. These files are
specified here.
Body
The actual content is stored in this part. This will be in the format of text. This field could also
include signatures or text generated automatically by the sender’s email system. As we mentioned
earlier, the contents of the emails can be varied according to the different email systems used by each
user.

How Emails Work

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3) Date and time received (On)

6) Recipient email address

Date and time received (On)

Recipient email address

The email address of the recipient is specified here.

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