This article covers how to attach an email message properly when reporting suspected phishing, spam or other security concerns to the Security Incident Response Team (SIRT). In order to thoroughly report spam or phishing, most abuse reporting services require detailed log and email information. Obtaining this data requires SIRT to have a full copy of a message just as it appears in a user’s inbox. This guide outlines the process of forwarding an entire email message as an attachment in Outlook Desktop applications for Windows and Office 365 on the Web.
Outlook for Desktop (Windows)
The first step is to identify which message in your inbox you need to forward as an attachment. Click on the message once to ensure it is selected.
Figure 1 An example spam message "Click here 4 rewards.." is highlighted after being clicked once in the inbox
After the message has been selected, locate the “Home” tab towards the top of the screen. This tabular menu structure is known as the “Ribbon” and is separated into different sections based on specific functionality. To forward as an attachment, locate the “Respond” section and click the arrow in the “More” box.
Figure 2 The "More" option is a drop-down menu containing the option to forward as an attachment
Once you click the “More” box, there will be an option to “Forward as Attachment”. After clicking it, a new outlook window will pop up and look like the following:
Figure 3 After clicking "Forward as Attachment, a new email window pops up with the message attached
Notice that the message itself is included as an attachment as indicated by the “Attached” field. Fill out the remaining email fields and then send the message.
An alternative way to forward a message as an attachment is by selecting the message as described in the first step and using the keyboard combination “Control+Alt+F”. That will immediately take you to the new message window as shown in Figure 3.
Outlook - Office 365
In order to forward an email as an attachment from your student email, compose a new mail or reply to an existing one.
Figure 4 Click on New to compose a new email
Click the icon on the top right of the new message window to open it in a new window:
Figure 5 Email Pop Out Icon
Organize your browser windows so that you can view both your mail folder listing and this message window.
Drag the email, from your mail folder list, that you want to include in the message you are composing. It will be included as an attachment. Important: If you are currently in ‘Conversation’ view, all the messages within the conversation will be attached. If you only want a specific message to be attached, change your view to ‘Messages’ then attach.
Finally, fill out the remaining email fields and then send the message.
Figure 8 The message is already attached and ready to be sent.