OSX Mail logs access?

[Roy Talcott]

Hello, I need to learn please how to open and read OS X 'Mail' logs.

The goal is to find the destination IP for a particular email (need to prove for a legal case that the recipient of an email was in a particular location at the time of receiving that email).

I thought it would be included in the email's header, but learned that the header only contains the Sender's IP address and the relay server IPs that the email passes through on its way to the destination. The header does not record the destination IP address of the email recipient.

I learned that the MDA (mail delivery agent) and/or Mail client would record such information in its log, and believe in this instance it would be the OSX Mail app.

Does anyone know how to find these particular Mail logs that record incoming email information such as this?

Any and all information and/or other suggestions to achieve this result is highly appreciated!

The version of OSX on the computer is 10.6.8.

Thank you.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

I don't believe that the Mail logs on your Mac will "record" the destination IP of an email address/server, as they can change at anytime without affecting delivery.

If the MDA/MTA does retain that information, then you would need to inquire with the recipient's ISP/email provider to pull that information from their mail server's logs. It isn't stored on the sender's MTA/MDA.

Good luck,

C