How to Find Someone by Email: What You Need to Know

Cindy Ellis - August 2, 2022

Today, almost everyone has an online presence. Most people have email, social media, computers, blogs, and more. That said, it’s surprisingly easy to remain anonymous online. The good news is that there are methods to find almost anyone online, even if you only have their email. Remember, everything you do online leaves a trace of you; this applies to others too.

We’re going to take you through everything you need to find someone by email. In fact, you can learn a lot about someone with only access to their email address. You can find their name, date of birth, address, and phone number. Read on to learn how.

How to Find Someone by Email Online

If you have someone’s email address, there’s a good chance you can find them online. The internet is big, but search engines can help you focus your efforts. You can also look for clues in the name of the email and visit their website if it’s attached at the end. We’ll take you through a few ways to find someone by email online.

Use a Reverse Email Search

Using a reverse email search tool is the simplest method for finding someone through their email address. By searching using their email address, a reverse email lookup will often be able to give you a detailed report about the person using the account.

However, if they don’t often use this email account, or if it’s a new email address, you may need to use one of our other methods below to find out more details about who is emailing you.

Look for a Name or Business in the Email Address

Another way to find out who’s behind an email is to look at the email address. The email address might have a few clues about who the person is because people might include their name or business in the email. For example, someone can have their first and last name as the email (before the @ symbol).

Another example is someone that has a unique domain at the end of their email. While most people have Gmail accounts (hosted by Google), people who own and host a website can have a unique domain; this would be after the “@” symbol.

If someone does have hints like this in their email address, you can enter their name or website into a people finder to determine who they are.

An alternative would be to enter their name into social media. Finding them on social media can help you learn more about their life, friends, and network. You can also Google their name to see what comes up. Unfortunately, Google can give mixed results, so a people search is often the best approach.

Using the Email Signature

Sometimes, professional emails have a signature at the bottom. The signature can include someone’s name, address, workplace, and phone number. So, if the email has a signature, you have a few options to choose from. You can perform a phone number lookup, people search or address search.

Phone number lookups require a phone number and find information based on a person’s phone number. When using a phone number lookup, you can expect to find their name, address, criminal background, and more. The same applies to people searches and address lookups. However, you’ll need the person’s name for an address lookup.

Use a Search Engine (Google, Bing, AOL)

Another way to find someone by email online is to use a search engine like Google. If someone has a Gmail account, this is one of the best methods for finding someone’s email online for free. This is due to Google being connected to Gmail. When a Gmail address is searched in Google, for example, there’s a good chance that the person’s email address will be valid. We recommend using Google’s search engine for emails that end with “@gmail.com.”

You can also use Google to search for other emails. Or, you can use search engines that are native to that email address. One example would be using AOL’s search engine to search for an email with “@aol.com” at the end. Depending on the domain at the end of the email, there are many search engines to choose from.

There are a few tips you should follow when using a search engine to investigate an email:

• List the name of their company if it’s provided
• List their address if it’s provided
• List their phone number if it’s provided
• Use quotations around the email to ensure that the search engine is looking for an email

When using a search engine, it’s important to use as much information as possible because the search engine uses keywords to find results.

How to Find Someone by Email With Their IP Address

Another method you can use to find someone by email is their IP address. An IP address, or internet protocol address, is used by networks to identify interference and for location. When a computer is connected to the internet, an IP address is created based on location and network data, so you can find where an email comes from.

Find Someone’s IP Address by Email

First and foremost, you need to find the individual’s IP address. Depending on the email service you’re using, finding an IP address can be tricky. We’ll cover the steps for the most common email addresses below.

For Gmail, the process is simple. Follow these steps to find the sender’s IP address.

1. Open the email.
2. Click the 3 vertical dots in the top right corner (drop-down menu).
3. Select the option “Show Original.”

From there, you’ll see the sender’s IP address.

Another popular platform that people use for emailing is Outlook. To find someone’s IP address on Outlook you can follow these instructions:

1. Open the email.
2. Go to “View.”
3. Then, select “View Message Source.”
4. Open the header of the email and locate the “Received” tab.
5. Check to see if you have access to the sender’s IP address.

There are also some other email address domains but the steps to see someone’s IP address are similar across most email platforms. Additionally, if you’re using Gmail or Outlook to open an email, you can see their IP address, even if it’s not from the same email platform.

Run a People Search

Once you have access to the sender’s information, you can find out more about them by running a people search. To run a people search, you’ll need their name or address, so we recommend running the IP address through an IP lookup tool first.

Most IP lookup tools don’t work well, so you’ll only get a few tidbits of information about the sender. This is where Information.com’s people search tool comes in. With this tool, you can input any information you’ve found to compile a more complete report about someone. You can discover their exact location, who they are, their social media accounts, and their name.

Finding someone by email using an IP address is also great for determining if an email was sent by a scammer. Emails that come from foreign countries have a higher risk of being from scammers, so you can block their email or avoid responding.

How to Find Someone by Email With Social Media

Social media is another option for finding someone. Having access to someone’s email address is a great first step but finding them takes more effort. Combing through social media can help you learn more about someone and even provide you with contact details aside from their email.

Some social media platforms also allow you to enter someone’s email into the search bar, which can take you to their profile. Next, we’ll take you through the necessary steps for each social media platform.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms in the world. The platform has over 4 billion users (worldwide), and many businesses have pages on Facebook. Professionals will also list their emails and other business-related information on the platform to connect and network with others.

Facebook is also easier than LinkedIn to use. If you have someone’s email address, you can enter it into Facebook’s search tool. From there, you have to wait and see if any results load. People who don’t have their email connected to Facebook won’t appear. It’s also important to note that Facebook is an older social media platform, and many professionals have moved to LinkedIn instead for professional connections.

Twitter

Twitter is another popular social media application and website. While it’s less professional than Facebook and LinkedIn, people still connect their email and credentials to the website. So, you can find someone on Twitter if their email is connected.

Unfortunately, Twitter doesn’t allow you to search for people by typing the email address into the search bar. Instead, you’ll have to follow the steps below.

1. Add the email you want to find to your contacts.
2. Visit Twitter (app or website).
3. Visit the menu and go to “Settings.”
4. Go to “Privacy, then to Privacy and Safety.”
5. Go to “Discoverability and Contacts.”
6. Turn on the setting: “Sync address book and contacts.”
7. Grant Twitter permission to access your contacts.
8. Check to see if the person you’re looking for connected their email.

You can only find someone by email for free on Twitter if they have their contacts connected to the platform. Otherwise, you’ll have to use other methods.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media platform that’s designed for professional networking. People on LinkedIn often have personal information listed as well as their email addresses. However, you can also input an email address into LinkedIn’s navigation bar to find someone. You’ll need an Outlook account to perform an email search this way, so make sure you set up an account before continuing.

Below are the steps you need to follow to perform an email search on LinkedIn:

1. Open your Outlook account.
2. Click “People.”
3. Click “New Contact.”
4. Enter a first or last name (if you have one) or a random name if you don’t. Then, enter the email address.
5. Return to the “Contact page.”
6. Log into LinkedIn from Outlook to connect Outlook and LinkedIn.
7. Leave LinkedIn and visit your contact list in Outlook.
8. If it worked, you’ll see their information and can investigate further through people searches or LinkedIn.

These steps only work if you have an Outlook account, and it might not work for everyone. If the information you find about someone on social media is limited, you can run a more in-depth search on Information.com.

Note, unless you have your settings set to private, LinkedIn is not anonymous, and people will be able to see that you’ve viewed their profile.

Find Someone by Email Today

Finding someone by their email address is not challenging if you know how to look. While you can spend hours combing through social media profiles and search engines, performing a reverse email lookup is typically the best method to find someone.

That said, you should never use any people/email search for malicious reasons. Make sure you operate within the law and don’t reach out to people who made it clear they don’t want to be contacted.