Topic:

Locating an E-mail Address

The easiest way to locate someone's e-mail address is to call and ask the person or institutions whose address you seek. However, this isn't always a viable option. When you have to search for an e-mail address, here are some tools and tips that should help you. Please keep in mind, however, that the Internet is populated with over 20 million users: there's no central phone book with everyone's name and e-mail address available.

Individual E-mail Addresses

• The person or institution's e-mail host system's domain name
• A related or affiliated company's name
• The person's college or university, agency, or institution
• The related ISP's name
• A related or affiliated Web page address
• City, state or other location information
• The person's full name

The key to locating an e-mail address is to locate the host computer where that e-mail is delivered. If you can find the domain name for their host (where they either log into or retrieve their mail from), discovering the e-mail address is only a finger command away.

If you only know their company or college name, run a search on that name to see if there is a Web site available. If you locate a Web site, explore and see if you can locate a people list or e-mail the site's Web Master and ask about locating someone on his or her system.

If you have little or no information about the person you're searching for, your chances of success are small, but there are still a few more places to look. Here's a list of e-mail locator search engines. Good luck!

URLs:

Finger Gateway at Digital CRL

Finger Gateway at MIT

LookUP! Directory

Search database of email addresses by name

Netfind Gateway

UFN Search X.500 directory

Business E-mail Addresses

Locating a business's e-mail address is much easier than looking for an individual's. Here are a few simple steps you should follow:

1. Use a search engine to look for the business's Web site.
2. If you find one, jump to it and verify that it is the business you seek.
3. Once you're there, look around for e-mail addresses. These will usually be listed at the bottom of a document, or contained on a contact or help page.

W3E References:

E-mail

Search Engines

Mastering Web Search Techniques