Problems Solved
PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT
How can I see if my emails are viewed?
Q A while ago I read about software that revealed if sent emails had been opened, but I never made anote ofit. Is it still available?
Michael Clear
A Plenty of email tools and services offer the option to request ‘read receipts’, as they’re known. However, their reliability is heavily dependent on what happens at the receiving end.
In the desktop version of Outlook, for example, it’s easy to add read-receipt requests. Compose your message but, before clicking Send, click the ‘More commands’ button (three dots, top right) and then choose ‘Request a Read Receipt’ (see screenshot 1).
However, whether you actually get a read receipt depends both on the recipient’s email service supporting this facility and also on whether they allow the read receipt to be sent – neither of which are a given.
By contrast, the free version of Gmail does not even offer the option to request read receipts (and any received will just be ignored). If you use a commercial Gmail account, such as one that’s paid for by a business or educational establishment, then it might offer the option to send (and receive) read receipts – but that’s up to the administrator of your particular service. Moreover, the ability to receive receipts is still bound by all we mentioned above: the receiving end must accept the read receipt request, and the recipient may need to agree for it to be sent.
So where does that leave us? Well, with third-party solutions. However, many feel these may sometimes work where traditional read receipts fail, many feel creepy, because in order to work they have to use
