- You can request a read receipt in Outlook, which informs you when a recipient opens an email you have sent.
- Read receipts are not always reliable, because not all email programs and services support them. Also, the recipient can decline to send the read receipt.
- You can send a read receipt using the Options ribbon in an email message or turn on read receipts for all messages using Outlook's Options settings.
- Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.
When you send someone an email, you don't know when it gets read. So if you don't get a reply, it's hard to tell if it was ever read at all.
Outlook offers a "read receipt" tool to help you know when the recipient has opened your email. A read receipt is a brief automated reply that confirms for you that an email has been opened.
How to request a read receipt in Outlook 1: There is also an option to request a delivery receipt, but that feature generally only works if you are using a Microsoft Exchange email account.
You can opt to request it with a single email, or if you want to use it all the time, you can force all outgoing emails to request a read receipt, so you don't need to do it by hand each time.
While handy, it's far from foolproof. The recipient has the option to refuse to send the read receipt, and some email programs disregard read receipts entirely. Nonetheless, if you want to send an email with a read receipt, here are two ways to do it.
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How to request a read receipt in Outlook for a single email
1. Launch Outlook and draft a new email message.
2. Before you send the email, click "Options" at the top of the message window.
3. Click the checkbox for "Request a Read Receipt."
4. Send the message. You will receive an automated email reply.
This reply will inform you when the email was opened if the recipient allows it. Dave Johnson/Business InsiderHow to request a read receipt in Outlook for every email you send
1. In Outlook, click "File."
2. Then click "Options."
3. In the Outlook Options dialog box, click "Mail" in the navigation pane on the left.
4. In the "Tracking" section, find the section labeled "For all messages sent, request:" and then click the checkbox for "Read receipt confirming the recipient viewed the message."
If you prefer, you can turn on read receipts for all outgoing messages. Dave Johnson/Business Insider5. Click "OK" to save your changes. Now a read receipt will be requested automatically with every outgoing message.
Related coverage from Tech Reference:
How to forward emails from Outlook to another account by creating a 'rule' that does it for you automatically
How to use Bcc in Microsoft Outlook to send emails privately to multiple people
How to create a group email in Outlook to make emailing a group of people more efficient
How to create an email template in Outlook to save time in formatting
How to save Outlook email as a PDF on a PC or Mac computer
Dave Johnson
Freelance Writer
Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.
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