If in an app like WhatsApp or Telegram the double check appears, that means that the person saw the message And if you do not respond, it may be due to several factors: perhaps you are not interested in the information you have just received or do not think it is appropriate to respond.
In Outlook they can also leave you in check, but at least you will know that the message you sent was opened by the recipient, even if it does not make the respective notification or send a timely response due to lack of time, many occupations or any other circumstance.
In both the web and desktop versions of Outlook, the read receipt works and here you will find the way to activate it on mobile devices and desktop devices. Finally, you will get some extensions that complement the monitoring of sent messages.
What is the email acknowledgment or read receipt?
The read confirmation is the notification that is received in the inbox when the recipient opens and reads the message you sent. Once the acknowledgment is configured in Outlook, the rest of the procedure happens automatically.
Although the function has been around for many years, few users know that it can also be used in personal accounts, since its use is more common especially in business areas with mass mailing. The activation will depend on the mail service that is being used and its main objective is to tell us the day, time and place where the message was opened.
How to activate the acknowledgment of receipt in your Outlook messages
Surely you need to activate this feature in your Outlook email and stop waiting once and for all for an answer that takes hours.
Here are the methods to do it both on the computer and on a mobile device:
In the computer
On your pc you need to have the Outlook desktop application configured.
Then, you will have to take the following route in the 2016 and 2019 versions:
- Once inside the application, click “File” and then move on to “Options”.
- After pressing on “Options”, a window is displayed. Find the function “Mail” and goes to “Follow-up”.
- There are two boxes that you must check, these are the following: “Confirmation that the message was delivered to the recipient’s email server.”
- And the second is “Read confirmation that the recipient saw the message.”
- After you select both, click “To accept”.
- On the other hand, if you want to enable the read confirmation, you must go to “New message” to compose an email.
- On the tray, find the function “Options”.
- In the menu that opens, go to “Follow-up” and you are going to activate the two boxes that appear there.
- First “Request delivery confirmation” and later “Request a read receipt ”.
- To do it from the web version, tap on the menu with the three horizontal dots and select “Show message options.”
- When the menu loads, select “Request a read receipt.”
- Finally, press “Okay” to leave everything activated.
From the phone
In the Outlook mobile application it is not possible to configure the reception of a delivery report or follow-up of emails. Therefore, if you want to activate this function, it is necessary to carry out the steps that we have just described in the browser of your choice. It is the same procedure as if we do it on the computer.
The best email tracking extensions
The tools to keep track of the emails you will see in this course are available in the Microsoft app store, so you can test them from your email inbox Outlook. It is important to mention that once you look for it, you mark the blue button “Get now” and this will be made available only in the writing of emails.
If it does not meet your expectations, you can delete it whenever you see fit:
Package Tracker
This free tool is available for both Office 365 and the web version. One of its functions is to track the status of emails sent from Outlook, having the ability to view the data without leaving the account. What’s more, After sending a message, you receive a tracking number that makes it easy to find. The package has been available since 2013 and the language used is English.
Riptide
The easy and simple control panel of this tool makes it possible perform a full email tracking, noting data of when and where they open, the time, as well as location data such as the city or the country.
Very useful for marketers who need to improve their campaigns or know if their recipients have read the emails. The report you present includes views, devices, and browsers. The most recent update was made in 2022. Apart from the web version, it is available for the Outlook 2016 application onwards.
XQ Secure
Encryption and tracking of emails are part of the benefits of this tool available for all operating systems, including applications and web versions of Outlook. Its use and download are free, so you won’t lose anything by installing it.
One of the benefits of XQ is that tracking works even if recipients have tracking disabled. Part of the statistics it provides are who reads, when and from what device. All of this is displayed in a tool panel that can be easily controlled individually.