How To Know If An Email Is Read or Not

Receiving the read receipt is sometimes necessary, especially when sending important emails for work or to send urgent notices, and you want to know if the recipient and when have read that message. This “read receipt” is a very important feature found on virtually any web email service or email client.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to know if a sent email is being read by all major email clients and web services that support it (Gmail for Business, for example). For the guide, we will show you both how to activate read receipts on any PC and how to activate read receipts on smartphones and tablets using email client apps that provide this function.

1) Get the email read receipt from PC

On a PC, it’s easy to get read receipts because all major email services let you turn on this feature for business accounts and, in some cases, for personal accounts.

Gmail

To add the read receipt when you write a new email on Gmail, go to the Gmail site, log in with your email account or Google account, click the Write button (in the shape of a plus sign at the top left), fill out each field of the email, and then, before sending it, click the triangle-shaped symbol at the bottom right and then “Request read receipt.”

Unfortunately, this option is not available for all Gmail accounts but only for those with an account managed by an administrator of a company, organization, or school (with a subscription to the Google Workspace service).

Installing a Chrome extension to get a read receipt in Gmail, even on free accounts, is possible; we’ve compiled a list of the best extensions below to get a read receipt on any Gmail account:

• Streak, free for 200 emails per month, which adds the button to activate tracking and read receipts to Gmail. The streak will also tell where the email was opened by opening a map and pinpointing the recipient’s location. An eye icon will appear when sending an email using Streak. When the recipient opens the message, the eye icon will turn green, signaling the sender that the email has been read. The recipient obviously doesn’t need to have Streak installed.
• Mailtrack, free, which adds a green double-check button to add a read receipt. The extension requires access to your Google account and works a bit like Whatsapp. When you send an email to someone, a green check appears next to that message in the sent mail. When the recipient reads it, two green signs will be shown, which show who and when they read the message when hovered with the mouse. This application works by inserting a small code snippet into the header of every email you send.
• Unlimited Email Tracker is a Chrome extension that adds the tracker to Emails sent with Gmail so that as soon as the user opens the email, a notification arrives on the desktop stating that it has been read.
• YesWare is a more complex service intended for those who use Gmail for business, corporate use, within an organization, or for a project. In fact, with YesWare, it is possible to track emails by receiving read receipts and sharing reports and information in real time without sending other emails and creating email templates.

We choose the best service for your needs and immediately start receiving receipts for the emails sent.

Other ways to Add Read Receipts In Gmail

Microsoft Outlook

If you have an Outlook account, you can track an email directly using the Microsoft Outlook email client, available within the Microsoft Office suite.

First, open the Outlook app on your computer, enter the login credentials for your Microsoft account, write your new email message, go to the Options menu, and, in the Verification section, press the Request delivery confirmation or Request read receipt button.

This option will remain valid only for the email you send. To enable the sending of the read receipt on all your sent emails, press at the top of the menu File -> Options, go to the Mail menu, scroll down to find the Verify section, and activate the items. Delivery confirmation tells you that the message has been sent to the recipient’s e-mail server, and a read receipt tells you that the recipient has seen the message.

DON’T MISS: How To Know If Someone Disabled Their Read Receipts

Thunderbird

Suppose you cannot get a copy of Microsoft Office and, consequently, Outlook. In that case, you can still know if a sent email is read using the Thunderbird email client, available for free and compatible with all email accounts (including Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, and others).

First, you need to download and install Thunderbird on your computer, configure the mail accounts, press the icon with the three lines at the top right, then Options, press the Advanced menu, and then select Return Receipts.

In the window that will open, put a checkmark on When sending messages, always ask for the return receipt, so press OK to confirm.

MUST READ: How to Read WhatsApp Messages without Blue Ticks

2) Get email read receipt from a smartphone or tablet

Even on smartphones and tablets, it is possible to receive a receipt for reading emails by using email apps equipped with a read receipt so as to be able to find out when the recipient has read an email.

Android

The best app you can use to know if an email has been received is K-9 Mail, which can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store.

To activate the read notification of any email, compose a new email message, press (before sending) the three dots at the top right, and press “Read notification” to activate the function; now it is sufficient to send the email to be able to receive a read notification from the recipient (who must, in any case, provide consent for the notification). The K-9 app will send a message to your phone as soon as the read receipt is retrieved.

If you are interested in trying other apps to manage email, you can read our guide to the best email clients for Android.

iPhones/iPads

You can see if an email has been received on iPhone and iPad by downloading the iTrackMail app, available for free from the Apple App Store.

The app is an email client specifically designed to receive read notifications with any email provider; to activate the function, install the app, provide consent for notifications, tap the button to create a new email at the bottom left, choose a subject for the new message, and on the next screen, fill in everything necessary as usual from Apple’s Mail app.

SEE ALSO: How to disable read receipts on iMessage

Conclusions

It’s not hard to tell if an email has been read, but you’ll need to use the email client’s built-in features or a Google Business account to get this valuable read receipt.

Even if it is not as precise as in paper mail, the return receipt or read confirmation can also be used with e-mail boxes, and it will be sufficient to configure the Outlook or Thunderbird clients so that they always request this receipt from the person receiving the message (remember, you can always refuse to send this type of confirmation).

Say you want a return receipt that is legal and binding, even if it is in digital form. In that case, you will inevitably have to use a PEC.

Posta elettronica certificata is what PEC stands for, and it means “certified email.” A certified email (also called a PEC email) is the same as a regular email, except that the sender’s identity, the date and time the email was sent and received, and its content can all be proven in court. This kind of communication is used in Italy, Switzerland, and Hong Kong right now.