Gmail: Activate read receipt

Gmail read receipts can only be activated by users of the Google App for Business, Google App for Government and Google App for Education. If you only have a private Gmail account, this feature is not available for you. A read receipt is an email notification that you receive after the recipient opens the email you sent. This practical tip shows you how to activate this setting.

Request a read receipt from Google Mail

1. As usual, write an email in the desktop version of your Gmail account and then click in the editor on the "More options" icon, which is indicated by an arrow pointing down. (see screenshot)
2. Now select "Request read confirmation" and send your message.

The read receipt is now sent to each recipient in the "To" and "Cc" lists.

How to send a read receipt to Gmail

Did you receive an email yourself asking for a confirmation of reading? Gmail will either send the confirmation automatically, or you will be asked for approval before sending. This happens when you open the email in the desktop version of Google-Maill and your system administrator has activated this request. If you want to send the read receipt, it works like this:

• Open the message as usual in the desktop version of Gmail. The read receipt is requested if you try to close the email or navigate elsewhere.
• Now you can choose between "send read receipt" or "not this time". If you choose the latter option, Gmail will ask you again the next time you open this message.

In which cases cannot read receipts be sent?

• Have you entered a group mailing list as recipient? In this case, the recipient cannot send a confirmation because the message must be sent directly to a unique email address.
• When the message is opened with a POP client or Google Apps Sync client.
• If the email is opened with an IMAP client and your administrator has not activated the automatic sending of read receipts.