How can I tell if an e-mail has been received?

Question:
Is there any way I can check to see if an e-mail I’ve sent has been received by the person or server it was going to? —M.E.C.

Answer: There’s something in your question that I need to clear up before we proceed. You talk about an “e-mail server”. I think what you actually mean is an e-mail program or client.

This terminology is important because it factors into my answer.

An e-mail server can be both the computer and/or the software that your Internet Service Provider operates to give you an e-mail address.

Think of an e-mail server as the local post office. All the e-mail arrives there first and is stored for you until you start up your computer and use your e-mail “client” to connect and retrieve it. A client in the web world usually refers to a piece of software on a user’s computer that’s used to request data from the Internet.

To answer your question, you’ll need to use the “Return Receipt” feature in Eudora Light 3.0. If you don’t have the latest version, you can download it from the internet at http://www.eudora.com/.

When you write a new e-mail, if you click on the RR button on the toolbar next to the Queue button, you’ll trigger the e-mail program to request a receipt when it arrives at its destination.

When the recipient receives the e-mail and IF they are also using Eudora, the program will prompt the user to send/reject a return receipt. If they’re not using Eudora, results will vary. Some e-mail systems will automatically send back a return receipt. Some will ignore it altogether.

You’ve determined that you have that functionality. Now comes the tough part. Should you use it? Yes, but with some caution.

I picked up The Elements of E-mail Style recently. It’s a book about e-mail communications etiquette.

On receipts, it recommends: “Avoid using receipts, which can easily be interpreted as insulting. In most cases, you’re saying to the recipient, ‘You never read your e-mail, so I asked for a receipt. Now I know you received it and you don’t have an excuse not to answer.'”

Think about it. What if someone sent you an e-mail with a receipt request? You’d instantly be annoyed.

In some cases, however, a receipt provides a useful audit trail, suggests the book. The feature is useful for “clarifying routing problems or for settling disputes”.

The Elements of E-mail Style is published by Addison Wesley Publishing Co. Price: $14.95 US.