Request a Delivery Receipt for a Message in Outlook

If you use Outlook in a workgroup environment and use Microsoft Exchange Server as your mail service, you can request delivery receipts for messages you send. A delivery receipt means that your message has been delivered, but it doesn't mean the recipient has seen the message or opened it.

Instructions in this article apply to Outlook 2019, 2016, and 2013; and Outlook for Microsoft 365.

How to Request Delivery Receipts in Outlook

With Outlook, you can set the delivery receipt option for a single message or you can request receipts for every message you send.

To track delivery of a single message:

Compose a new message.
Go to the Options tab and select the Request a Delivery Receipt check box.
If you want to know if the recipient reads the email message, select the Request a Read Receipt check box.
Send the message.

To track delivery receipts for all messages:

Go to the File tab and select Options.
Select Mail.
In the Tracking section, select the Delivery receipt confirming the message was delivered to the recipient's email server check box.
To request a read receipt, select the Read receipt confirming the recipient viewed the message check box.

Recipients have the choice to send a read receipt or not. If they see this request with every message, they are less likely to send a read receipt.
Select OK to close the Outlook Options dialog box.
To view the responses, go to the Sent Items folder and open the original message in a separate window. Go to the Message tab and, in the Show group, select Tracking.

To request delivery receipts by default for all messages:

Select the File tab.
Select Options.
Select Mail.
Under Tracking, select Delivery receipt confirming the message was delivered to the recipient's email server.