How to Request a Delivery Receipt for a Message in Outlook

Track your message delivery in different Outlook versions

Close up of grocery receipt

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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated April 02, 2019

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, 2013, 2010, 2007; and Outlook for Office 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.

For Outlook 2019, 2016, and 2013

To track delivery of a single message:

  1. Composing an email in Outlook.

  2. Go to the Options tab and select the Request a Delivery Receipt check box.

    Selecting a delivery receipt in an email.

  3. If you want to know if the recipient read the email message, select the Request a Read Receipt check box.

  4. Send the message.

To track delivery receipts for all messages:

  1. Go to the File tab and select Options.

    The options menue in Outlook.

  2. Select Mail.

    Viewing mail option in Outlook.

  3. In the Tracking section, select the Delivery receipt confirming the message was delivered to the recipient's email server check box.

    Turning on delivery receipt for all emails in Outlook.

  4. 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.

  5. Select OK to close the Outlook Options dialog box.

  6. 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.

For Outlook 2010

To track a single message:

  1. Go to the Options tab.

  2. In the Tracking group, select Request a Delivery Receipt or Request a Read Receipt.

To request delivery receipts by default for all messages:

  1. Select the File tab.

  2. Select Options.

  3. Select Mail.

  4. Under Tracking, select Delivery receipt confirming the message was delivered to the recipient's email server.

For Outlook 2007

To have Outlook 2007 request a delivery receipt for a message you are composing:

  1. Go to the Options tab in the message's ribbon toolbar.

  2. Select the Request a Delivery Receipt check box.

  3. Select the Request a Read Receipt check box to receive a read receipt notification when a message is opened as opposed to delivered.