cannot do return-receipt in Mail

N

NJDevil

Registered
I've searched this issue online, and it seems Mac Mail doesn't let you confirm that an email has been received. Is this true, there is absolutely no way to do this? I don't understand why not. Thanks.
 
The article that Satcomer linked to explains that in detail.

Basically, you'll want to set up a Mail rule that parses the new header information, and then an AppleScript (also available in the linked article) is run which takes care of the receipt.
 
I read that link, but apparently the additional info you mention is in the comments below. I have used mail rules but not for things like this, and I'm not at all familiar with creating AppleScripts. So the fact that this is not an easy thing to set up is rather annoying, I don't understand why it couldn't be part of the program to begin with.
 
Because read receipts are a "hack" -- they're not supported nor were they ever intended in the internet email protocol, so Outlook and other programs that implement them are basically "hacking" a method to get them to work.

Kind of like buying a car, then asking, "How do I get it to make me a cup of coffee?" Sure, someone posted a tutorial on how to hack your car to make hot coffee off of the warmth of the engine, but it's not a "supported" configuration and is not part of the "car" standard. You car isn't even supposed to be able to make a cup of coffee... ergo, email was never intended to support read receipts (although they're semi-widely used, so people have the expectation of them).

Once you enter the Terminal command or commands that you wish, then the next step would be to set up a Mail.app rule. Head over to Mail.app's rules (I don't know where that is under 10.3 -- haven't used that OS in years) and create a new rule that is based upon the following (should be self-explanatory once you find where to create a new rule):

Code: 
Description: Read Receipt Requested
if (all) of the following conditions are met:
(Disposition-Notification-To) (contains) (@)
Perform the following actions:
(Run AppleScript) (~/Library/Scripts/Mail Scripts/Return Receipt.scpt)

Then, download the code for the Applescript (right-click, download file, rename to "Return Receipt.scpt") and place it in the appropriate folder on your hard drive, defined above (home folder -> Library -> Scripts -> Mail Scripts).

Once that's done, test it and report back with any errors or where in the process it's failing and we'll try and troubleshoot it with you.
 
Thank you, I will attempt this later on.
If mail programs sent a return acknowledgment without the receiver's knowledge, I could see how it's a "hack." But if it asks the receiver if they would like to send back an acknowledgment, I see absolutely no problem with that being part of the software. All I know is every computer problem creates another...
 
I'm not gonna do it, after reading more on that page it's just too confusing. I don't need receipts that often, it's just that charter emails often go into junk folders so I have to confirm that they were received. But I cannot find mail receipt info in yahoo either. I may be getting a new Mac soon so I guess setting it up there may be different anyway. Thanks again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top