When sending important emails, it’s unsurprising that you’d want to know when the recipients read them. It’s critical to understand when viewers interact with your email, especially if it’s part of a marketing campaign. However, there are multiple ways you can go about finding this information. In this article, we look at answering the question, “How can you tell if an email has been read in Gmail without a read receipt?” and examine an easy and effective tool you can use to track your emails.
Why Use Read Receipts in Gmail?
Read receipts in Gmail are an option that you have to receive a notification when the other party reads your message. You compose a message as usual and activate it by clicking on the three dots at the bottom of the screen and pressing “Request read receipt” to start it.Â
You can now send the messages and theoretically receive a notification that the recipient viewed your message. However, Gmail’s read receipts aren’t all people make it out to be, and below, we look at why it’s better to use alternatives.
The Limitations of Gmail Read Receipts
Various limitations to this method exist. First and foremost, it’s not available to all Gmail users. To use this feature, you must have a paid subscription to a Gmail Suite/Workspace or receive access from your workspace’s administrator. If you’re a regular user of Gmail with a “gmail.com” email, then it’s unavailable to you.
Further, this feature doesn’t work incognito. You can request a read receipt, but the phrase “request” should tell you it’s not an automatic feature. You’re asking the recipient to allow you to know when they read it. As such, activating the feature means that when the other party opens it, they receive a notification letting them know you’ve requested a read receipt and can either approve or reject it.
Lastly, this feature isn’t compatible with all providers and extensions. You might email a different mail provider, which will disable the feature. As such, it’s overall not a comprehensive solution.
Using an Email Tracker Extension Instead
Due to the various limitations on Gmail read receipts, it’s better to use an email tracker extension instead. It’s especially an ideal solution if you’re wondering, “How do I get a read receipt in Gmail without the recipient knowing?”Â
As such, we look at a free tool you can use that does precisely the same as the Gmail feature, but it offers you more control. PandaDoc’s Free Email Tracker for Gmail is easy to install and straightforward to use after you install it.
Step 1: Download the Extension
First, you must access the extension on the Chrome Web Store and download it onto your device. You can follow our link below to reach it or type in “Free Email Tracker for Gmail by PandaDoc” to see it. If you want to use any other tracker software, download it from the appropriate site and install it.
Once you’ve downloaded it, you must link it to your free PandaDoc account. It’s often better to create your PandaDoc account using your Google Account, as this makes the next step easier.
Step 2: Connect It With Your Gmail Account
Once you’ve connected the extension to your PandaDoc account, you must connect it to your Gmail account. If you sign up with PandaDoc using your Google account, which links to your Gmail, this step will be over in seconds. Choose the Gmail you want to connect it with and approve the connection.
Step 3: Enable Email Tracking
A green box with two tick marks icon on the compose a new message screen is located at the bottom next to the send button. This icon is the button to activate or deactivate tracking for that specific email. So if you want to keep the tracker on the overall messages you send, you can also deactivate one using that button or vice versa.
Step 4: Receive Updates on Your Emails
Once you’ve sent an email you’re tracking, you’ll find it in your send box with two tick marks next to the subject line. These tick marks turn green to show the message successfully arrived in the recipient’s inbox and when they open it for the first time.
However, if you missed the tick marks turning green, no worries. Hovering over it will show you when they first opened it, how many times they viewed it, and the most recent time they viewed it.
Step 5: Control the Settings of It
The last thing to know is that you can toggle whether you activate the tracker on all emails or none. Use the same icon in the compose screen, located at the top left of your inbox next to the search bar, to turn this feature on or off.
You can also access various add-ons using the “account” option, which helps you access more tools if you want to upgrade your free plan to a paid subscription.
Final Thoughts
If you want to know how to tell if a Gmail has been read, then there are various ways to do it. However, we’ve confirmed that Gmail read receipts isn’t the way to go, as there are a few too many limitations. Online software providing email tracking is a much more user-friendly solution and doesn’t present the restrictions the receipts do.
An excellent option to try out if you don’t want a complicated solution or to pay a lot for software is the Free Email Tracker for Gmail. Check out this software to find excellent ease-of-use software, which automatically integrates with your Gmail and is no effort to use.
