return receipt

[Miles]

Is there a way to tell in TB 2.0.0.16 whether a msg I sent requested a
return receipt?
Miles

[Onno Ekker]

On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 4:42 AM, Miles <mile...@removemepacbell.net> wrote:

> Is there a way to tell in TB 2.0.0.16 whether a msg I sent requested a
> return receipt?
>

Those sent messages have an extra header:
Disposition-Notification-To: Onno Ekker <o.e....@gmail.com>

When you want to check a single message to see if you have asked for comfirm
reading, you can view it's source (Ctrl-U) or view all headers.

When you want to always easily be able to see this, you could add it to your
extra expanded headers (user pref mailnews.headers.extraExpandedHeaders).

Onno

[Miles]

Thanks, and I checked one msg and see it there. Do you happen to know
if hotmail or gmail allows return receipts?

[Nir]

Miles wrote, On 01/09/08 21:58:

(I believe your statement is about using Gmail/Hotmail from Thunderbird).
As far as i know Gmail allow return receipt. No idea about hotmail.

[Onno Ekker]

I can't find this option in my Gmail settings, and couldn't find in in
the Help either (did only casual checking though). When I read my Gmail
with Thunderbird the headers are pass on, and then it works.

Onno

[Miles]

Apparently I wasn't clear. I was asking if gmail or hotmail will return
a receipt if requested from TB.

[Onno Ekker]

You were clear, apparently I wasn't... AFAIK Gmail does not return a
receipt if request from Thunderbird when the Gmail user uses Gmail's
native web interface.

I use Thunderbird to read my Gmail, so when anyone would mail me and ask
for a receipt, my Thunderbird receives that notification and I ack or
nack the popup.

I can't say what hotmail does, since I try not to use it :-)

Onno

[Miles]

Interesting: Using ATT as ISP with, TB sent test msg to myself
requesting return receipt, but nothing happened (tried 3 times). Sent
test from an alias address to my main address and it works!

And sent one to a friend who uses Hotmail and waiting for reply -- will
post here for everyone's info if it works or does not.
Miles

[Miles]

Just tried sending a msg from att/yahoo mail site and couldn't find
anything relative to return receipt, not even in Help. So called tech
service and ultra smart tech lady didn't know what I was talking about,
so will assume Yahoo doesn't do it. Perhaps gmail's website does?

[KevinP]

My experience with Hotmail is that it do not respond to MDN requests.

Most "proper" servers will - then it is a matter of whether the receive
has set up their email client to respond to MDN's and then whether they
agree to send one back.

--
Kevin Pugh

[Miles]

My return receipt requested email from TB to a hotmail address resulted
in the auto receipt reply. Also the recipient emailed that she had
received the msg and responded accordingly.

Also just signed up for readnotify.com and sent a test msg using Firefox
3.01 from the ATT/Yahoo website to one of my alias addresses and that
also worked fine in that the return msgs were seen in TB as well as the
ATT/Yahoo mail website. Presumably it would do the same from hotmail,
gmail, or any other such service. FYI, you can try readnotify.com free
for 25 msgs.
Miles

[Miles]

Error: Looking at the header of the above mentioned msg discovered the
sender was using Outlook Express with a hotmail address. Further
tested it on a hotmail address to someone using that website, not
outlook, outlook express, etc., and they did not receive a request for
acknowledgment of receipt of msg. So back to square one: It doesn't
work sending request from TB to hotmail.

[Onno Ekker]

Hotmail might also prompt the user that you requested a return receipt
and give the user an option to dismiss it, just like Thunderbird does.
I'm not saying hotmail works this way, but it might be the case and you
might still be on square two without knowing it :-)

Onno

[Miles]

However, the recipient said she did not receive a window notice for a
return receipt. So I must presume that none of the on-line mail
services do that (I've ruled out hotmail, yahoo, and gmail -- whose
left, if anyone?)
Miles

[Onno Ekker]

My company's webmail *does* give a popup:

Return Receipt
Receipt requested. Send acknowledgment? [ Send ] [ Cancel ] [ Help ]

I know there are some ISP's with webmail services that also honor it.
But you're probably only interested in free on-line mail services?
Doesn't lycos also offer e-mail?

Onno
--
It isn't actually my company, I just work there :-)

[Onno Ekker]

> My company's webmail *does* give a popup:
>
> Return Receipt
> Receipt requested. Send acknowledgment? [ Send ] [ Cancel ] [ Help ]
>
> I know there are some ISP's with webmail services that also honor it.
> But you're probably only interested in free on-line mail services?
> Doesn't lycos also offer e-mail?

It looks like the return-receipt headers aren't that much standardized.
Before Thunderbird I was using Pegasus, and it uses the following
headers for a return-receipt:

X-Confirm-reading-to: o.e....@gmail.com

That never got me any return receipts from Outlook (Express) users,
but it did from other Pegasus users...

More information can be found in RFC 2298 - An Extensible Message
Format for Message Disposition Notifications.

And then you also have the option to confirm delivery, which is
handled by the mailer, instead of being passed to the user. For this
also different headers are used by different programs:

Delivery-receipt-to: o.e....@gmail.com
or
Return-receipt-to: o.e....@gmail.com

All of this is pretty interesting, but doesn't have much to do with
thunderbird-support though...

Onno

[Miles]

It would appear that standardization is needed in order that various
programs can communicate -- for instance if TB sends a request for a
return receipt, in all probability the recipient program may not
understand, hence no receipt. Don't know if this is the case with Yahoo
& hotmail or whether it's simply ignored??