While the wait for text message replies is typically shorter, waiting for email responses can be painfully long, especially if you have applied for a job, or sent any important email. This waiting period becomes a little easier to deal with using Gmail’s read receipts, which allow you to check whether the recipient has seen your email.
There are two main ways to enable read receipts in Gmail, a free method and a paid method. The paid method comes directly from Gmail while the free method relies on third-party extensions and also leaves signatures on your email.
Both methods only work on the desktop version of Gmail.
The paid method only works if you have a Google Workspace subscription, also known as a G-Suite account. Even then, your workspace organization can restrict read receipts within your organization. But if not, here is how to check if your emails are being read.
While writing a new email, click the three-dot menu near the bottom right corner of the text box to bring up a pop-up menu. Click on “Request read receipt”, but keep in mind that, unlike chatting apps, this is a consent-based system. Therefore, only when the recipient approves your request for read receipts will you be notified when they read your emails. If they don’t approve, they will continue to get prompts for approval while you won’t be able to see if they’ve read the email.
The free method, as mentioned earlier, relies on third-party extensions. Many extensions notify you when your emails are read, such as Gmelius, Boomerang, and Mailtrack, but most of them will leave a mandatory signature on your email unless you pay. A vast majority of these extensions are limited to Gmail desktops as well.
The best extension on the list is Mailtrack, which not only works on desktops but also smartphones and non-workspace Gmail accounts. This one puts a signature on your emails too, but you can pay as little as $4.99 to get unlimited access to read receipts without any unwanted watermarks.
