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Evo-ERP and DBA Classic >> Suggestions for Updates >> Read Acknowledgements for Emails
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Message started by Lenette on 03/29/07 at 14:32:10

Title: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by Lenette on 03/29/07 at 14:32:10

It would be nice to be able to use the "email read" feature with EVO. Currently, we save as .pdfs then attached to an email in Outlook. Seems like our sister-company in the UK never receives our Invoices... or so they say!! (Even tho we get bcc's)

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by kkmfg on 03/30/07 at 04:35:26

Lenette wrote:

As in, it emails you to tell you they got it when the other end opens up the email? That would probably be a nice thing to have. You don't want to guess if your customers got their invoices either. However, each place you send to has to allow the receipts to go out. They can just choose not to send notifications if they want. There isn't any foolproof way to be assured that an email got to it's destination.

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by David Waldmann on 03/30/07 at 05:17:57

kkmfg wrote:

However, each place you send to has to allow the receipts to go out. They can just choose not to send notifications if they want. There isn't any foolproof way to be assured that an email got to it's destination.

I don't know what the requirements for operation are, but Outlook also has the option of "Request delivery receipt". I believe that the outgoing mail server generates the confirmation message based upon the receiving mail server's verification of receipt. That doesn't prove that the person read it, but it does prove that it was delivered.

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by kevind on 03/30/07 at 06:39:41

When you put a paper invoice in the mail, what confirmation do you have the the recipient received it?

None that I know of. Eventually, the invoice ages out to the point of AR calling the customer to ask out it.

If the customer is on top of their purchasing, they would be calling you to find out where their invoice is so that they can close out their PO.

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by David Waldmann on 04/02/07 at 04:59:33

kevind wrote:

When you put a paper invoice in the mail, what confirmation do you have the the recipient received it?

The thing is that, as unreliable as the PO is it is recognized as an acceptable method. Email is not there yet, IMHO. Too many possibilities of things going wrong.

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by kkmfg on 04/03/07 at 04:12:00

Request delivery receipt is what I'm talking about. The mailserver most certainly does NOT send the receipt. The receiving email client does... or should. You see, you can choose not to send it. The mail server will, on the other hand, send bounce messages for undeliverable mail. So sometimes you can use that as proof that someone DIDNT get the email.

Quote:

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by David Waldmann on 04/03/07 at 04:50:29

I'm not a guru, but I have only found the option to "Ask me" for READ receipts.

DELIVERY receipts are different. I am virtually positive they are not sent by the receiver's email client - it's either the sending or receiving mail server.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c275/dwaldmann/Outlook_Options.jpg

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by Dale on 04/03/07 at 05:56:34

One of the problems with delivery receipts and read receipts is that the switches are global. It can't be done on a email-by-email basis without a lot of goofing around.

(Many people, and I'm one of them, consider receipts to be an invasion of privacy worthy of Big Brother. We've even had people say words like "Hey, you read my email at 3:00pm - why didn't you respond at 3:01?!?". I get around 100 emails a day minimum, and don't need that many people a day watching what I do and when I do it, so my Outlook is set to never send receipts.)

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by NovaZyg on 04/03/07 at 06:35:36

Ok, before this goes any further, it is not an option that TAS7 has access to. The TAS7 email does not use Outlook or Outlook express and at this time does not support the delivery notice option.

Sorry.

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by kkmfg on 04/03/07 at 06:51:56

No, sorry to you. ;-) You see, David W tried the delivery confirmation on me. I run a postfix email server on linux and it successfully responded to the confirmation without asking me. So, it's not just an outlook thing. I'll look up the proper documentation on how to set an email to have a delivery receipt and send it to you. Still, TAS7 might not allow you to custom build email headers (which is what you'd undoubtedly have to do to get delivery confirmation.) If that's the case then I've got even more reasons to really like Tony.

And, since it's bound to be a header thing, it would be settable with a toggle (delivery conf or not?) and would not cause all other emails sent from the system to also have delivery confirmation on. It seems like it really might be a great addition. And, the end user can't turn it off. Only the mail administrator could do that.

NovaZyg wrote:

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by kkmfg on 04/03/07 at 07:04:45

And... I figured it out.

Disposition-Notification-To:
is the header property that must be set to get delivery notifications. More (technical info) is available at: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2298.txt

The relevant line would look like:
Disposition-Notification-To: "My Name" <me@work.com>

And, yes, the mail server administrator could disable it so there are no guarantees that it'll work but it's more likely to succeed than read receipts.

Title: Re: Read Acknowledgements for Emails
Post by David Waldmann on 04/03/07 at 10:05:40

Dale wrote:

One of the problems with delivery receipts and read receipts is that the switches are global. It can't be done on a email-by-email basis without a lot of goofing around.

I'm not sure what you mean by "lots of goofing around", but in Outlook all you have to do is click the "Options" button at the top of the email and you get the dialog I showed above. Click the option(s) you want and send it.

Dale wrote:

(Many people, and I'm one of them, consider receipts to be an invasion of privacy worthy of Big Brother. We've even had people say words like "Hey, you read my email at 3:00pm - why didn't you respond at 3:01?!?". I get around 100 emails a day minimum, and don't need that many people a day watching what I do and when I do it, so my Outlook is set to never send receipts.)

There is a HUGE difference between Read receipts and Delivery receipts. I (almost) never allow read receipts either. But delivery receipts don't say YOU got the email, let alone read it, just that the mail server got it. You could be gone for two years, never log in to your account, and every time I sent an email I would be notified that your mail server got it (with the exception as Collin mentions above of disabling that function on the SERVER).