In
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...
, a return receipt is an acknowledgment by the recipient's
email client
An email client, email reader or, more formally, message user agent (MUA) or mail user agent is a computer program used to access and manage a user's email.
A web application which provides message management, composition, and reception functio ...
to the sender of receipt of an email message. What acknowledgment, if any, is sent by the recipient to the sender is dependent on the email software of the recipient.
Two notification services are available for email: delivery status notifications (DSNs) and message disposition notifications (MDNs). Whether or not such an acknowledgement of receipt is sent depends on the configuration of the recipient’s email software.
Delivery status notifications
DSN is both a service that may optionally be provided by
Message Transfer Agent
Within the Internet email system, a message transfer agent (MTA), or mail transfer agent, or mail relay is software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using SMTP. The terms mail server, mail exchanger, and MX host ...
s (MTAs) using the
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. User-level email clients typica ...
(SMTP), or a message format used to return indications of message delivery to the sender of the message. Specifically, the DSN SMTP service is used to request indications of successful delivery or delivery failure (in the DSN format) be returned. Issuance of a DSN upon delivery failure is the default behavior, whereas issuance of a DSN upon successful delivery requires a specific request from the sender.
However, for various reasons, it is possible for a message to be delivered, and a DSN is returned to the sender indicating successful delivery, but the message subsequently fails to be seen by the recipient or even made available to them.
The DSN SMTP extension, message format, and associated delivery status codes are specified in RFC
3461throug
3464an
6522
Message disposition notifications
MDNs provide a notification of the "disposition" of a message - indicating, for example, whether it is read by a recipient, discarded before being read, etc. However, for
privacy reasons, and also for backward compatibility, requests for MDNs are entirely advisory in nature - i.e. recipients are free to ignore such requests. The format and usage MDNs are specified in RFC 3798.
A description of how multiple
Mail User Agent
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...
s (MUAs) should handle the generation of MDNs in an
Internet Message Access Protocol
In computing, the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is an Internet standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve email messages from a mail server over a TCP/IP connection. IMAP is defined by .
IMAP was designed with the goal of per ...
(IMAP4) environment is provided in RFC 3503.
A non-standard but widely used way to request return receipts is with the "Return-Receipt-To:" (RRT) field in the
e-mail header
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic (digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
, with the email return address specified. The first time a user opens an email message containing this field in the header, the client will typically prompt the user whether or not to send a return receipt.
See also
*
Acknowledge character
In data networking, telecommunications, and computer buses, an acknowledgment (ACK) is a signal that is passed between communicating processes, computers, or devices to signify acknowledgment, or receipt of message, as part of a communications ...
* ''
Avis de réception
Avis is Latin for bird and may refer to:
Aviation
* Auster Avis, a 1940s four-seat light aircraft developed from the Auster Autocrat (abandoned project)
*Avro Avis, a two-seat biplane
*Scottish Aeroplane Syndicate Avis, an early aircraft built by ...
'',
postal equivalent
*
Document automation
Document automation (also known as document assembly or document management) is the design of systems and workflows that assist in the creation of electronic documents. These include logic-based systems that use segments of pre-existing text and/or ...
in supply chain management & logistics
* {{section link, Email tracking, Return-receipts
*
Proof of delivery
*
Web bug
A web beaconAlso called web bug, tracking bug, tag, web tag, page tag, tracking pixel, pixel tag, 1×1 GIF, or clear GIF. is a technique used on web pages and email to unobtrusively (usually invisibly) allow checking that a user has accessed ...
(which are frequently used in spamming as a way of determining which spam recipients open (and presumably read) before deleting it)
References
*
K. Moore. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Service Extension for Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs). RFC 3461, January 2003.
* G. Vaudreuil. The Multipart/Report Content Type for the Reporting of Mail System Administrative Messages. RFC 3462, January 2003.
* G. Vaudreuil. Enhanced Mail System Status Codes. RFC 3463, January 2003.
*
K. Moore & G. Vaudreuil. An Extensible Message Format for Delivery Status Notifications. RFC 3464, January 2003.
* A. Melnikov. Message Disposition Notification (MDN) profile for Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). RFC 3503, March 2003.
* T. Hansen & G. Vaudreuil (editors). Message Disposition Notification. RFC 3798, May 2004.
Email