If you have set up Outlook to use Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) and also read receipts then you may have some users who will report errors or problems related to junk email.

A read receipt is a tracking mechanism that allows the sender to request a receipt indicating that the recipient has received and read their email message. The recipient has the option to acknowledge receipt and/or that the email message has also been read.

Whether or not the sender receives that receipt is not only dependent on the recipient’s acknowledgement but more so on the email server, specifically the email server’s support of read receipts. Additionally, although the email server might support sending out read receipts it may not support delivery receipts which is usually a setting configured to prevent spammers from determining mailbox addresses.

Read receipts make sense for internal communications and critical email messages. They help to establish a paper trail useful in legal matters. However some users may consider this an intrusion or a disruption in their normal business flow and may thus disable this option.

Some users have reported that when Outlook synchronizes with the email server and purges the junk email folder that read receipts will be returned. This can happen when messages that have receipt requests are being moved to the junk email folder and you then empty the junk email folder from another client. This can happen even though the settings in Tools, Options, Email Options and Tracking Options indicate otherwise.

Read receipts are enabled via the email tracking options within Outlook. Some of the information returned can include the time and date that the email message was received, the IP address of the email server, and the email software that was used.

An administrator can test for potential problems by following the steps below:

1. Send email messages to test email account and request receipts
2. Next, move those email messages to a junk email folder
3. Synchronize with your IMAP server
4. Update all folders
5. Close Outlook
6. From a different email client empty the junk email folder
7. Reopen Outlook.

The administrator should note that he will receive read receipts when email is emptied out of the junk email folder. This will occur even though the Tracking settings may indicate the opposite and are thus ignored.

If you wish to avoid this problem then you can mark the junk email messages with a status showing that they have been read. Do this before closing Outlook or before synchronizing with the IMAP email server. The result will be that your tracking settings will not get ignored and your read receipt request will get processed accordingly. Another option is to empty out the junk email folder.

As a precaution, administrators should notify end users to always mark their email messages as having been read before emptying the junk email folder. An administrator might also like to create a wrapper or script that is then installed or linked on each client’s account such that whenever a user attempts to empty out their junk email folder the script would mark all messages with a read status. Furthermore, the junk email folder should always be emptied out from Outlook.

Another workaround is to configure Outlook to neither ask nor send read receipts. If that’s not an option then an administrator can at least configure Outlook to always ask before sending read receipts.

From the Tools menu, choose Options, then email options and then tracking options to configure Outlook for the appropriate tracking settings.

Now another problem that can occur when using read receipts is just the opposite from above: not receiving read receipts.

This can happen for a number of reasons:

1. The recipient has chosen not to acknowledge receipt of the email message.
2. The recipient has disabled the read receipt feature.
3. The email message was not marked as having been read.
4. If the email software the recipient uses does not support read receipts then the sender will not receive an acknowledgement.
5. Exchange mail server has not yet been configured to forward read receipts.

Lastly, a junk email filter on the server might be causing read receipts to be dropped and placed into a junk email folder before Outlook can download the receipts. If using POP3 then you can log into a web based mailbox and check for those receipts.