On Aug 15, 2006, at 7:04 PM, Bill Holt wrote: > Does anyone know how to set "Mail" so that it will report when a > message is received and when it is actually opened?
As far as I know, Apple's mail does not have native support for this although there may be an Applescript around to partially add it. There are certainly Applescripts around to notify an Apple mail user of a receipt request on a message she received. The problem with these things is that they're more complex than they seem, over the Internet. When is a message delivered? Is it delivered when it enters a mail spool on a mail server, or when a user actually downloads it via POP or IMAP? The delivery status notification protocols were only approved a few years ago and were added to sendmail, the most widely used mail transport agent on the Internet, only recently. This means few email programs support them. Some closed mail systems (Microsoft, IBM) have been able to do it for some time, but only when talking to themselves. When is a mail read? When a POP client downloads it? How often do you download mail and save it to read until later? There are programs that do notify you when a mail has been read. Microsoft Outlook has a nonstandard flag you can put on an email to get notified when it's read on Outlook or Outlook Express. The reader gets a popup when the message is opened asking her if you should be notified. There is another method of which I heartily disapprove. Programs such as MSGTAG notify the sender without telling the reader what they're doing, and they do it in a very underhanded way. The sender sends the mail through the MSGTAG company's server and they put a bit of html code in the mail that gets activated when the email is opened. That code notifies the company that the mail was opened and they notify you. How would you define spyware? This is exactly what the spam companies do to freshen their mailing lists. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: smime.p7s Type: application/pkcs7-signature Size: 2452 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.math.louisville.edu/pipermail/macgroup/attachments/20060815/3fb185e2/attachment.bin
