AppleScript to send a return receipt in Mail.app
One feature that many people miss in Apple Mail is the ability to request and answer return receipts.
People with Panther Mail can use MailPriority. For Tiger Mail users, there is an all-or-nothing solution that involves a Terminal hacking. It adds a return receipt request to all your emails.
The only other option for requesting receipts is a third-party service like ReadNotify. (Not a bad idea if you only need them now and then).
But now there is a way to answer the return receipts that others send to you. Joel Nelson has posted an AppleScript which automatically replies to return receipts sent to you by people who use mail clients that support it (Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc). The message it generates looks like this:
Download the script and save it somewhere memorable. You will need to browse to it when setting up the rule that runs the script. Follow the instructions on Joel’s site.
You will very probably need to add a “Disposition-Notification-To” header to the list of conditions in Mail.app’s rule menu. Select the Edit header option:
Then click the plus sign on the next window and type “Disposition-Notification-To” so that it looks like this:
Now Apple Mail will automatically reply through the rule to any emails that request a read receipt.
Personally, I don’t miss them. There’s nothing more annoying than people asking you if you have received their message while you are reading it. But I don’t live in a corporate environment. In business some people have an expectation that you will acknowledge their emails in this way, and now with this script you can.
Tags: applescript, email, panther mail, receipts, reply, terminal hack, Tiger MailRelated posts
January 4th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
[...] UPDATE: See also, “An AppleScript to send return receipts in Mail.app” [...]
January 5th, 2006 at 12:57 am
Hi Hawk,
Hey, this is nifty. Please share your work on ScriptBuilders!
When you get time, skoot on by MacScripter.net. Very active forum, as well as other resources specific to scripting. :)
January 5th, 2006 at 1:06 am
Hey Ray.
That’s sweet, but it’s not my work. It’s Joel’s work.
I couldn’t code my way out of a wet paper bag.
January 6th, 2006 at 3:55 am
Actually, I can’t take credit for the script. It is from macosxhints.com, and I simply relisted it on my site for reference. Here is the article you are looking for: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050512155856402
January 6th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Ah, I see. I misunderstood that.
Still, a nice piece of relisting! :-)
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:28 am
[...] Joel Nelson has written an excellent AppleScript that automatically replies to return receipts sent to you by people who use mail clients that support it (Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc). I posted about it in January. [...]
April 6th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Does anyone know what I need to enter into terminal to deactive the return receipts? Please email me
alex.moulter@nyu.edu
September 11th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
[...] It is easierto set up than Joel Nelson’s script (see an earlier Hawk Wings post) although I have found it to be a little erratic. Sometimes for me the request for confirmation doesn’t come through to the recipient even when she or he is using Outlook. [...]