Odissefs Pantazis-von zur Gathen (very cool!) has written an applescript that will request return receipts from recipients with email clients that can handle them.

Many people look for this if they are working in an Outlook world.

Odissefs’ script creates a new message in Mail.app, prompting you for the account you wish to use:

Then you compose the email as usual and send it off. If your recipient is using a compatible client, they will get a request to send back a read receipt, which then duly appears:

It is easier to set up than Joel Nelson’s script (see an earlier Hawk Wings post) although I have found it to be a little erratic. Sometimes the request for confirmation doesn’t come through to the recipient even when she or he is using Outlook.

You can find the script on the Apple Discussion Forums or on Ody’s web site .

Personally I am glad that Mail.app can neither send nor receive these things. Nothing annoys me more than people interrupting me to ask for a confirmation that I am reading their emails, when I am in the middle of reading them.

But if you go for this kind of thing or you are in a work environment in which they are required, you will like Odissiefs’ work.