Enabling Domino to process return receipts for SMTP messages
When an Notes® mail user sends a message to another Notes user and selects the Return Receipt delivery option, the mail client adds the Notes ReturnReceipt item to the message. The ReturnReceipt item on a Notes mail message prompts the recipient's Notes client to generate a notification (the receipt) to the sender when the recipient opens the message.
About this task
By default, Notes return receipts are not compatible with SMTP messages, which use MIME headers to identify return receipt requests. For return receipts to work seamlessly when a Notes message is converted to MIME and vice versa, you must set up Domino® to translate between the two formats.
Enabling return receipts lets Domino honor return-receipt requests on inbound SMTP mail and add return-receipt requests to outbound SMTP mail. On inbound messages, Domino converts MIME return-receipt headers to Notes "ReadReceipt" requests before delivering the message. On outbound Internet mail, Domino maps a Notes return receipt request to the MIME header specified in the Return Receipt Mapping field.
There are two MIME headers that can be used to request a read receipt. You can specify which header Domino uses for outbound mail when converting a Notes return-receipt request into a MIME return-receipt request. The Return-Receipt-To header is the older method; the Disposition-Notification-To header is the newer, preferred method. Choose the method supported by the majority of the systems to which your organization sends mail. For return receipts to work, the receiving server and client must both support the header used. Newer mail clients may not support the older header.
When you disable return receipts, Domino ignores the Return-Receipt-To or Disposition-Notification-To headers on inbound SMTP mail and does not return the return receipt to the sender. It also does not convert Notes client requests for return receipts into a corresponding MIME header field.
Enabling return receipts in your system does not guarantee that your users will receive return receipts every time they are requested. The Internet mail specifications do not require servers or clients to honor return-receipt requests. If the recipient's server does not honor the request, it is ignored. Generally, large organizations with LAN-based mail systems that provide their own internal return-receipt features implement return-receipts over SMTP, while commercial Internet mail systems, such as Web-based mail systems tend not to.