Turning On Read Recipts for Apple Mail

I used echo to validate this string. You can try this (with non-redacted email address). I didn't attempt to insert it into my Mail Preferences with defaults.

defaults write com.apple.mail UserHeaders '{"Disposition-Notification-To" = "C******* D’I******<m*********@comcast.net>";}'

Note that I did use a "curly" apostrophe. That is not a special character, so it doesn't interrupt the string.

Also, the formatter here puts it all on one line. If it extends beyond the border of the window, just Triple-click it to select the entire line.

Your example shows neither of those are true. But, Safari (or whatever browser you are using) likely created curly quotes.

I didn't look closely before, but you have an apostrophe in your name. That would end the string. In this case, you would likely want an curly apostrophe, or you need to escape the single quote with a \ -→ D\'I

The error message indicates there is a break in the string starting at

C******* D'I

Again, the string you are passing as an argument is not correctly formed. I offered what I thought would work, above, but if that doesn't work, I don't know what is wrong. It is breaking up at the beginning of your email address.

The apostrophe in your name needs to be replaced with a curly apostrophe like I posted in my last reply.

I really need to know when my emails are being received by someone.

The "Disposition Notification" won't tell you that. At best, it will tell you that the recipient's email provider pushed the message to the account's inbox.

If the email client they use has the capacity to identify that header and respond to it, the user would have to allow it to respond. I can't imagine anyone allowing that.

If your recipients use Mail, it won't respond in any way. It will just ignore the header.

You need to leave a space between UserHeaders and '. Also, the ' must be a ' and not "curly" quote. Same for "

The errors indicate the string you entered is not formatted correctly.

Copy the exact command you used from Terminal and paste it into a reply, here. Select the entire Line and click the <> button to mark it as code.

Make sure the quotes do not change to curly quotes.

If they do, try selecting the line that you just marked as code, then cmd-shift-opt-V to paste and match style.

From that, I might be able to figure out what is wrong with the string. You can redact the personal information like you did before, but be sure to leave in any special characters, like the apostrophe.

Then the string is still malformed. Note what command is not found here:

bash: }’: command not found

It is the part after the semicolon. The semicolon ends a command and starts a new one. So, the defaults command thinks the string you input ended before the semicolon.

If I may, there are not very many people who would allow a read receipts (and that may be why the Mail app does not have that capability). I lnow I would definitely not: if you send me an email and it required a read receipt, I would not allow or open the email. I would consider it a serious privacy invasion for someone to demand to know when I read that email which, at that point, is my property.

Are you including a space after UserHeaders and before the '{"Disposition ? Also, are you using the single quote ( ' ) or the backtick ( ` )?

You are wasting a lot of time trying to create functionality that most email users will block by default. What email user would ever allow sending of read receipts from their email client?