Install the Chrome extension.
Add MailViewed to Chrome, sign in once, and send your first tracked email from Gmail.
The Chrome extension is what puts read receipts inside Gmail itself: the ✓✓ checkmarks next to your sent emails, automatic tracking on every send, and the tracking label next to Send in the compose window. Setup is three steps, in this order.
Open the MailViewed listing on the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome. Chrome will ask you to confirm. The extension asks for access to mail.google.com and to MailViewed's own servers (api.mailviewed.com and app.mailviewed.com, to record your tracked sends and link the extension to your account), plus permission to show a desktop notification when someone opens your email or clicks a link. No other sites. (Prefer to install it yourself? The extension page has a .zip and manual steps.)
The extension opens the MailViewed sign-in page for you right after install. If you closed it, go to app.mailviewed.com. Sign in with the same Google account you use in Gmail. This links the extension to your account. Until you do, your emails still send, just without tracking. See Pair your account.
Tracking happens in Gmail, not on the dashboard. Open or reload mail.google.com in the same browser and write an email as usual. Next to Send you'll see a green Tracking on label. Press Send, and the email shows up in your dashboard. Its ticks in Gmail stay grey until a person opens it.
If the label next to Send says something else
- Sign in to track means the extension is not linked for the Gmail account in that tab. Click the label to sign in, or to switch to the Google account you send from. If you press Send first, the email still goes out, just without tracking. This label needs extension 0.7.23 or later. Earlier versions show Tracking on even when the account is not linked.
- Paused · other tracker means another email tracker is active in the same Gmail. See Using MailViewed next to another email tracker.
- No label at all? Reload the Gmail tab first. If your Gmail is in a language other than English, the label may not show up yet, and emails sent without it are not tracked. Switching Gmail's display language to English makes the label appear. We are working on support for other languages.
Want to try it? Send an email to the exact address you are signed in with, wait about 10 seconds, then open it. The tick in Gmail turns green in about half a minute. Use the exact address, not a +alias. If the tick stays grey, send the test to a second address or a friend instead.
MailViewed works on Chrome and Chromium browsers (Brave, Edge, Arc). On your phone there's no extension. Use Compose in the dashboard instead, which needs no extension at all.