The original sent messages with Requests for delivery confirmation and a read receipt disappeared. I only have the delivery confirmation left.

Question

The original sent messages with Requests for delivery confirmation and a read receipt disappeared. I only have the delivery confirmation left.

Answer 1

Hi FILIPCIKLEVSKI-8794

I understand you’re having an issue where the original sent messages disappear, and only the delivery/read receipt notifications remain. Please confirm: 

Is this mailbox: 

• Outlook.com / Microsoft account, or 
• A third‑party IMAP mailbox added to the new Outlook? 

I would love to hear from you soon. Have a lovely day! 

Answer 2

In Outlook, delivery and read receipts are separate messages that are sent back to the sender and then associated with the original message for tracking. The behavior described—only seeing the delivery confirmation and not the original sent message—typically means the original item in Sent Items was moved or deleted, not that the receipt itself removed it.

Key points from the product behavior:

• A delivery receipt only confirms that the message was delivered to the recipient’s mailbox; it does not replace or modify the original sent message.
• A read receipt confirms that the message was opened. Again, it is a separate notification and does not remove the original message.
• Both types of receipts arrive as separate messages and their contents are recorded in the original message in the Sent Items folder when that original item still exists.
• Tracking information is visible only when the original sent message is opened from Sent Items and at least one receipt has been received.

If only the receipt messages remain and the original sent items are gone, the likely causes are:

1. The original messages in Sent Items were deleted or moved (manually, by rules, or by cleanup/archiving).
2. A mailbox policy or cleanup tool removed older sent items.

To prevent confusion going forward:

1. Verify that Sent Items is not being auto-cleaned or archived in a way that removes original messages.
2. Check for any rules that might move or delete sent messages.
3. When sending new messages where tracking is important, confirm that they appear and remain in Sent Items after sending.
4. Use tracking as designed: open the original message in Sent Items, then use the Tracking button (in classic Outlook) or the equivalent tracking view to see delivery/read status, rather than relying only on the separate receipt messages.

There is no documented feature in Outlook that automatically replaces or “converts” the original sent message into a receipt; loss of the original item indicates movement or deletion outside the tracking mechanism.

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References:

• Add and request read receipts and delivery notifications in Outlook
• Customize your email message
• Add delivery receipt to track an e-mail message