Forum Discussion
Concern Regarding "Automatically Deleted Without Read" Notifications
I have recently observed that emails I send—even to new recipients—consistently show as "Automatically Deleted Without Read" when I enable Delivery and Read Notifications in Outlook. While delivery is succeeding, the read receipt always indicates the email was deleted without being opened.
This is particularly concerning because I use this account exclusively for job applications, and I need to ensure my emails are reaching and being considered by hiring teams.
Has anyone encountered this issue before, and are there potential solutions or settings that could be adjusted to prevent this?
I am posting this to the Microsoft Outlook Community to seek insights. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
2 Replies
The notification can't actually determine whether or not the message was read. It only means that the message was in an unread status at the time it got deleted.
There can be many reasons for this. Many people don't always mark all their items as read (automatically or manually), especially when they "read it and delete it". The applications could also have been moved in bulk to another mailbox, which constitutes a delete for the mailbox it was received it. Yet another reason could be that the email was picked up by an automation system which processed the email within their HR system and then deleted the original email after processing it.
But if it is really important to you and really want a specific job; Call the company 😉
This happens more than you'd think, and it is stressful when you're waiting to hear back about job applications.
Here’s what’s likely going on: many company email systems either block read receipts or auto-delete emails before the recipient ever sees them. So even though your message is delivered, Outlook shows “Deleted Without Being Read” because it never got confirmation. It doesn’t mean no one saw it, it just means the system didn’t tell you.
Also, read receipts can sometimes flag your email as spam, especially in corporate filters.
Best move? Skip read receipts for job emails. Focus on:
- Clear, professional subject lines.
- Using PDF for resumes.
- A short, clean email body.
