As someone who frequently finds himself sending e-mails to people with attachments, I often wonder if (and when) the individual I reached out to took the time to actually open the document I sent over.
However, as someone who does not endorse the practice of sending read receipts as they can be interpreted as intrusive I was more than happy to discover that I could utilize a little known feature in Google Docs to accomplish my goal.
More importantly, I could do so in a way that the recipient could not avoid and likely wouldn't realize either.
Here's how you can do it in four steps and under five minutes.
Step 1
Upload your document to Google Documents.
Step 2
Open the recently uploaded document and locate the "Share" drop down menu on the top right of the screen. Select the first option, "Sharing Settings..." and select the second option, "Anyone with the link". Note, make sure the final checkbox under the "Edit Access" section is not checked to ensure the recipient cannot make any edits.
Step 3
Accept your settings by hitting "save", and copy the link provided in to your email.
Step 4
Expand the drop down arrow under the "Share" menu on the top right of the screen (it will likely read "No one else is viewing"), and wait for information to change. Note that you do need to have the document open to capture the information. Put differently, leave the document tab open if you plan to come back later to see if your file has been viewed.
A Final Note
You can also use a link shorter service with link tracking such as Bit.Ly, Tiny.cc, or Goo.Gl to find out when the document was opened, but that may be a bit of overkill.
___________
A Washington, DC native and current resident, Adam is an entrepreunerial attorney and MBA. Follow him on twitter (@AdamZ) or interact on LinkedIn.