Why is my email not being tracked?
The most common reasons are that your company has not switched tracking on (only its owner or an administrator can, after accepting the Message Tracking Terms) or that the recipient has no recorded consent for your company: without one, HawkOpen sends an ordinary email. The email may also not have gone through HawkOpen, for example with the extension off or with several recipients. On the Free plan links stop being tracked after 10 emails a month, but opens are still tracked.
Can I schedule a tracked email from my phone?
Not from a phone app: HawkOpen has no mobile app. Scheduled sending is in the HawkOpen dashboard on the Pro and Business plans, and the email leaves at the chosen time from your connected mailbox.
How do I install the HawkOpen extension in Chrome?
Add the HawkOpen extension to Chrome, pin it to the toolbar and sign in to your HawkOpen account in it. Then open Gmail, Outlook on the web or Yahoo Mail and write a new email: the extension adds a tracking switch to it.
HawkOpen is in a controlled launch and its site does not link to a Chrome Web Store page yet. Until it does, you can send tracked emails from the HawkOpen dashboard, which works without the extension. The Chrome version is also meant for Edge, Brave and Opera.
Related questions: Is the HawkOpen extension in the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons? · Does the HawkOpen extension work in Edge, Brave and Opera? · The HawkOpen extension does not show in Gmail. What should I check?
Is there a HawkOpen extension for Firefox, and which version do I need?
Yes. HawkOpen has a separate Firefox version that needs Firefox 109 or later. Once added and signed in, it works like the Chrome version in Gmail, Outlook on the web and Yahoo Mail.
The HawkOpen site does not link to a Firefox Add-ons page yet, because HawkOpen is in a controlled launch. If you use an older Firefox, update it first; the dashboard works in any current browser.
Related questions: How do I install the HawkOpen extension in Chrome? · Is the HawkOpen extension in the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons?
Is the HawkOpen extension in the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons?
Not yet. HawkOpen is in a controlled launch, and its site does not link to a store page for Chrome or Firefox. Until it does, you can send tracked emails from the HawkOpen dashboard through your connected mailbox, without the extension.
Be careful with extensions that use a similar name: install HawkOpen only from a link on the HawkOpen site once a store page is listed there.
Related questions: How do I install the HawkOpen extension in Chrome? · Is an email tracker extension safe to use? · Can I send tracked emails from the HawkOpen dashboard?
Does the HawkOpen extension work in Edge, Brave and Opera?
The Chrome version of the extension is meant for them too, because Edge, Brave and Opera accept Chrome extensions. HawkOpen does not publish separate test results for each of these browsers.
Privacy settings in Brave or Opera can block parts of webmail pages; if the tracking switch does not appear, allow the extension on the webmail site. The HawkOpen dashboard works in all of them.
Related questions: How do I install the HawkOpen extension in Chrome? · Is there a HawkOpen extension for Safari?
Is there a HawkOpen extension for Safari?
No. HawkOpen has extensions only for Chrome (also meant for Edge, Brave and Opera) and for Firefox. On a Mac you can use one of those browsers, or send tracked emails from the HawkOpen dashboard, which opens in Safari too.
HawkOpen has not announced a Safari version.
Related questions: Does the HawkOpen extension work in Edge, Brave and Opera? · Can I track emails sent from Apple Mail, Thunderbird or another desktop mail app?
How do I send a tracked email with the extension, and what about CC and BCC?
Write the email in Gmail, Outlook on the web or Yahoo Mail to one recipient, leave the tracking switch on and send. With the extension a tracked email can have only one recipient, so CC and BCC are not tracked: for several people, send from the HawkOpen dashboard, where each address gets its own email.
This is on purpose: one email to several people carries the same tracking image, so an open could not be tied to a person. If you add a second address while tracking is on, HawkOpen does not prepare tracking for that email; you can remove the extra addresses or switch tracking off for it.
The switch asks HawkOpen to prepare the email. It is tracked only if your company has switched tracking on for it and a consent of the recipient for your company is recorded; otherwise it goes out without a tracking image or tracked links.
Related questions: How do I see which of several recipients opened my email? · Can I send tracked emails from the HawkOpen dashboard? · How do I send the same email to many people separately instead of using BCC?
Can I send tracked emails from the HawkOpen dashboard?
Yes. Write the email in the dashboard, pick the connected mailbox it should go out from and add the recipients; each recipient gets a separate email, sent through your own mailbox; a recipient with a recorded consent for your company gets their own tracker, the others an ordinary email. This works with any connected mailbox, including one you otherwise use only in a desktop mail program.
On Pro and Business you can also pick a later send time. Emails from the dashboard cannot carry file attachments; share a link to the file instead.
Related questions: How do I send a tracked email with the extension, and what about CC and BCC? · Can I schedule tracked emails to send later? · How do I create and send an email campaign from Gmail or Outlook?
Can I send a test email to myself to see how tracking works?
Yes, if tracking is switched on for your company and a consent is recorded for the test address, for example through a consent form link you create for it and confirm yourself. Send it to a second address of yours at another provider, not to the same mailbox. Wait a few minutes, then open it with images shown and click a link: you will see each event with its category, and early opens by your provider’s proxy or scanner labelled as such.
A click within seconds of sending counts towards a scanner, not towards human activity, so wait before you click. Looking at your own sent copy in your outbox can also load the image; HawkOpen does not count that as the recipient reading.
Related questions: Why do I see an open when I look at my own sent email? · Why does an open appear seconds after I send the email? · Why was my link clicked seconds after I sent the email?
Does tracking change how my email looks to the recipient?
Only a little, and only in the copy of a recipient whose consent for your company is recorded. The tracking image is a 1×1 pixel nobody sees, and links still show the same text but lead through a HawkOpen address first. What the recipient does see is a short notice at the end, “This message contains HawkOpen tracking elements.”, with the link “Do not track my activity”; on the Free plan there is also a short HawkOpen line in the footer.
Only links that start with https are passed through HawkOpen; other links stay exactly as written. If the recipient’s mail app shows the destination of a link, it may show the HawkOpen address instead of yours.
Every email HawkOpen sends or prepares, tracked or not, also ends with a short line with the link “Do not send me messages”.
Where rules that require consent apply, tracking may start only after that consent has been obtained. The link in the message lets the recipient withdraw consent later.
Related questions: What does the HawkOpen tracking notice at the bottom of an email say? · What is an email tracking pixel? · What is link tracking, and how is a tracking link made or removed?
The HawkOpen extension does not show in Gmail. What should I check?
Check that you use Chrome or Firefox 109 or later (or Edge, Brave or Opera), that the extension is switched on and signed in to your HawkOpen account, and reload the Gmail tab. The tracking switch appears when you start a new email, not in the inbox list.
The extension finds its place in Gmail by the page layout, which Google can change and which other extensions or a customised layout can alter. Try switching other Gmail extensions off for a moment. If it still does not appear, send tracked emails from the HawkOpen dashboard in the meantime.
Related questions: Why is my email not being tracked? · Does the HawkOpen extension conflict with other Gmail extensions? · How do I install the HawkOpen extension in Chrome?
Can I switch tracking off for a single email, or have it off by default?
Yes. In the extension each new email has its own tracking switch, and in the extension options you choose whether new emails start with tracking on or off. In the HawkOpen dashboard each message and each campaign has its own switches for opens and for links. For the whole company tracking is off by default: only its owner or an administrator switches it on, for every message or only for those where the sender switches it on.
An email sent from the extension with tracking off goes out as you wrote it: HawkOpen does not touch it. A message or campaign sent from the dashboard with tracking off has no tracking image, tracked links or tracking notice, but like every email HawkOpen sends it ends with the line “Do not send me messages”. A switch in a single email cannot go beyond your company’s instruction: if the company does not measure opens, no email switch turns them on.
Where rules that require consent apply, tracking may start only after that consent has been obtained. The link in the message lets the recipient withdraw consent later.
Related questions: Why is my email not being tracked? · Can I exclude some recipients or countries from tracking?
Can I track plain-text emails, or do they have to be HTML?
Tracking needs an HTML email. The open signal is a tiny image, and a plain-text email cannot carry an image; links are tracked only when they are real links in HTML. In a plain-text email neither works, but a reply is still a reply.
If Gmail or Outlook is set to plain-text mode, switch the new email back to normal (HTML) formatting before sending. A web address typed as plain text, without being a link, is not tracked even in an HTML email.
Related questions: What is an email tracking pixel? · What happens if the recipient blocks images? · Why is my email not being tracked?
Is there a HawkOpen status page or uptime guarantee?
No. HawkOpen is in a controlled launch and has not published a status page or a service level (uptime) guarantee. Its terms say that service levels still have to be set before production sales.
If HawkOpen is unavailable, emails you write directly in your mail program are still sent by your provider, just without tracking.
Related questions: Is HawkOpen publicly launched, or still in a controlled launch? · How can I contact HawkOpen, and how fast is support?
How can I contact HawkOpen, and how fast is support?
The operator of HawkOpen, TriStiX S.L., and its contact details are listed on the Terms / Imprint page linked at the bottom of the site. HawkOpen has not published support hours or a promised response time.
If you are signed in, the privacy tools in your account settings handle exports and deletion requests for your account directly.
Related questions: Is there a HawkOpen status page or uptime guarantee? · Is HawkOpen publicly launched, or still in a controlled launch?
Is HawkOpen available in my country?
HawkOpen has not published a list of countries. The site is in seven languages, prices are shown in euros and US dollars, and the operator is TriStiX S.L. in Spain. HawkOpen is in a controlled launch, so not every provider or feature is offered in production yet.
Local rules on tracking and on sending business email differ between countries; the legal topics of this FAQ describe the EU and US rules HawkOpen has looked at.
Related questions: What are HawkOpen prices in US dollars? · Which languages does HawkOpen support? · In which country or region is my data stored?
Is HawkOpen publicly launched, or still in a controlled launch?
It is still in a controlled launch. Some steps remain before a full public launch, among them the file-scanning service that PDF, video and signature uploads need, and an independent security assessment. HawkOpen has not published a roadmap with dates.
Until the file-scanning service runs, PDF, video and signature workflows are previews. Each mailbox provider connection is also verified before it is offered in production.
Related questions: Why can I not upload a PDF, video or document for signature yet? · Does HawkOpen have security certifications? · Is there a HawkOpen status page or uptime guarantee?
Which languages does HawkOpen support?
The website is in seven languages: English, Polish, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian. The app itself is in five of them: English, Polish, German, Spanish and French. The tracking notice in your emails and the pages for recipients are in all seven.
HawkOpen picks the language of the notice from the text of your email and uses English when it cannot tell. The tracking consent form and the e-signature emails are in the recipient’s language chosen when the link or request is created, otherwise in the sender’s dashboard language; without either, the consent form and the code email follow the recipient’s browser, and the other emails are in English. Portuguese and Italian for the app are not available yet.
Where rules that require consent apply, tracking may start only after that consent has been obtained. The link in the message lets the recipient withdraw consent later.
Related questions: What does the HawkOpen tracking notice at the bottom of an email say? · Is HawkOpen available in my country?
Is HawkOpen open source, or can I host it myself?
No to both. HawkOpen’s code is not published as open source, and HawkOpen is offered only as a hosted service with the Free, Pro and Business plans; there is no version to install on your own server.
HawkOpen uses open-source components, which keep their own licences. If where data is stored matters to you, read the answer on data storage first.
Related questions: In which country or region is my data stored? · Does HawkOpen have security certifications?
Is the HawkOpen website and dashboard accessible?
HawkOpen has not published an accessibility statement or an audit against WCAG, so it makes no conformance claim. The public pages have basics such as a link that skips straight to the main content and a language set for each page.
If something on the site or in the app does not work with your assistive technology, the operator’s contact details are on the Terms / Imprint page.
Related questions: How can I contact HawkOpen, and how fast is support?
Does tracking slow down sending my emails?
Only by a moment. Before an email leaves, the extension asks HawkOpen to prepare it for that one recipient (with a tiny image and tracked links when that recipient is to be tracked), which usually takes a short moment. HawkOpen has not published speed measurements.
Whether tracking affects spam filtering is a separate question, answered in the deliverability topic.
Related questions: Does open tracking hurt deliverability or send emails to spam?
How is the HawkOpen extension updated?
Extensions installed from the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons are updated by the browser automatically. HawkOpen is not listed in those stores yet, and it has not published an update schedule.
If the extension misbehaves after a browser update, remove it, add it again and sign in; your tracked emails stay in your HawkOpen account.
Related questions: Is the HawkOpen extension in the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons? · How do I install the HawkOpen extension in Chrome?
Can I track emails with large attachments, and are there size limits?
HawkOpen tracks the email, not the attachment. With the extension you attach files in Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo as usual, and your provider’s size limits apply. Emails sent from the HawkOpen dashboard or in a campaign cannot carry file attachments at all; share a link instead.
Whether someone opened an attachment cannot be seen. HawkOpen’s tracked PDF links will show views once the file-scanning service is running; until then they are a preview.
Related questions: Can I see if someone opened my email attachment? · Why can I not upload a PDF, video or document for signature yet?
Why do opens and clicks show up late?
An open is recorded only when the recipient’s mail app loads the image, which can be long after the email arrived. Some providers load images through their own proxy at their own moment, and Apple Mail may load them in advance, so timing is not always the reading time. HawkOpen has not published a processing time.
Browser notifications appear only while the browser is running, and email or Teams alerts are held during your quiet hours.
Related questions: Why does an open appear seconds after I send the email? · Why am I not getting notifications when my email is opened?
Does the HawkOpen extension conflict with other Gmail extensions?
It can happen. HawkOpen has not published a list of conflicting extensions, but other extensions that change Gmail’s writing window can hide or move the tracking switch. Switch them off one by one and reload Gmail to find the cause.
Two tracking extensions at once can also add two trackers to the same email; keep only one switched on for an email.
Related questions: The HawkOpen extension does not show in Gmail. What should I check?
Can I track emails I sent before I installed HawkOpen?
No. Tracking is added to an email when it is sent: a tiny image and tracked links made for that recipient. An email that already left without them cannot be tracked afterwards, by HawkOpen or by any other tool.
If you need to know whether an old email was seen, you can send a short tracked follow-up to that person.
Related questions: How do I politely remind someone to reply without sounding rude? · What is email tracking and how does it work?
Can I use HawkOpen on a different computer?
Yes. Your tracked emails and settings live in your HawkOpen account, not on the computer. On the other computer, add the extension to Chrome or Firefox and sign in, or simply open the HawkOpen dashboard in a browser.
Extension options, such as whether new emails start with tracking on, are set separately in each browser.
Related questions: How do I install the HawkOpen extension in Chrome? · Can I switch tracking off for a single email, or have it off by default?
Does tracking work if Conversation View is turned off in Gmail?
The tracking itself does not depend on it: it is added to each email when you send it, and the results are in your HawkOpen history however Gmail groups your messages. HawkOpen has not published tests of how its marks in the Gmail message list look with Conversation View off.
If something looks wrong in Gmail, check the email in the HawkOpen dashboard, which shows every event with its category.
Related questions: The HawkOpen extension does not show in Gmail. What should I check?
Can I add the HawkOpen dashboard to my phone’s home screen?
Yes, as a shortcut. HawkOpen has no phone app, but its dashboard is a website: open it in your phone’s browser and use the browser’s menu to add it to the home screen. Sending tracked emails from your phone’s own mail app is not possible.
On a phone the dashboard is handy for checking results; for alerts away from the computer, Business can send them by email.
Related questions: Is there a HawkOpen app for Android or iPhone? · Can I schedule a tracked email from my phone?
Can I schedule tracked emails to send later?
Yes, on the Pro and Business plans. Write the email in the HawkOpen dashboard, choose the date and time, and HawkOpen sends it then through your connected mailbox, with tracking for the recipients whose consent for your company is recorded, if your company has switched tracking on. The browser extension sends immediately and does not schedule.
The time you pick is saved as an exact moment, so the email leaves at that moment wherever the recipient is; HawkOpen does not shift it to the recipient’s local time. HawkOpen’s senders pick up a scheduled email once that moment has come, never before.
Because HawkOpen sends from its own servers, your computer and mail program do not need to be on at that time. Gmail’s and Outlook’s own scheduling works without HawkOpen, but those emails are not tracked.
Related questions: Can I schedule a tracked email from my phone? · Can I cancel or edit a scheduled email before it is sent? · Why does my delayed or scheduled email stay in the Outbox?
Can I cancel or edit a scheduled email before it is sent?
Not for a single scheduled email: HawkOpen has no button to cancel or edit one once it is scheduled. Campaigns are different and can be paused, resumed or cancelled while they run.
Check the text, recipients and time carefully before you confirm a scheduled email.
Related questions: Can I schedule tracked emails to send later? · How do I create and send an email campaign from Gmail or Outlook?
Can I schedule the same email to repeat every day or week?
No. HawkOpen sends a scheduled email once, at the time you chose, and a campaign is a one-time batch. There is no repeating schedule; for a regular email, schedule each one separately.
A saved template makes repeating the same text quicker.
Related questions: Can I schedule tracked emails to send later? · How many email templates can I save, and can I share them or use variables?
Why does my delayed or scheduled email stay in the Outbox?
In the Outlook desktop app, “Delay delivery” keeps the email in your Outbox and sends it only if Outlook is open and online at that time. A scheduled email in HawkOpen does not depend on your computer: it is sent from HawkOpen’s servers through your connected mailbox.
A HawkOpen email sent at a scheduled time appears in your provider’s Sent folder as usual; it never waits in your Outbox. If it did not go out, check that the mailbox is still connected.
Related questions: Can I schedule tracked emails to send later? · How do I track email opens in Outlook?
How many email templates can I save, and can I share them or use variables?
The Free plan saves up to 3 templates; Pro and Business have no limit. A template holds a name, a subject and the email text. Templates are personal, so teammates do not see yours. In emails sent from the HawkOpen dashboard and in campaigns, HawkOpen fills in the recipient’s name and company and your sender name; it does not fill in other variables.
The recipient’s name and company come from their contact in your CRM; in a campaign, the name given with the address comes first. For a recipient without a value you give a replacement text, otherwise that recipient gets no email. An email with any other field left in double braces is not sent, and the extension fills in no fields: it does not prepare an email that still contains one.
Related questions: How do I politely remind someone to reply without sounding rude? · Can I import recipients from a spreadsheet for a campaign? · What does the HawkOpen Free plan include?
Is there a free email signature generator, and how do I add the signature to Gmail or Outlook?
Yes. HawkOpen’s site has a free signature generator, with no sign-up: you fill in your details, see a live preview and copy the result into the signature settings of Gmail, Outlook or another mail program. It runs in your browser and does not send what you type to HawkOpen.
In Gmail the signature is under Settings, General, Signature; in Outlook under Settings, Mail, Signatures (the exact menu names can vary by version). Whether the signature is added to replies is a setting in your mail program, and the final look can differ slightly between mail apps.
Related questions: Does tracking change how my email looks to the recipient? · How many email templates can I save, and can I share them or use variables?
Does tracking work in Gmail confidential mode?
HawkOpen has not tested Gmail confidential mode and does not promise that tracking works there. In that mode Gmail controls how the message is shown, and recipients outside Gmail open it through a Google link, so send a normal email if tracking matters.
Gmail also does not allow confidential messages to be scheduled.
Related questions: Why is my email not being tracked?
Can HawkOpen translate my email drafts?
Only in a limited way. HawkOpen’s inbox has a function that translates a draft, but it works only where a translation service has been set up, and it is not part of the plan descriptions, so it may not be available in your account.
Always read a translation before sending: an automatic translation can change the meaning.
Related questions: Does HawkOpen sync my mailbox folders and show my inbox? · Which languages does HawkOpen support?
What happens to tracking if I use Undo Send in Gmail?
If you undo the send in time, the email never leaves, so there is nothing to open and no events are recorded. HawkOpen may still list it as prepared, because it prepared the tracking before Gmail held the email back; prepared does not mean sent.
If you then send the edited email again with tracking on, it gets new tracking of its own.
Related questions: Why is my email not being tracked?