How to know if someone opened your PDF (and what tracking can't tell you)

You sent a proposal or a contract three days ago and heard nothing. Did they read it? The honest answer depends on how you sent it. This page compares the methods, part of our contracts and signatures guides.

Methods compared

Why a PDF attachment can't tell you

A PDF is a file. Once it's attached to an email and downloaded, it opens in whatever reader the person uses: Preview, a browser, Acrobat, a phone's file viewer. Some tools insert a script or a link that calls a server when the file opens, but Acrobat's Trust Manager warns users when a document tries to connect to a site, and many readers don't run PDF scripts. You get a signal on some devices and silence on others, which is worse than no signal because silence looks like "not opened".

Why email open tracking stopped working

Open tracking relies on a tiny image in the email: when the image loads, the sender's tool records an open. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection downloads remote content privately in the background when a message is received, and hides the reader's IP address, so a tracked email can show as opened when nobody has looked at it. Apple's own description says it prevents senders from seeing whether you opened their message. It also doesn't apply to links or attachments such as PDFs, which is why a link is still a reliable signal. Gmail read receipts exist only for work and school accounts, not personal @gmail.com addresses.

What a tracked link shows, and where we draw the line

With a tracked link, the document never leaves your server unless you allow downloads. Each visit is recorded as it happens. If you ask for an email before the document opens, you know who it was; without that, you know a visit happened and when. Reading time per page is more personal, so in SoloWOS it's recorded only when the visitor agrees to share it, and the dashboard labels it as an estimate: a closed laptop or a background tab can throw it off.

How to track a PDF in SoloWOS

1. In Document Tracking, upload the PDF and give it a name.
2. Choose access options: ask for an email first, add a passcode, set an expiration date, and decide whether downloads are allowed.
3. Optionally require visitors to accept an NDA, or add a watermark with the viewer's email or IP, the date and time.
4. Copy the link and send it in your own email instead of attaching the file.
5. Watch visits on the document's page. You also get a notification when it's opened, with the visitor's email if you asked for one.
6. When you're done, revoke the link: the document stops loading, even for people who already have the URL.

Share PDFs with tracked links: Basic ($2/month) keeps 10 shared documents, Solo 50 for $15/month. If the PDF is a contract, skip tracking and send it for e-signature instead: the audit trail shows when it was opened and signed. Sending proposals? Proposals show when a client opens one too. Comparing tools? See SoloWOS vs DocSend.

What tracking can't tell you

• Whether they read it carefully. Time on a page is a proxy, not comprehension.
• Who was really behind a visit without an email gate. A forwarded link looks like anyone else.
• Anything about screenshots or printed copies. No tool can prevent screenshots; a watermark at least shows whose copy leaked.