topic Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help! in Tips, Tricks & Best Practices

Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

DSnadecki — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 17:00:19 GMT

Hi Community,

I am getting alerts when I open an email in my sent mail folder, that I sent to a prospect. This is really annoying. I have asked Hubspot support for help, but they haven't been able to fix. They asked me to block my IP address, but I don't seem to have that opetion on my MacBook with Chrome. We are just using the free version since are a startup. Help!

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

karstenkoehler — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 17:06:13 GMT

Hi @DSnadecki,

If you're using one of the sales extensions, you can suppress these self open notificationss by following these steps: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/email-tracking/block-self-open-notifications-with-the-hubspot-sales-outlook-add-in-or-chrome-extension

Wothout the extensions, you'll keep on getting notifications for your own opens. They will trigger the tracking pixel to load and HubSpot simply can't tell who's loading the pixel.

Best regards!

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

DSnadecki — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 17:17:17 GMT

Thanks Karsten, but I am using Microsoft Outlook for Mac 16.69. These instructions apply to Outlook on Windows. Is there anyone that I can chat with or talk to to fix this please, or other ideas? I have Hubspot free version on my MacBook Pro, and use it on Chrome. Then I also have the Hubspot app on my iPhone. I get email open notifications on my iPhone, both when the prospect opens them and when I open them also.

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

karstenkoehler — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 18:01:27 GMT

Hi @DSnadecki,

For Chrome, you can use the Chrome extension: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/email-tracking/block-self-open-notifications-with-the-hubspot-sales-outlook-add-in-or-chrome-extension

On the iPhone, this is not possible. Have you considered not opening the email in sent folder in your iOS mail app of choice but in the HubSpot app?

Again, it's unfortunately not possible to suppress these notifications outside of the HubSpot app (browser, mobile) or outside of the sales extensions.

If you open an email in the sent folder on your phone, the tracking pixel will load, see here: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/connected-email/understand-hubspot-sales-email-open-and-click-tracking

This can't be prevented from the HubSpot side. It would have to be baked into your mail app. As far as I know, apps on iOS don't allow for extensions like browsers do.

Best regards

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

DSnadecki — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 18:41:58 GMT

It looks like the Chrome extension is for Gmail. I am using O/365 with Outlook front end on my MacBook Pro. Even when I open my emails in my sent mail in Outlook on my MacBook, I get an open alert on my iPhone. It’s really annoying, and hard to troubleshoot asynchronously over email, but I appreciate you trying to help! Any other ideas let me know. Thanks!

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

DSnadecki — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 10:21:45 GMT

Hi Karsten, thanks, in that case, I guess I should disconnect my email from Hubspot, will that stop the notifications on my iPhone due to my own opens? I still want to get alerts when the prospect opens the email.

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

karstenkoehler — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 10:27:18 GMT

Hi @DSnadecki,

Disconnecting your email from HubSpot means that you won't be able to send trackable emails at all anymore – this is unfortunately not a solution.

If you want to send trackable emails, there is currently no way to prevent self-open notifications from your sent folder on your mobile.

Best regards

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

DSnadecki — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 11:21:50 GMT

Ok, this seems like a major defect in the Hubspot software. I also notice when my colleagues open an email I forwarded to them, it also alerts appearing as though the prospect opened it again and again. I am used to the Outlook client on my Mac and iPhone, and the Hubspot app on my iPhone doesn't cut it. I guess then I will just disable Hubspot notifications on my iPhone, and look in the Hubspot app to see a prospect's activity. Separate question 1 - something I did in the settings has created tasks and assignments when I send out emails from Hubspot, how do I disable that again? And another question 2 - do I have to send emails from Hubspot browser or iphone app to get the email tracking, or can I send from Outlook and these will still be tracked? Thanks for all your help!

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

karstenkoehler — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:18:13 GMT

Hi @DSnadecki,

@DSnadecki wrote:

Ok, this seems like a major defect in the Hubspot software.

It's really not. Please take a moment to read this article: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/connected-email/understand-hubspot-sales-email-open-and-click-tracking

For a tracking pixel, there is no way to detect by whom it is being loaded. Notifications can only be suppressed if the app that is opening the email is aware of the fact. That means that all email apps would have to adjust to HubSpot's needs. It's not a shortcoming of HubSpot, it's simply a limitation of this type of tracking in general.

@DSnadecki wrote:

Separate question 1 - something I did in the settings has created tasks and assignments when I send out emails from Hubspot, how do I disable that again? And another question 2 - do I have to send emails from Hubspot browser or iphone app to get the email tracking, or can I send from Outlook and these will still be tracked? Thanks for all your help!

For the tasks, these might be created by sequences. You would have to review your sequences: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/sequences/create-and-edit-sequences

For emails to be tracked, you need to use the HubSpot sales extensions, the BCC address or send an email from withing the browser or mobile app.

https://knowledge.hubspot.com/connected-email/how-to-install-hubspot-sales

https://knowledge.hubspot.com/settings/log-email-in-your-crm-with-the-bcc-or-forwarding-address

Happy to help by the way 🙂 Please take a moment to scroll through the thread and accept those replies that you found help as solutions.

Best regards!

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

DSnadecki — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:20:52 GMT

Yes, you are very helpful, thanks Karsten!

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

Nis519 — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:54:30 GMT

I'm not sure that's true anymore, Karsten. There are many e-mail marketing platforms that support multiple recipient tracking for e-mails, and would avoid this issue altogether. Even this tool supports multiple recipient tracking (https://www.free-email-tracker.com/). The fact that Hubspot doesn't is really not good.

Re: Getting alerts when I open emails I send to prospects, help!

TBorch — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 16:49:03 GMT

Hello. It's April 2025, does anyone have any updates on how to turn off my personal opens/clicks. I'd like to only know when the prospect/customer opens and not my own clicks. I've done the Internet Options/privacy/advanced, etc... and my settings were correct. Is there a way to stop personal opens/clicks for tracking in Hubspot? Thank you very much!