This guide covers setting up email tracking in every version of Outlook and in Gmail, using Outsolvi. The first thing to know is that Outlook isn't one app. Classic Outlook for Windows, the new Outlook, Outlook on the web and Outlook for Mac load different kinds of add-ins, and a tracker that works in one can do nothing in another. So start by working out which one you send from.
Which Outlook do you send from?
- Classic Outlook for Windows (the desktop app with File and Home tabs): Outsolvi's desktop add-in. It needs 64-bit Outlook 2016 or later, on Microsoft 365, a retail version, or Outlook LTSC 2021 or 2024. It's installed once on each PC, by someone with admin rights.
- The new Outlook for Windows: the web add-in, on Microsoft 365 work or school accounts.
- Outlook on the web: the web add-in, with the same account rules.
- Outlook for Mac: not supported yet. On a Mac, send from Outlook on the web instead.
- Outlook on your phone: emails you send from the Outlook phone apps aren't tracked. When your recipients read on their phones, those opens are still recorded.
One thing trips people up. The web add-in also shows up in classic Outlook, because it's tied to your mailbox rather than to one app, but it doesn't track there. If you send from classic Outlook, install the desktop add-in.
If your team uses more than one of these, each person installs the add-in for the Outlook they send from. Everything lands in the same Outsolvi account.
Step by step: classic Outlook for Windows
- Sign in at my.outsolvi.com, open Get Add-in and choose Outlook for Windows to download the installer.
- Save any drafts. The installer closes Outlook while it runs.
- Run the installer. It needs admin rights on the PC, and Windows may warn that the publisher is unknown. If you can't approve that, ask IT to run it for you.
- Reopen Outlook. Open the Outsolvi panel from the ribbon and sign in. Emails you send while signed out aren't tracked.
- Send an email. The ribbon has open and link tracking switches, so you can turn tracking off for one email before you send it.
When someone opens your email or clicks a link, a small pop-up tells you. When there's a new version, the add-in tells you, and you run the new installer.
Step by step: Outlook on the web and the new Outlook
- Sign in at my.outsolvi.com, open Get Add-in and choose Outlook Web / New Outlook to download the .xml file. Don't rename or edit it.
- In Outlook, open an email, click ... (More actions), then Get Add-ins. In the new Outlook it's labeled Apps.
- Outsolvi isn't in Microsoft's add-in store, so skip the search. Choose My add-ins, then under Custom Add-ins click Add a custom add-in, pick Add from file, select the .xml and click Install.
- Open a new email, click the Outsolvi button to open the panel, and sign in. In the new Outlook the button is under Apps.
- Send an email. Tracking runs on every email you send while you're signed in.
The web add-in needs a Microsoft 365 work or school account. In the new Outlook, it tracks those accounts, not Gmail or other accounts you've added there. If your company has switched off custom add-ins, your Microsoft 365 admin can deploy the web add-in to you or the whole team from the admin center. The Outlook setup guide walks through the same steps.
Step by step: Gmail
- In Chrome, open Outsolvi: Email Tracking for Gmail on the Chrome Web Store, or open Get Add-in in your Outsolvi account and choose Outsolvi for Gmail. Click Add to Chrome.
- Pin the extension so its icon stays in the toolbar. A red ! on the icon means you're not signed in.
- Click the icon and sign in with your Outsolvi email and password. Signing in on the Outsolvi website doesn't sign the extension in.
- Reload Gmail and write as usual. Every email is tracked by default, and there's a Follow-up button next to Send.
- Open a sent email to see the Tracked strip with its open and click counts. Activity lists each open and click.
To stop tracking for a while, click the Outsolvi icon, then the gear, and turn off Email tracking. There's no per-email switch in Gmail. The full walkthrough, with troubleshooting, is in how to track emails in Gmail.
Check that tracking works
Send a test email to a second address you control, ideally on a different mail provider, and open it there. The open appears in your Outsolvi dashboard with a label. Verified and Most-likely human mean a person. Apple Mail, Machine preview and Scanner mean a machine. Click a link in the test email to check click tracking too.
Two things to expect. Opening the email in your own Sent folder doesn't count, because Outsolvi marks opens that come from you as your own. And if your second address reads in Apple Mail with Mail Privacy Protection on, the open shows as Apple Mail and only counts once you click or reply, because Apple fetches the tracking image whether or not anyone reads.
Common setup problems
The add-in shows in classic Outlook, but nothing is tracked. That's the web add-in. It appears in classic Outlook because it's tied to your mailbox, but it can't track there. Install the desktop add-in.
The desktop installer won't run. You probably don't have admin rights on the PC. Ask IT to run it. The Microsoft 365 admin center can't install the desktop add-in.
You have 32-bit Outlook. The desktop add-in needs 64-bit Outlook. You can check under File, then Office Account, then About Outlook.
Get Add-ins is missing, or custom add-ins are blocked. Your company has switched off custom add-ins. Your Microsoft 365 admin can deploy the web add-in from the admin center.
The Gmail extension icon shows a red ! You're signed out. Click the icon and sign in.
Emails sent from your phone aren't tracked. Tracking happens where you send. Sends from the Outlook or Gmail phone apps aren't tracked, but your recipients' opens on their phones are recorded.
A Gmail email in plain text mode wasn't tracked. Plain text can't carry the tracking image, so switch back to the normal compose mode.
What changes after you switch trackers
If you're coming from a tracker that counts every pixel load, your open count will drop. Outsolvi labels every open and counts only the ones most likely made by a person, so Apple Mail pre-fetches and security scanner opens stay out of the number. Compare reply rates instead. If replies held steady while opens fell, the old number was padded. The open rate accuracy piece explains why.
An email becomes a hot lead once it has five or more real opens and two or more link clicks. You'll see a flame on it in Outsolvi, and a desktop notification from the Gmail extension or a pop-up from the desktop Outlook add-in. Replies are labeled Positive, Negative, Neutral or Out of office using keyword rules, and follow-ups stop on their own when a reply arrives on a connected mailbox.
Rolling out to a team
- Outlook on the web and the new Outlook: a Microsoft 365 admin can deploy the web add-in to everyone from the admin center.
- Classic Outlook: someone with admin rights installs the desktop add-in on each PC. There's no admin-center rollout for it.
- Gmail: each person adds the extension and signs in, or a Google Workspace admin installs it for everyone from the Google Admin console.
Everyone's opens and clicks land in the same Outsolvi account, whichever app they send from. On Teams Pro, managers see sent emails, opens, clicks and open rate for each rep in Analytics.
The 14-day trial needs no card and covers 250 tracked emails, which is enough to set this up and check it before you pay. For everything the Outlook side can do, see Outsolvi for Outlook. If you're still choosing a tracker, the comparison pages show how Outsolvi stacks up against Yesware, Mailtrack, Mixmax and others.