Troubleshooting
Email tracker not working in Gmail
If your Gmail email tracker shows no circle, stays gray forever, or never updates Recent, start here. SentCue is an email tracking Chrome extension for Gmail on the web. A blue circle means an activity signal — the tracking image was requested — not a guaranteed “read.” This checklist fixes the usual setup gaps without promising location maps, Outlook, or campaign dashboards.
First: signal ≠ read
Many “email tracker not working” searches expect a human open. Pixel trackers cannot promise that. Image proxies, security scanners, caching, and opening your own Sent copy can create a signal. Blocked remote images, corporate filters, and clients that never load pictures create silence. Treat silence as “no confirmed image load,” not “they ignored you.”
Quick checklist
- Pin Email Tracking and keep one copy enabled. Chrome hides the icon behind the puzzle until you pin it.
- Accept the disclosure, then set tracking On in the popup. Global Off overrides compose.
- Use Gmail on the web in Chrome (or Edge / Brave / Opera / Vivaldi). The Gmail mobile apps are not supported.
- Wait past Undo send. Signals during the Undo window are ignored on purpose.
- Send a test to yourself with a unique subject. Open that message in another client (or allow images) after Undo ends.
- Reload the extension and refresh Gmail after an update.
Screenshots for pin and first send: Welcome.
Circle missing, but Recent has the event
Tracking can still work when the Sent marker does not. Two known cases:
- Replies and forwards — Gmail sometimes does not expose a reliable message id, so no circle is drawn on that thread.
- Repeated subject + recipient — the match is ambiguous; SentCue leaves the row unmarked rather than paint the wrong one.
In both cases the message can still be tracked: activity still appears in Recent and History. A distinctive subject makes the Sent circle reliable. Full detail: Support — no circle.
Still gray: Waiting
Gray means no qualifying image load yet. Common reasons:
- Recipient (or their gateway) blocks remote images.
- They have not opened the message, or opened it only on a client that never fetches pictures.
- You used Scheduled Send — not tracked in this version; the mail still goes out.
- A repeat load within about 10 minutes does not add another activity signal.
How the pixel and Google’s image proxy fit together: How email tracking works.
Blue circle too soon — is the tracker “broken”?
Sometimes the opposite complaint: the circle turns blue and people assume a false open. Opening your own Sent copy, a scanner, or a proxy can load the image without a careful human read. SentCue filters some known automated loads; no filter catches every one. If you need a legal confirmation, use Workspace read receipts where your admin allows them — that is a different product. See Gmail read receipts vs tracking.
What this guide does not cover
SentCue does not offer IP/geo maps, PixelBlock-style “who blocked me” theater, multi-device cloud sync, or Outlook in this version. If your expectation came from a suite FAQ that promises those, the product fit is wrong — not a broken install. Compare options: best email trackers for Gmail.
Still stuck?
Use Support for limits, delete-install, and how to report a problem. Product basics: Email tracker for Gmail.