---
title: "Turn email tracking on or off per individual email"
description: "Turn email tracking on or off per individual email. Decide yourself when open and click tracking is active, independent of your route settings."
url: "https://lettermint.co/changelog/email-tracking-per-email-on-off"
published: "2026-04-28"
last_updated: "2026-04-28"
---

# Turn email tracking on or off per individual email

> Turn email tracking on or off per individual email. Decide yourself when open and click tracking is active, independent of your route settings.

Earlier this year we launched [email tracking](https://lettermint.co/changelog/email-tracking-open-tracking-click-tracking)
in beta. It gives you insight into your email performance, think *open
rates* and *click rates*. From today, tracking is available for all
accounts, and you can now also turn it on or off per individual email,
independent of your route settings.

France's data protection authority CNIL (*Commission Nationale de
l'Informatique et des Libertés*) recently published a
[recommendation on tracking pixels in emails](https://www.cnil.fr/fr/recommandation-pixel-suivi-courriels).
Further on we explain what this means and how to handle it as a sender.

## Email tracking for all accounts

Since the beta we have tested and improved email tracking. Bot detection
was added, distinguishing emails that were genuinely opened by a recipient
from automated requests by security scanners or Apple Mail Privacy
Protection.

Email tracking is now available on all plans. You enable it via the
route settings in your
[dashboard](https://dash.lettermint.co/projects).
Tracking is off by default and works fully opt-in. More about how tracking
works and what you need to know about GDPR can be found in our
[previous changelog](https://lettermint.co/changelog/email-tracking-open-tracking-click-tracking).

## Override tracking per email

Tracking is configured per route. That works well if you want to measure
email performance for all your
[broadcast emails](https://lettermint.co/features/broadcast-emails),
for example. But not every recipient has given consent for tracking.
Because a tracking pixel reads information from the recipient's device,
consent is required under the
[ePrivacy Directive](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2002/58/oj/eng).
Overriding tracking per email turns it off for an individual email,
without changing your route settings.

This is especially relevant since CNIL
[published a recommendation](https://www.cnil.fr/sites/default/files/2026-04/recommandation-pixels_de_suivi.pdf)
on tracking pixels in emails on April 14, 2026. A tracking pixel requires
prior consent from the recipient. If you send emails to recipients in
France, this recommendation applies to you regardless of where your
business is based.

> Inserting tracking pixels in emails requires prior consent from the
> recipient.

### How does it work?

A recipient has not given consent for tracking, but your route has
tracking enabled. Via the API it looks like this:

```json
{
  "from": "sender@yourdomain.com",
  "to": ["recipient@example.com"],
  "subject": "Your weekly update",
  "html": "<p>Here's what happened this week.</p>",
  "settings": {
    "track_opens": false,
    "track_clicks": false
  }
}
```

Sending via SMTP? Use the following headers:

```markupsimple
X-LM-Override-Track-Opens: false
X-LM-Override-Track-Clicks: false
```

We will be adding this functionality to our
[SDKs](https://lettermint.co/integrations) for PHP, Laravel,
Node.js, Python, Go and Java soon.

The setting applies to that specific email only and takes precedence
over your route's default settings. More details in the documentation
for [open tracking](https://lettermint.co/docs/platform/emails/tracking/open-tracking#per-email-override)
and [click tracking](https://lettermint.co/docs/platform/emails/tracking/click-tracking#per-email-override).

## Conclusion

Email tracking is available for all accounts from today. By overriding
tracking per individual email you have full control over when open and
click tracking is active, even when not every recipient has given consent.

The CNIL recommendation makes clear that tracking in emails is not a
given. As a [European email provider](https://lettermint.co/european-email)
we take privacy seriously. Tracking is off by default, works opt-in and
gives you the tools to stay compliant.