• Outlook Emails Arriving As Read

Here’s a question from a reader:I am using Microsoft Outlook 365. I have noticed that after i click on a specific email entry in the Outlook Mail tab and open it for reading, Outlook naturally mark it as read.

What’s annoying is that i have noticed that items that i view in the Reading Pane are shown as being read as well This makes it difficult for me to follow up on my email and take the required action. Now the question is the following: is there a way to modify the read / unread settings to keep my messages marked as unread in Outlook unless i explicitly set them as read (by making a right click and selecting Mark as Read). Thanks in advance for any tips.Thanks for the question.

You need to get into 'Advanced View Settings: Messages'. Go to the View menu (ribbon) and on the left side of the ribbon click 'View Settings' in the 'Current View' section. This will open up 'Advanced View Settings: Messages'. Click on the 'Conditional Formatting.' On my PC, the top box was unchecked ('Unread messages'). On the Options dialog box, click on “Mail” in the list of items on the left. In the Outlook panes section, click the “Reading Pane” button. Check the “Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane” box to make Outlook mark your messages as read when you view them in the Reading Pane.

Do you ever feel annoyed that Outlook doesn’t mark messages as read as soon as you click and view them in the Reading Pane? Here we show you how to make Outlook mark them as read as soon as they’re opened.By default, Outlook will not mark a message as read until you select another message. This can be annoying, because if you read a message and then immediately delete the message, it shows up as an unread message in your Deleted Items folder.Let’s change this to make Outlook mark messages as read as soon as we view them in the Reading Pane.

Outlook Emails Arriving As Read

Open Outlook and click the “File” tab.On the backstage screen, click “Options” in the list of items on the left.On the Options dialog box, click on “Mail” in the list of items on the left.In the Outlook panes section, click the “Reading Pane” button.Check the “Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane” box to make Outlook mark your messages as read when you view them in the Reading Pane. By default, Outlook will only mark a message read after you’ve been reading it for 5 seconds, though you can change this. We entered 0 (zero) in the “Wait X seconds before marking item as read” box so our messages would be marked as read as soon as we select them.Note that the “Mark item as read when selection changes” box is automatically unchecked when you check the “Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane” box. Only one of those two check boxes can be selected at once. Click “OK” to accept your changes and close the dialog box.Click “OK” on the Options dialog box. Now your messages will be marked as read as soon as you select them in the reading pane, or soon after, depending on how many seconds you told Outlook to wait before marking the item as read.Outlook is a great email client, but like most programs, it has its quirks. This quick tip can help you get rid of one of Outlook’s annoying features, and make it work like you want it to.

You can also disable the Reading Pane if you don’t want messages automatically opened when you select them.