Mar 31, 2011 - When Outlook opens, and the reading pane is showing, the most recent. How can I stop previewed messages being marked as read in Outlook? 2011 and last updated by Richard Byrom-Colburn on 20 October 2016.
Last update: September 2019.
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. In our answer, we’ll be covering both Windows and macOSX. Here we go:
Avoid auto mark email as read on Windows
You can follow this procedure to turn off the single click read feature, so that Outlook doesn’t mark messages as read:
- First off, go ahead an open Microsoft Outlook.
- Next, go ahead and hit File, then select Options.
- Select the Mail tab.
- Now, navigate to the Outlook panes section.
- Now, go ahead and hit the Reading Panes button.
- In the opened dialog , go ahead and uncheck the first box as shown below.
- When done, hit the OK button.
- That’s it – auto-read is now turned off.
Note: There is another interesting setting in the Reading Pane, which allows you to mark items as read when selecting different items in your Inbox. The setting is not checked by default, and probably for a good reason.
Turn off auto read on macOS
To configure Outlook to stop “opening” your email automatically and keep your previewed email as unread kindly follow these steps:
- Open Microsoft Outlook for macOS.
- From the top menu, select Outlook.
- Now hit Preferences and select Reading.
- In the Mark Email as Read section, select “Only when opened in separate window”
- Hit OK and that’s pretty much it.
Additional cases:
Outlook not marking emails as read?
Couple of readers asked about the opposite use case. You want to preview your email and mark it as read afterwards. Setting the time stamp in the Reading Panes dialog (which control the Outlook unread settings) to 2-3 seconds, will most likely do the trick and ensure your emails became read, even if you just previewed them for a short time.
Marking as read when deleting emails
One reader pointed out the fact that by default, Outlook doesn’t set deleted mails as read, which becomes visible in the Deleted Items folder.
To ensure deleted items are marked as read, navigate to the Other section bottom of the Outlook Settings dialog at: File>>Options>>Mail, and mark the “Mark messages as read when deleted”.
Using Shortcuts
Readers asked whether they could use shortcuts to quickly mark an email as read or unread.
Ctrl + Q : Will set to read
Ctrl + U: Will mark as unread.
Kindly leave us a quick comment in case of any questions.