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Can someone describe to me, step by step, what I would need to do in order to change the default Outlook "Mark as Read" behavior?
Default Behavior: Outlook marks a message as read when It has appeared in the viewing pane and I move to another message.
Desired Behavior: Outlook marks a message as read as soon as it appears in the viewing pane.
user18771
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 2 231
245
It took me a few minutes to figure it out in Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2016 - once you get to the Reading Pane options, it's the same as squillman's answer.
Go to File → Options → Advanced.
In the Outlook panes section, click Reading Pane...
Check Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane and set an interval in seconds before it kicks in.
Note: In Outlook 2016, the same dialog is also available in the ribbon under View → Reading Pane → Options....
fre0n
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 2 551
36The wait interval can be set to zero seconds. – Keyslinger – 2014-07-25T20:35:14.967
11Setting to 0 seconds results in instantaneous marking as read, as opposed some other settings configurators where 0 means the setting is ignored. – Paul – 2014-11-11T18:08:52.197
42
For Outlook 2007:
It's the same for Outlook 2003, except that in step 2 the section on the Other tab is called "Reading Pane" instead of "Outlook Panes".
squillman
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 5 676
6
In Outlook for Mac (OS X) version 15 (2016)
Select Menu Bar -> Outlook -> Preferences -> Reading -> select Mark mail as read when viewed in the reading pane
EthanP
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 173
4
In MS Outlook Web App for Office 365:
This behavior is similar to the one described by @Keyslinger and @Paul in comments above. Added as an answer to OP for those who were searching for the help with the Outlook web application, as I was.
Timur Shtatland
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 161
1Welcome to Super User. Web applications are off-topic, and this post duplicates existing suggestions, so at best, it should be posted as supplemental information in a comment. Answers are reserved for solutions to what was asked in the question, and each answer is intended to provide a substantively different solution than those already contributed. Comments require a little more rep. – fixer1234 – 2016-09-07T16:03:24.523
2
In Outlook 2016 (I assume it is the same for earlier versions), un-checking both "Mark item" options will leave the message as unread until you manually mark it as read or take some other kind of action. This is useful if you want to keep messages unread until you reply.
I wanted to be able to set up individual mail folders with different reading pane options and could never figure it out. In the end, it's really just as easy to set up a shortcut key in Quick Steps to mark something as "read" and configure your reading pane options as shown. This gives you more control IMO.
PsilonEmpire
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 21
For me all those are disabled, so I can uncheck only last one – Dmitrij Holkin – 2018-12-10T12:34:44.810
-1
just unclick all of the boxes in the Reading Pane Options and it will only show up as read when you double click to open the email.
Aryanna
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 1
OP has asked for details your answer is like a comment – yass – 2017-05-19T20:06:38.857
-1
I was confused that the option reading Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane wouldn't allow for it to simply Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane without specifying a delay (setting 0 disables the option) — it turns out that selecting Mark item as read when selection changes has the desired affect.
Barney
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 220
3-1 Selecting Mark item as read when selection changes marks the message as read only when you switch messages. This is the default option the OP is trying to avoid. – Nick Orlando – 2013-07-25T14:45:03.040
-2
I was able to create a Quick Step. if you have the latest version of Outlook (Exchange) Home Tab-> Quick Steps-> Pull Down Menu-> New Quick Step-> Move to Folder-> Name as Desired -> Choose Folder (Deleted) -> Ensure "Mark as Read" is selected
Max
Posted 2010-01-25T15:31:22.647
Reputation: 1
1This does not answer the original question. – Burgi – 2016-01-06T14:52:01.137
3
@Laserallan: I have forwarded your question to the people who know about these things.
– Heinzi – 2016-05-18T15:07:25.38312+1, I was just about to ask the same question. Can anyone tell why the default behavior is the way it is. I just can't find a use case where this is the desired behavior. – Laserallan – 2010-10-07T10:00:35.763