Outlook (365) - mark item as read only AFTER I OPEN the item.

Hi,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

It looks like on your Microsoft 365 Outlook, emails are being Marked as Read even by being previewed or being replied. I totally understand the importance of having this clarified as soon as possible. Let's work on this together in finding the best possible answer to your concern.

To better understand the situation, I would like to ask some question, such as:

• What Microsoft 365 version & edition are you using? provide us a screenshot of your product information About Office: What version of Office am I using? - Microsoft Support
• Kindly resend us the screenshot on your original post to have a better picture of the situation. There might be a minor system glitch when you are about to submit your post.

After further research, it looks like in Microsoft 365 Outlook, you can change the settings to mark an item as read only after you open it. Take note, this is only applicable using the Outlook application. Here's how:

1. Click on the "File" tab in the top left corner of the Outlook window.
2. Click on "Options" in the left-hand menu.
3. In the Outlook Options window, click on "Advanced" in the left-hand menu.
4. Scroll down to the "Outlook panes" section and click on "Reading Pane".
5. In the Reading Pane settings, select "Mark item as read when viewed in the Reading Pane".
6. Uncheck the box next to "Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane for (n) seconds".
7. Click "OK" to save the changes.

This should ensure that an item is marked as read only after you open it, and not when you preview it or move the selection. I hope this helps!

Sincerely,

Leonardo_Y

When this first response came in, nothing happened when I clicked Reply.

Also, I had tried to provide a screenshot in my original message and, as you can see, that failed too.

If this screenshot works, you can see that there is no File button, and nothing in the 9dots button either.

But if I go into Settings (gear)

the Message Handling is set like this...

My complaint is that I WANT TO HAVE THE MESSAGE BE AUTOMATICALLY MARKED AS READ AFTER I DOUBLE-CLICK IT OPEN , just like the regular version of Outlook does. With these settings, it only marks the message as read if I either reply to it, or manually mark it read. I want it to automatically mark it as read when I double-click the message open (not as soon as it is selected in the viewing pane, or after 5 seconds, or when I move from one message to another. ONLY when I double-click it to "officially" read the message.

Thank you,

Terry

Hi,

I appreciate the time and effort you spent on replying to my message.

I will consult this to my Internal Support team to get better recommendation about your concern. Rest assured, once I have response from them, I will relay it to you right away.

Thank you for your patience

Sincerely,

Leonardo_Y

Hi Terry,

Thank you for patiently waiting.

After further research and consultation, we noticed that you are utilizing the Outlook.office.com portal which specifically used for commercial type of license. For you to be properly assisted about this issue, I will be moving the support to Business category. This way you will be assisted by our support experts who specialized on this licenses.

You don't need to do anything, the next support will take over and continue answering the thread.

Thank you for understanding

Sincerely,

Leonardo_Y

Hi Leonard_Y,

I have the very same issue and was hoping to find the ultimat answer here. However I cannot see that the question has been answered by the respective support experts. Or do I miss something.

Thanks and best regards,

Wolfgang