This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
PLEASE!!! Only answer this if you have completely UNDERSTOOD my question. I've seen countless threads here where people are asking the same question, but the reply they get is NOT the answer to their question.
Pay Attention!!
Microsoft 365 - Outlook (desktop or web) (NOTE: Not regular Outlook (which was wonderful and powerful), but the %^%$## product from M...365 which looks like it was written for little kids writing to their BFFs or for grandmas).
Mark an item as read ONLY AFTER YOU OPEN IT. Not previewed, but opened. Not replied to, but opened!
Do NOT try to tell me how to keep it from marking it read when I view it in the reading pane, or move selection, or after 5 seconds. I DON"T NEED THAT! Pay Attention!
I need a button (in microsoft 365 outlook) that says to mark as read when item is opened just like I had in the original program (that my office has forced me to get rid of in favor of this mess).
BTW - I tried to post a screenshot (as suggested above) but it doesn't work (surprise!!)
moved from: Outlook / Outlook.com / Settings
Configuring preferences and options in Outlook on the web for business
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
What helped me was in the reading pane options unticking both - Mark item as read when viewed.. and Mark item as read when selection changes. If you leave these both unticked, double clicking on the message will mark it read.
That worked perfectly for me! Thanks!
OP here.
Yeah, I've been "settling" for the workaround of Not Marked as Read. The funny thing is that I am using my account on 2 different devices. One of them lets me use the actual Outlook program and the other I have to use the web browser.
In the regular program, it works exactly as I have always been used to (can read in the viewing pane without it being marked as read, and then marks as read if I double-click it open). The browser version I have set to Not Marked so that I can preview, but if I double-click it, it still doesn't mark as read (which is the annoying part) unless I manually mark it OR if I do a reply.
It's just annoying that they both can't be set to work the same way.
Terry (OP)
Terry laid this out well in his initial post, but a lot of folks are apparently struggling with the reading part of his question.
The Ctrl+Q shortcut is the best workaround I've seen thus far (mark as read is 7 down from the top on the right click options, lol what?!?) but MS really needs to give us an option where OPENING/double clicking/email opening in a new browser window marks the email as read, NOT just previewing in the panel.
I will say Outlook online search sucks less than conventional Outlook, so good job there trying to catch your product up to the 21st century guys. As much as everyone complains about lost productivity during March Madness, I'd love to know some estimate on time we all dump into Outlook searches that will ultimately fail...
I'm glad it helped someone :)