How to Disable single click to open email in New Outlook?

There is also a box that will show up next to the email & you can select there; however, if you miss that check (X) box, a single click opens the email.

This is terrible "functionality".

This is disheartening that this thread was opened on 2/18/24 and it is now Sept and nothing has been done to update this issue. My workaround is to right click on the email that I want highlighted and then either execute one of the choices in the fly out or just click somewhere else on the page to keep it highlighted (2 clicks for a single click function). Disappointing that there must not have been any QA testing done on this before they rolled it out. Not everyone uses the Reading Panes. I actually can't stand them. Stop taking away functionality that is useful.

I think this is wildly annoying. Also missing the capability to collapse a view and to move through the mails via arrow keys when reading pane disabled

I have the same issue. Regarding the "why would you want this different", here are a few of my thoughts.

1. Single click does not open an item in most other OS applications (Windows, OSX, Linux, etc.). Single click typically selects an item.
2. Often I single click to deselect another email so that the conversation view collapses and I can see more of my messages.
3. In addition to #2, I sometimes single click an email so I can see the conversation. This way I get a quick view of the first line of each email so that I can see the topics and quickly select the appropriate email. If an entire email opens when I single click it, it defeats the ability to quickly scan the messages in the conversation.