Several readers have mentioned that they like to leave emails as UNREAD to clearly indicate which emails still require their action. The problem they’ve found is that it is too easy to accidentally click on an email (while moving to another email). This marks the email as READ and leaves it unbolded. Here’s a quick tip to avoid this problem.
You can follow the steps below to set a minimum time that you need to be on an email before it is market as read (I have set mine to 5 second):
For Outlook 2013/2010:
- Click on File > Options
- Click on Mail from the left side column
- Click on the Reading Pane button on the right
- On the Reading Pane dailog box, tick the checkbox for “Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane“
- Enter a time in the box beside “Wait XX seconds before marking item as read”
- Click OK and than OK again
For Outlook 2007/2003:
- Click Tools on the menu > Options…
- Click the Other tab
- Click on the Reading Pane… button
- On the Reading Pane dailog box, tick the checkbox for “Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane“
- Enter a time in the box beside “Wait XX seconds before marking item as read”
- Click OK and than OK again
Note: We will be releasing a report in the next few days to give you a much better method of controlling your to-dos from your Inbox. Subscribe to our Outlook Tips Newsletter to get a free copy of the report when it is ready.
