Every morning, the first thing we normally do is download all our received emails in Outlook and quickly look through all emails to see which ones need our immediate attention and which ones can be dealt with later BUT…
As you are clicking through your emails, Outlook is marking them as READ, which means they will no longer appear BOLD for you to clearly identify which ones are still left to be ACTUALLY READ or dealt with.
Here is a simple setting in Outlook which lets you set a minimum time that you need to be on an email before it is marked 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
I hope you find this simple tip useful.
If you have your own tips for better managing emails and your time in Outlook, share it with our readers by leaving a comment on this blog.
