How do I show or hide the Reading Panel in Outlook Desktop and mark an email as read or unread

Opening a message by double clicking will mark a message as read. You can also change when emails are marked as read in the Reading Panel.

Contents

• Turn on, turn off, or move the Reading Pane
• Reading Pane options for marking as read
• Manually change a message as read or unread
• Mark all messages in a folder as read or unread
• Reading Pane and Reading Options video tutorial

Turn on, turn off, or move the Reading Pane

• To turn on or move the Reading Pane:   On the View tab, in the Layout group, select Reading Pane, and then select Right or Bottom.

• To turn off the Reading Pane: On the View tab, in the Layout group, select Reading Pane, and then select Off.
  

Reading Pane options for marking as read

1. On the View tab, in the Layout group, select Reading Pane, and then select Options.

   
   1. Alternatively go to File > Options > Mail (on left) > Reading Pane... (on right)
2. Choose your desired settings:
   
   1. Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane
      1. Choose how long the message is marked as read after it appears in the Reading Pane.
      2. Tick to enable and enter the number of seconds from 0 to 999.
      3. Untick to disable.
   2. Mark item as read when selection changes
      
      1. Mark a message as read immediately after it appears in the Reading Pane.
      2. Tick to enable or disable. Enabling will disable the delay (2a).
   3. Single key reading using spare bar
      
      1. Single key reading using the space bar lets you move quickly through your messages in the Reading Pane. Each time that you press the space bar, the Reading Pane content scrolls down one page. At the end of the item, pressing the space bar opens the next item from your message list.
   4. Always preview messages
      1. Tick to always view a messages in the Reading Pane when selected.
      2. Untick for manual control on when to preview messages.
      3. Restart Outlook for the change to be in effect.

Manually change a message as read or unread

1. Right-click the message.

2. Click Mark as Read or Mark as Unread.

3. To mark several messages as either read or unread at once, click the first message, hold down Ctrl, click the other messages, and then select the option you want.

4. Repeat to toggle a message status from read to unread and back again.

Mark all messages in a folder as read or unread

1. From the folder pane, select a folder (only one at a time).

2. Click any message in the list of messages, and then press Ctrl+A to select everything in the folder.

3. Right-click the selected messages. 

4. Select Mark as Read or Mark as Unread.

• Microsoft Support: Mark a message as read or unread >