Outlook: Don't mark emails as read automatically anymore

As soon as you select an email in Outlook, it is marked as read after a short time. To prevent the automatic marking of emails, it is necessary to change this via the program's menu. Get an overview of the correct procedure.

Outlook: How to stop emails from being automatically marked as read

By default, Outlook already marks emails as read after a short time if you have selected them. To ensure that a message is marked as read only after you have opened it or have selected the option "Mark as read" in the context menu, please proceed as follows:

1. Using Outlook 2010 or newer, click on "File" in the menu and navigate to "Options" > "Advanced".
2. Click there on "Reading pane" and remove the check mark next to the entry "Mark item as read when new selection is made".
3. If an older Outlook version is still installed on your computer, please go to "Tools" > "Options" and switch to the tab "More".
4. Here you will find under "Outlook areas" the button "Reading area", please click to remove the checkmark.

No longer automatically mark emails as read: More options in Outlook

Alternatively, Outlook also gives you the option to set a time after which email messages are marked as read. To use this option, please navigate to "File" > "Options > "Advanced" and click on "Read Range" in the "Outlook Ranges" section. After that, make sure there that the option "Mark messages displayed in the reading pane as read" is enabled and enter a time in the corresponding field.