Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Natao arisiva ity resaka mitohy ity. Mametraha fanontaniana azafady raha mila fanampiana.

how to prevent changing unread messages to read

  • 6 valiny
  • 4 manana an'ity olana ity
  • 5 views
  • Valiny farany nomen'i h4xintl

more options

Highlighting a message, such as when scrolling up or down with the arrow keys, changes unread messages to "read". How can I keep the unread messages highlighted by bold print? Another situation where this occurs is when I read a message and then file or delete it the next message automatically changes to "read", even if it hasn't. Thanks.

Highlighting a message, such as when scrolling up or down with the arrow keys, changes unread messages to "read". How can I keep the unread messages highlighted by bold print? Another situation where this occurs is when I read a message and then file or delete it the next message automatically changes to "read", even if it hasn't. Thanks.

Vahaolana nofidina

If there is no "preview pane" to display the message, it won't be marked as read. That's the theory.

I suspect that you, like me, can't imagine having to open messages in separate tabs or windows. The "preview pane" is pretty much all we need to read our email. ;-)

You can use right-click|Mark|As Unread to reinstate the unread status. I'm pretty sure there's a single key press command to do this too, but I can't think where to look for it right now. You can also toggle the read/unread state by clicking on the green dot in the message list.

And maybe you could set a longer delay before changing state.

Tools|Options|Display|Advanced

Hamaky an'ity valiny ity @ sehatra 👍 2

All Replies (6)

more options

Press F8 and turn the message pane off.

more options

Sorry, I don't understand. When I press F8 the message list enlarges (extends downward), eliminating the area where messages are read. I don't see any other options. Thanks.

more options

So it seems I would have to double click on a message to read it in a new tab. Is that the only way? Thanks.

more options

Vahaolana Nofidina

If there is no "preview pane" to display the message, it won't be marked as read. That's the theory.

I suspect that you, like me, can't imagine having to open messages in separate tabs or windows. The "preview pane" is pretty much all we need to read our email. ;-)

You can use right-click|Mark|As Unread to reinstate the unread status. I'm pretty sure there's a single key press command to do this too, but I can't think where to look for it right now. You can also toggle the read/unread state by clicking on the green dot in the message list.

And maybe you could set a longer delay before changing state.

Tools|Options|Display|Advanced

more options

h4xintl said

Sorry, I don't understand. When I press F8 the message list enlarges (extends downward), eliminating the area where messages are read. I don't see any other options. Thanks.

Well yeah. You said you did not want them marked as read. If you open them in the messages pane, a tab or a window you have read the message and Thunderbird marks them as such.

more options

Thank you very much. Changing the delay before changing state solved my issue. Now it behaves more like Windows Live Mail, which is where I'm coming from.