Opened an email you can't deal with yet? Marking it unread puts it back on your radar, a simple habit that keeps an inbox under control.
Step by step
- Select the message or conversation.
- Press Ctrl+U to mark it as unread.
- Press Ctrl+Q to mark it as read.
Tips & troubleshooting
- Select several messages first (Ctrl+A selects everything in the view) to mark them all at once.
- Use Insert to flag messages that need a proper follow-up.
Control when Outlook marks mail as read
If messages turn to read the moment you arrow past them, change the setting. In classic Outlook go to File, Options, Mail, Reading Pane. You can untick Mark item as read when selection changes, or tick Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane and set a delay of a few seconds. In the new Outlook the equivalent is under Settings, Mail, Message handling, Mark as read.
Handle several at once
- Hold Shift and press Down Arrow to select a run of messages, then press Ctrl+U or Ctrl+Q.
- Ctrl+A selects everything in the current view.
- Right-click a folder and choose Mark all as read to clear a backlog.
- With conversation view on, marking the conversation affects every message in it.
Find what is still unread
- Click Unread at the top of the message list, or use the Filter button and choose Unread.
- In classic Outlook, add the Unread Mail search folder to see unread messages from every folder in one place.
- The number beside a folder name is its unread count.
Unread is a weak to-do list
Marking as unread works for an hour or two. Over days, the messages scroll out of sight and the bold text stops meaning anything. For something you must act on, flag it with Insert so it has a date and appears in your task list. Keep unread for its real purpose: I haven't looked at this properly yet.
In Outlook for Mac, Cmd+Shift+T marks a message as unread and Cmd+T marks it as read.