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Hi @Natascha
Welcome to our forum!
Conditional formatting does not apply to the message currently selected in the reading pane. Unfortunately, there is no option to change this behavior in Outlook. You can't keep the conditional formatting of selected messages in the reading pane.
It is recommended that you use categories instead of conditional formatting to assign colors to your messages. Categories are visible in the reading pane and can help you identify the project or topic of the message. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to quickly assign categories to your messages. To learn more about categories, see Use categories in Outlook.
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