Outlook 365 is marking emails as read before I open them

Hi Christian,

I understand your scenario, to make the emails remain as unread unless you double click it to open them, you can set an option in Outlook as follows:

#1. Click File > Options, in the popped-out Outlook Options dialog box, click Mail in the left pane, and then click Reading Pane button in the Outlook panes section.

#2. In the Reading Pane dialog box, uncheck Mark item as read when selection changes option in the Reading Pane options list box.

Generally, in this case, the emails will be not marked as read until you double click to open them or mark them as read manually.

If problem persists, I suggest you run a test to sign-out Outlook in your iPhone and other devices temporarily, this way, we can narrow down the problem and let us know which device the problem came from.

In addition, please login Outlook web app to check whether the situation is the same. Since we need to know whether it is maintaining the connection to the server and apply changes that you make to the read and unread status of messages on the server.

Hope it helps, welcome back to us if there are any updates.

Thanks,

Linda

Hi Linda, 

Thanks for your help. I followed your instructions and logged out of outlook on all of my devices except my desktop app. I then sent myself a test email from another account. It came in unread, but as I was reading another email, the test email became read. 

I did not open it or even hover over it in the preview pane (not that that should do anything, since I have it set that I need to check the email to be read). 

To be sure this actually happened, I sent another test email, hovered over it in the preview pane, and then went to a different email. This did not read the test email. However, while I was reading another email a few minutes later, the same test email became read. The issue seems to be time-dependent... after some point in time, the email opens up and reads itself. Every morning when I come into work, I have no unread messages, but there are obviously emails that came in after I left work and have not read yet. 

Furthermore, the Outlook Web App link you sent me results in a "Something went wrong" message... it says my account doesn't exist, but it should, since I use outlook 365 and sign in to other Office 365 apps all the time.

Any more advice?

Hi Christian,

Could you please share with me if there are any updates?

Thanks,

Linda

Hi Christian,

Thanks for your updates.

Firstly, I would like to collect a screenshot of entire Reading Pane Setting to check the options, we need to confirm if the problem is coming from the settings. (File > Options > Mail > Reading Pane)

Then, I suggest you try to create a new outlook profile to check the results(Do not delete the previous profile), new profile will configure your account, data files and all kind of settings again, here is the reference: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-an-Outlook-profile-F544C1BA-3352-4B3B-BE0B-8D42A540459D

Since you said that the OWA link I sent results in a "Something went wrong" message, please fully exit the Outlook desktop client and then copy the link to another browse with InPrivate mode to try again (https://outlook.office365.com). And I would like to confirm with you if this is the web url to login to your mailbox, in other words, I want to confirm your situation is Office Online or on-premise.

In addition, for further investigation, please provide the Outlook client version to us, File > Office Account > Product Information, thanks for your cooperation.

Best regards,

Linda