How do I stop discarded/abandoned emails, tasks, etc. showing as "Unread" in my 'Deleted' folder?

Hi Eleni

Thanks for your response.

Perhaps my question needs a little clarification. The behaviour in dealing with received emails, which your answer seems to be addressing, is both logical and understandable. Indeed, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm mainly referring to emails (and tasks) that I've started to write then, for various reasons, have decided to abandon. Hence, "obviously read". I've just written it. It would be hard not to know what it said.

I would, though, include received meeting invites. These are, correctly, marked unread when they're received. You often read and respond to them in the preview pane without the need to actually "open" them. That request is then automatically deleted, but appears as 'Unread' in the deleted folder. It obviously has been read, because you've accepted, or declined, it. (Leaving it marked "Unread" when you've simply deleted it is again a logical behaviour, and one I wouldn't want to change because that makes finding accidentally deleted items easier.)

Hello Kevin4fm,

Good day! Thank for your reply and sharing more information!

Firstly,I fully understand your statement and situation. We appreciate your observation on this feature requirement and recommend to kindly submit your valuable idea to Outlook product development team. We would think highly of each customer’s feedback on our product, and we appreciate for your precious suggestion on how we could improve our products.

At this point, your kind understanding and co-operation will be highly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hello Kevin4fm,

Thank you for posting this case in Microsoft Community!

Based on your description: How to stop discarded/abandoned emails, tasks, etc. showing as "Unread" in your 'Deleted' folder? I would like to cooperate with you working on this case. To clarify this case, it is normal behaviour that emails marked as read will be also displayed as read in your Deleted Items folder. And emails will be also showing as Unread in Deleted Items folder if you just deleted Unread emails. Thus it depends on the email status if really marked as read or unread or not.

As you mentioned that these deleted emails are obviously marked as read, you may check following workaround:

1. Firstly, you may try to sign in Outlook Web if getting the same case or not. This will help to identify if this case only happened in your Outlook for Windows.
2. If working fine in Outlook on the web, you may restart your Outlook client and Windows system to check again.
3. If not working, Outlook works best when it's up to date. We recommend setting Windows Update to automatically download and install recommended updates. Bug fixes, new features, and performance enhancements are released regularly. To install the latest Windows and Office updates, see Install Office updates.
4. Then you may try to re-create another Outlook profile and test it again. Create an Outlook profile - Microsoft Support
5. Next you may run SARA Tool to fix this case if possible. About the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant

6. If this case still persists, finally you may try to re-install the latest version of Office 365 application and check if working or not.

Download and install or reinstall Microsoft 365 or Office 2021 on a PC or Mac - Microsoft Support

By the way, if you just want to mark all deleted items as read by default in Deleted Items folder no matter all of them marked as read or unread from original path in Outlook, currently it seems that there is no other options or direct feature to do so as it is by design. We do understand it would be more convenient and suitable for your daily work, so it is recommended that please click Help > Feedback or Outlook · Community (microsoft.com) and leave your good ideas there. Microsoft will keep monitoring customers feedback and good ideas there, some features would be changes based on customers feedback in the future, and your good ideas will be very helpful for the dedicated develop engineers in Microsoft to improve the product and services in the future. Actionable feedback is the most useful – tell us what you’re trying to do, and if anything fails to meet your hopes and expectations.

If you need further assistance, please feel free to let me know, I will keep assisting you.

Your understanding and patience will be appreciated.

Thank you!

Hello

I hope you're doing well!

I wanted to drop you a quick note about your recent post on the Microsoft Community. Our team is actively looking into your situation, and we'll be sharing an update on the thread accordingly.

Your patience and cooperation mean a lot to us as we work through this. We truly appreciate your understanding.

Best regards,

Inema