How can I prevent or stop the reading pane from displaying the content of the emails in the "Deleted Items" folder in Windows Live Mail and keep the reading pane on for the "Inbox"?

Question

One of the reasons for turning off the reading pane, or for the reading pane to be off by default in the junk mail folder from Windows Live Mail 2012 is security. The idea is to prevent and avoid malicious emails from infecting the computer by opening them. It is therefore understood that if you see the content of an email in the reading pane your computer can get infected if the email is a threat.

If I delete an email in the "Junk email" folder the email appears in the "Deleted Items" folder and the "Deleted Items" folder has a reading pane that is active or on.

Why is the reading pane on by default in the "Deleted Items" folder? I cannot turn off the reading pane in the "Deleted Items" folder. I want to maintain the reading pane active or on in the "Inbox" but not in the "Deleted Items" folder. It is easy to commit a mistake and see (in the reading pane) of the "Deleted Items" folder the content of an email that you would not have want to see.

Thank you for your attention.

Answer 1

I just realized that there is a Little x next to the "Junk email" folder name. I wish I had noticed that before. It would have saved me much extra work.

I am going to try it the next time I have to purge the "Junk email" folder.

Thank you.

Answer 2

... it does not make sense to not display the messages in a preview pane in the "Junk email" folder due to security reasons and display the messages in a preview pane in the "Deleted Items" folder ...

The thinking behind this is probably that you don't need to use Delete on messages in the Junk email folder. An alternative procedure would be to remove any not-junk messages from the folder, then empty it e.g. by using the little × . This is a one-step deletion not requiring confirmation.

Answer 3

I guess the Shift-Delete alternative is the closest solution to avoid displaying in the "Deleted Items" folder messages that were deleted from the"Junk email" folder. Thank you for your answer.

Please, let the software designers at Microsoft know that it does not make sense to not display the messages in a preview pane in the "Junk email" folder due to security reasons and display the messages in a preview pane in the "Deleted Items" folder without providing an option to not display them.

Answer 4

If I delete an email in the "Junk email" folder the email appears in the "Deleted Items" folder ...

Use Shift-Delete to bypass the Deleted items folder. If you do this in the All junk email Quick view, you won't even have to confirm the permanent deletion.

Answer 5

Hello,

Welcome to Microsoft Community forum. I understand that you want the reading pane function on your inbox only. Unfortunately, the reading pane is for all your folders on Windows Live Mail. As a workaround, you can easily enable/disable this function by clicking View on the upper part of the screen and click Reading pane. You'll then have an option to turn it off.

You can also go to this **link**and provide information on how to make Windows Live Mail a more user friendly program. Microsoft will review entries on the link for future reference.

In case you have other inquiries regarding Windows Live Mail, please let us know. We'll be here to support you.

Thank you.