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Disable "Mark as Read" for the Preview Pane only

  • 1 (رد واحد)
  • 1 has this problem
  • 11 views
  • آخر ردّ كتبه sfhowes

Clay Anderson
Clay Anderson
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This has been a frustration for years—I can find posts back to 2012—but it's never been addressed.

I like using the Preview Pane so that I can quickly glance at an email to see what it's about, and whether I need to respond to it right away. But I don't consider the Preview Pane to be an official "read", and I don't want previewed emails to be marked as read—not after 10 seconds, not ever.

Conversely, when I open an email in its own tab/window, I DO consider that an official "read", and I DO want it marked as read—immediately.

But this has never been possible in Thunderbird, and the essential problem is this: the Preview Pane and an opened email are treated as the same action. There is no way to distinguish between them.

This has been a frustration for years—I can find posts back to 2012—but it's never been addressed. I like using the Preview Pane so that I can quickly glance at an email to see what it's about, and whether I need to respond to it right away. But I don't consider the Preview Pane to be an official "read", and I don't want previewed emails to be marked as read—not after 10 seconds, not ever. Conversely, when I open an email in its own tab/window, I DO consider that an official "read", and I DO want it marked as read—immediately. But this has never been possible in Thunderbird, and the essential problem is this: the Preview Pane and an opened email are treated as the same action. There is no way to distinguish between them.

All Replies (1)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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The 'Preview Pane' is correctly named Message Pane, and viewing a message there is the same as viewing, i.e. opening, the message in a tab or window. The only part of a message that can be considered a 'preview' is the header shown in the Threads Pane with Subject, From, Date etc.