The Message Pane is not really a preview - a message is opened when it's displayed in the pane. If you hide the MP (F8 to toggle), messages will only be marked as read when opened in a tab or window.

For me this is the reason why I'm going to switch to another mail client. I don't care if it's called a preview pane or a message pane. It operates in exactly the same way that most other mail clients do, and they all call it a preview pane.

If you've got it open, as each email comes in Thunderbird is instantly marking the message as read, regardless of whether I'm actually looking at the PC. That's just plain silly and it renders he message pane completely useless. I don't want to close it as it's useful to browse through messages to see if there are any important ones in there.

There needs to be an option to only mark messages as read when they are clicked in and opened in a new tab... as Outlook does!

phil39 said

For me this is the reason why I'm going to switch to another mail client. I don't care if it's called a preview pane or a message pane. It operates in exactly the same way that most other mail clients do, and they all call it a preview pane. If you've got it open, as each email comes in Thunderbird is instantly marking the message as read, regardless of whether I'm actually looking at the PC. That's just plain silly and it renders he message pane completely useless. I don't want to close it as it's useful to browse through messages to see if there are any important ones in there. There needs to be an option to only mark messages as read when they are clicked in and opened in a new tab... as Outlook does!

TB doesn't automatically mark messages as read unless they are opened, and only then if TB is set to do so in Tools/Options/Display/Advanced. If your messages are being marked as read without being opened in TB, they must have been opened on another computer or device, such as a phone.

Having the preview opened means that the message is opened when it comes in. It's not another application doing this. As the messages come in they are showing in the preview pane and instantly being marked as read.

You can turn off automatic marking but then you have to mark everything manually.

Outlook has the option to not automatically mark messages that show in the preview pane. It only marks them when the email is opened.

I don't see how your messages are showing in the Message Pane 'as they come in', since a message only appears there if it is selected in the Threads Pane (message list). Messages in the Threads Pane remain unread (bold) until they are opened, either in the Message Pane, tab or window, or on another device. If your messages are being marked as read without your input, there is something wrong with your setup or mail service - not with TB.

phil39 is quite correct. If "Options - Display" is set to "Automatically mark messages as read", then a message will be marked as read when it is ONLY displayed in the preview pane. However, if NOT set to "Automatically mark as read", a message will NEVER be marked as read, EVEN IF opened by double-clicking to open in a new tab, a new window, or an existing message window. The only way of changing the message status, then, is to do it manually. The most useful and most practical option is to have a message marked as read when it is actually opened for reading (in a pane or window) by double-clicking. Indeed, this is how it works in MS Outlook, as well as in MS Windows Live Mail (WLM). In fact, I assume that many people, like me, are looking to TB as a replacement email client to WLM, which is a great product, on account that it is no longer supported, and is already incompatible with some email servers, e.g. @outlook.com. The idea is to be able to quickly look through emails in the Inbox, by viewing them in the preview pane, and only opening the important/urgent ones for immediate attention/reply, and then going back later to the others, which will still be marked as Unread on account that they have only been previewed, not opened.

This is the whole point. Messages become "Read" when they are just selected in the Threads Pane (and therefore displayed in the Message Pane). There should be an option to keep those messages "Unread", and only mark as "Read" when they are OPENED in a new pane or window, like in Outlook or WLM.

Let me repeat: the TB Message Pane is not a 'preview pane', despite what other email apps call it. When you select a message and the Message Pane is enabled, the message is opened the same way if you double-click it to open in a tab or window. If the MP is closed, and you select a message in the Threads Pane, the status, read or unread, is not changed. The status can be changed by opening the message, or manually from Message/Mark.

I think what Outlook/WLM users want is a 'preview' of the first few lines appearing in the Threads Pane. Add your votes and comments to the long-running discussion.

In case it's of any interest, I have WLM running here in W10 with an IMAP outlook.com account.

OK, the point is taken that the TB Message Pane is not intended to be the same thing as the Preview Pane in other email apps. Understood. So, maybe the request should be re-formulated in the form of a SUGGESTION, i.e. that consideration should be given to having 3 options instead of 2 for displaying messages as "Read".

For example:

Mark messages as read - by manual selection - when displayed in message pane or new tab or window - when opened in new tab or window

(or words to that effect).

This would allow users to have all the options, including the option to use the message pane as a preview pane, in a similar manner to Outlook and WLM.

This would be a great improvement to an already great product !

Thanks !

No, as an Outlook user that's NOT what I want. I want the option to be able to treat the message pane as a preview pane. As I said before, I don't care what it's called. I just think there's a distinction between this pane and the one that comes up when you click on the message.

And I still think it's daft that when I've got it open, as mail is coming in, it's merrily sitting there, marking mail as read because it's showing reach message in that pane.

If you want something like a preview in the Message Pane, select multiple messages in the Threads Pane, then view the first part of each message as 'conversations' in the Message Pane.

No, that's not the issue. The problem is that TB is marking messages as read when the message pane is open. Each message that comes into the inbox shows in the message pane and is automatically marked as read, even when the TB window is minimised or you're not sitting at your PC. To me this is an obvious bug.

The next bit is a feature request. I don't want to see a few lines of the message, I want the option to see the whole message in the pane but not mark it as read. I want it to only mark it as read when I click on it and open it in a new tab.

This is how Outlook works and it's a great feature. But it's only an option, so it doesn't affect those that don't want it. I often read through my emails in the morning, deal with the urgent ones, then go back later to deal with the rest. This feature makes it very simple to do that. The ones I reply to get marked as read, the rest are left unmarked as a reminder that I need to deal with them.

adespeville said

Currently, there are only 2 options to mark a message as READ. Either manually (to mark as either READ or UNREAD), or automatically on display in the reading pane (immediately or after a preset number of seconds). The most useful option is not available, namely to automatically mark as READ when the message is actually opened for reading, in a new tab or in a new window. This is the usual way in many other email clients.

Until a very recent update, the option mentioned above applied also to messages displayed in a new tab or in a new window. That would have been at least a partial solution to the original problem. BUT I cannot find it now. Can anyone tell me where it is (or was)?

I found it somehow:- in the main Thunderbird Options page. I set it to mark each message as READ after I had it open in a window or tab for about 5 seconds and it works - to my satisfaction at least.

But then I very rarely want to read only what appears in the message pane. I have been using Thunderbird for over 15 years, and I have not found that I want anything different.

But I have been very unhappy with the Mozilla tendency to alter the front end just for the sake of it!!

If you -Mozilla - are going to make it look different, at least consult the users beforehand and take notice of their views. Even improving performance and/or security is no excuse for making things appear differently!!!