Change Outlook “Mark As Read” Behavior

Question

Can someone describe to me, step by step, what I would need to do in order to change the default Outlook "Mark as Read" behavior?

Default Behavior: Outlook marks a message as read when It has appeared in the viewing pane and I move to another message.

Desired Behavior: Outlook marks a message as read as soon as it appears in the viewing pane.

Answer 1

For Outlook 2007:

1. Go to Tools | Options and click the Other tab
2. Click the Reading Pane... button under Outlook Panes
3. Put a check the Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane and set an interval in seconds before it kicks in.

It's the same for Outlook 2003, except that in step 2 the section on the Other tab is called "Reading Pane" instead of "Outlook Panes".

Answer 2

It took me a few minutes to figure it out in Outlook 2010 - once you get to the Reading Pane options, it's the same as squillman's answer.

1. Go to File | Options | Advanced
2. In the Outlook Panes section, click Reading Pane
3. Put a check the Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane and set an interval in seconds before it kicks in.