Outlook 2007: Is there a way to mark all messages in all subfolders as 'Read'?

Question

I have TONS of folders in Outlook, and rules to sort incoming mail into these folders.

The problem is that I get, literally, about 10,000 emails a day. I absolutely HATE seeing new mail notifications and all my folders in bold-face font. So, typically I go through, right click on each folder, and choose 'Mark all as Read'.

Is there a way for me to simply mark everything as read, rather than by individual folder?

Answer 1

Sure, you can have Outlook do this when it receives email.

You can do this through an "email rule". These instructions are for Outlook 2007. Other versions should work similarly though.

1. Go to Tools -> Rules and Alerts.
2. Click "New Rule..."
3. Click "Check messages when they arrive" under the heading "Start from a blank rule" and then click Next.
4. Click Next again to skip the conditions. Note: You will get a notice about the rule being applied to every message. This is what you want, so click "Yes".
5. Now you need to select the action that will be applied to all incoming email. Select "mark it as read."
6. Click next and then next again. You don't need any exceptions.
7. Name your rule if you like, make sure "Turn on this rule" is checked and then click Finish.