Can I stop Mail from automatically marking emails as read (before I have read them)?

drumcafe wrote:

Well, the reason I use apple and dont want to use a third party solution is because I have multiple devices that automatically sync through iCloud. One of the main attractions of Apple. Makes no sense to me to search out different solutions.

Just disappointing that Apple is incapable of designing the tech to do this. Just saying.

On 1 M1, 1M2 and 1 M3 machines I own and operate

Each machine is currently running Sonoma 14.4.1 and using the Apple email client.

The functionality to Pause for 3 - 5 seconds, which the user brought up in an earlier post.

It does not exist nor has it existed in previous versions of macOS

Thusly, to satisfy the then stated issue, was to offer a reasonable alternative .

As for " dont want to use a third party solution is because I have multiple devices that automatically sync through iCloud "

A Third Party email client can be used and still sync across Multi devices using Apple iCloud Mail Service

iCloud mail services using the IMAP Protocol which means an email client can access the same message across all devices using the same Third Party e-mail client on multi devices

To further assist in this possible solution refer the link below regarding Application Specific Passwords to access iCloud Mail with a Non Apple email client

Sign in to apps with your Apple ID using app-specific passwords

There may be other ways but one way that likely will work is to disable Preview in the View menu of Mail.

drumcafe wrote:

Microsoft had a function where the email would be turned to Read, only if the highlight or the curser remained on the email for 3 seconds. That way you could scroll down the emails, skimming through what was important, deleting all the un necessary emails, before returning to the list of remaining emails and decide which ones to tackle first. In fact, that 3 second option could be set to any number of seconds you desired. 3 worked well for me.

Trying to make a comparison between Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS ?

Though both are Operating System used on computers

The Functionality within the respective email clients are not the same.

There is a functionality in the Apple email client to have Unread email in Bold

But one the said email has been touched - it will appear as Read even if the user has not taken the time to read all the contents of the email

Should none of this be palatable to the user.

One may consider using a Third Party email client that does provide the feature they are expecting

That's correct. I want to read the message, but leave it marked unread until I mark it as read. It might sound like strange behaviour, but I (and others) like to be able to leave a message marked unread until I've actioned it. It might be the message needs a reply, or for me to do something else before I reply to it. So keeping it marked as unread until I determine that I've dealt with it is how I work.

SmallCubed (and others) allow you to preview the message but not mark it as read.

The thread doesn't help as I know this simply isn't a native function Apple has built in. All I can do is remove the preview window, but that doesn't help.

Who is “we”? If you want such a feature then ask for it. If enough users send feedback maybe you’ll get it. Apple states it reads and forwards every feedback request to the appropriate division. If you are in the minority then this will likely never see the light of day.

Or, again, you could switch to an email client that does what you want, if there is one.

Feedback - Mail - Apple

Agree, it would fix one issue, but at the same time I loose a lot of functionality. Probably before I would disable the preview, it is for me quicker to change the email state back to unread via COMMAND + SHIFT + U

You can put up to five lines of Preview in the message list. That is generally sufficient for me to delete the message outright. I imagine you could get the opposite out of that much preview.

Then start using an email client that has the feature you want.

Steve_007 wrote:

The amount of times I've seen this requested (I've even submitted it myself as request to Apple). I just don't understand why they can't add a simple toggle so we can choose whether we want that message marked as read or not. I know it's technically read, but a lot of us use unmarked mail as in box management. And yes, I want to be able to preview it as well!

I'm running SmallCubed on my iMac but can't install that on the new Air. Very frustrating.

Sorry if I am not understanding correctly. You want to read the email but leave it as unread?

Does this article regarding marking email read/unread help?

Mark emails as read or unread in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

we do not want the few lines visible in preview to count as "read." When you delete an email, the next email in the queue is highlighted and automatically toggles to "read" if preview is on. Previously when deleting one email, there was a feature that did not select the next one. We want an email to turn to "read" upon user action, either opening it, or selecting it manually

Microsoft had a function where the email would be turned to Read, only if the highlight or the curser remained on the email for 3 seconds. That way you could scroll down the emails, skimming through what was important, deleting all the un necessary emails, before returning to the list of remaining emails and decide which ones to tackle first. In fact, that 3 second option could be set to any number of seconds you desired. 3 worked well for me.

Microsoft had a function where the email would be turned to "Read", only if the highlight or the curser remained on the email for 3 seconds or more. That way you could scroll down the emails, skimming through what was important, deleting all the un necessary emails, before returning to the list of remaining "unread" emails and decide which ones to tackle first.

In fact, that 3 second option could be set to any number of seconds you desired. 3 worked well for me.

Nonsense. Apple could easily add such a feature but have chosen not to. Apple usually adds features in response to customer feedback and their own philosophy of UI design. The few of you in this thread are not nearly enough to influence Apple. This thread started a year ago and is still a single page long. And quite frankly such a feature seems weird and unnecessary.

Five Months ago " Posted on Nov 27, 2023 1:59 PM " we were talking about Sonoma 14.1.2 on November 30, 2023

We are not taking about Sonoma 14.4.1 and still on the same issue.

What have the nay sayers done to make this issue known to Apple and possibly influence some feature changes between 14.1.2 to current 14.4.1.

Apple may or may not react to somethings but for sure will not react to Non Asked Question to make changes