Disable Preview Pane on iPad?

Question

Level 1

5 points

Disable Preview Pane on iPad?

Hello,

is there any way that I can deactivate the preview functionality on the iPad? I don't always want to have an eMail visible on screen, either in portrait or landscape mode: what I'd love to have is a way to only see info about the sender, subject, date and size of the eMail (like in Mail.app on the Mac if you deactivate any and all preview functions/windows), or the type of listing you get on the iPhone without any previews.

Is there any way to achieve this?

I use iOS 4.2.1, but that hasn't changed since 3.2.2.

Always getting eMails displayed is annoying, especially if you're trying to delete spam eMails - as getting the eMail displayed on screen is usually enough to give the sender confirmation that he's sent spam to a valid eMail-address.

Thanks for any help!

Regards,
Frank

MacBook Pro, iPhone 3G, iPad, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Nov 28, 2010 2:24 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,423 points

Nov 28, 2010 7:20 AM in response to fle72

On the iPad go to Settings>Mail, contacts...>Preview. Set preview to None.

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Answer 2

fle72 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 28, 2010 11:00 AM in response to lllaass

Sorry, but that doesn't help: that just disables the preview in the message list - I set that the day I got my iPad. What I want is for eMails to not display +_at all_+, unless I open one. For example if you select multiple eMails (not sure what the button is called in English, it's "Bearbeiten" in German, so I guess it'll be something like "Edit" in English) to delete or move them to another folder, the iPad displays a preview of all of those eMails. That's one of the things I want to switch off.

Setting Preview to "None" doesn't touch that feature... unfortunately...

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Answer 3

JimHdk

Level 7

28,880 points

Nov 28, 2010 11:11 AM in response to fle72

fle72 wrote:
Sorry, but that doesn't help: that just disables the preview in the message list - I set that the day I got my iPad. What I want is for eMails to not display +_at all_+, unless I open one. For example if you select multiple eMails (not sure what the button is called in English, it's "Bearbeiten" in German, so I guess it'll be something like "Edit" in English) to delete or move them to another folder, the iPad displays a preview of all of those eMails. That's one of the things I want to switch off.

Setting Preview to "None" doesn't touch that feature... unfortunately...

You can delete messages without them displaying in the preview panel (if this is what you want).

To do this swipe across the message in the mailbox panel. A red Delete button will appear and touching this will delete the message without it ever appearing in the preview panel.

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Answer 4

fle72 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 1, 2010 1:34 PM in response to JimHdk

Thanks, but that doesn't solve my problem either.

If I need to delete multiple messages (i.e. multiple spam eMails), I don't want to delete them one by one, but select/mark all of them and delete them with one "click", without getting a preview of each and every one next to the message list.

Same for moving eMails - another thing I want to be able to do without opening the to-be-moved eMail(s).

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Answer 5

Dec 1, 2010 1:39 PM in response to fle72

Investing in a spam filter is probably more effective than trying to manage everything on the iPad screen.

Does your ISP not filter the spam out for you ?

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Answer 6

fle72 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 1, 2010 11:38 PM in response to Graham Outterside

Yes, my eMails go through MobileMe, they certainly have a spam filter - sometimes I wish, they had less of a spam filter actually...

Spam was an example - I thought that was rather obvious due to the "i.e." I put in "i.e. multiple spam emails).

And what, exactly, would a spam filter do for me whenever I want to move a batch of (non-spam)emails from my inbox to one of the subfolders in my account?

But I guess that I've, by now, understood the fact that there's no way to do what I want (or what I'd consider extremely helpful in general)... so I'll just hope that Apple manages to put the functionality that I've had on my iPod touch in iPhone OS 1-point-something into the iPad at some point in the future.

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Answer 7

effish

Level 1

0 points

Dec 19, 2010 5:57 PM in response to fle72

I hope there's a way to do this too. I consider it a security risk, and I don't want to look at spam either.

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Answer 8

fle72 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 20, 2010 12:42 PM in response to effish

I wish there were - but, as you can see going through this thread, there isn't. Unfortunately.

I still don't understand why Apple chose to not make a preview-free option available on the iPad - or on me.com (unless I've missed it there): the iPhone has it, my Mac (Mail.app) has it, any Windows PC (including the Netbook I dumped when I got my iPad, which I otherwise don't miss for a second) running just about any eMail program has it, I'd be very surprised if other tablets (Galaxy Tab, or whenever someone finally manages to put something usable out there based on some Windows flavor) didn't come with an eMail client that gives you the option of not having preview enabled... just the iPad, which otherwise comes darn close to my personal ideal of what a tablet should or shouldn't do - the iPad doesn't offer mail without preview.

Or, hopefully, doesn't offer mail without preview yet.

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Answer 9

Dec 20, 2010 3:44 PM in response to fle72

Have you talked to Apple yet about this? That's what you have to do if you wish to propose or request changes, additions, etc.; posting in these forums does nothing along those lines.

Feedback area of Apple Support: http://www.apple.com/feedback
iPad Feedback Form: http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

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Answer 10

fle72 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 21, 2010 2:31 PM in response to Michael Morgan1

Thanks for the link, I wasn't aware of that page. I submitted the idea a minute ago... now all that has to happen is for Apple to remove that problem... 😉

Not that I was specifically looking for that page, after all, I started this thread because I wasn't sure if there wasn't a way to disable that dreaded preview pane - guess I get the point now that there really isn't.

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Answer 11

GOTHERE

Level 1

0 points

Dec 23, 2010 7:53 AM in response to effish

I agree.... I don't want the person sitting next to me or my boss to see a message by default when I open email.

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Answer 12

Jun 16, 2013 9:31 PM in response to fle72

Agreed. I HATE that when I swipe to delete one message, the one beneath it gets marked "read" because it's the next selected message. I didn't read it - I don't want it marked read! I came here looking for an answer to this very question and found this thread which tells me there's probably not an answer I like...

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Answer 13

gbyrka

Level 1

0 points

Jun 13, 2015 9:13 AM in response to SisterBlue

agreed too, I hate it..

ios email mail management is not as bad as calendar.. But they surely rank in the industry lowest..

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