Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

af721

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 5, 2017
1
2
Hi! I'm curious if there's a way to deactivate the feature/behavior in Mac Mail where mail is automatically marked as read when clicked (I want it to remain unread until I click otherwise). I know that I can use the "Classic View" to remove the preview feature, but that doesn't accomplish what I'm aiming for (I want the preview to remain active). And I know there used to be a plugin called TruePreview which offered this feature, but it's no longer available. Any ideas?
 

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,634
2,403
Baltimore, Maryland
The Mail Act-On plugin seems to add this feature...at least it's in the outdated user manual they have up there. Otherwise, it's not possible using the preview window. In the regular view (not "Classic") you can hide the preview window and, if you want to, increase the number of lines in the message list as a sort of workaround.

I don't know what mechanism Mail Act-On uses to achieve this. You'd think that if they can do it there'd be a way to configure it using Terminal.
 

jagooch

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2009
781
238
Denver, co
The lack of this feature is the only reason why I use Outlook on my Mac...
I just might do the same. Most of my email is accessible from google gmail, except for my Apple icloud email account. If I can figure out how to get iCloud email in there, I will switch to the Gmail web client.
 

MacGizmo

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2003
3,066
2,386
Arizona
Another vote for mail act on.
https://smallcubed.com/scs/
there are many components and features of this app other than the read/unread
Unfortunately, this is the ONLY feature of MailActOn that I use... and I'm not going to pay $60 for it. It's sad because it is a fantastic plugin – but when they grouped all their plugins and called it MailSuite, it kind of killed it for me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wdhpgx and jagooch

TwoBytes

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2008
3,091
2,037
Unfortunately, this is the ONLY feature of MailActOn that I use... and I'm not going to pay $60 for it. It's sad because it is a fantastic plugin – but when they grouped all their plugins and called it MailSuite, it kind of killed it for me.

started to use the other features, not all of them which made the 60 more bearable. It's a small dev team and they are filling a niche; there is no other plugs out there that can mark mail as read or not. Top plugin and I use mail every day religiously!
 

whattheproblemis

macrumors newbie
Dec 3, 2019
1
0
Hi! I'm curious if there's a way to deactivate the feature/behavior in Mac Mail where mail is automatically marked as read when clicked (I want it to remain unread until I click otherwise). I know that I can use the "Classic View" to remove the preview feature, but that doesn't accomplish what I'm aiming for (I want the preview to remain active). And I know there used to be a plugin called TruePreview which offered this feature, but it's no longer available. Any ideas?

I think I've stumbled upon a solution to this. Hover over the line separating the list of emails in your inbox from the preview pane. Grab that dividing line and move it all the way over to the right, so the preview pane disappears.

When I do that, I can move between the emails, and none of them are marked as unread. When I double click the email, it opens it in a new window and the email is only then marked as read.

Hope that helps.
 

Boomer5100

macrumors regular
Feb 10, 2016
110
65
You can force touch the unread e-mail, which allows you to read the entire message. Once done, just close the force touch pane and mail stays unread.
 

MacGizmo

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2003
3,066
2,386
Arizona
You can force touch the unread e-mail, which allows you to read the entire message. Once done, just close the force touch pane and mail stays unread.
Unfortunately, that's not the problem for many. The issue is that when you delete, archive, file, move or otherwise remove an email, the app automatically opens the next email in the list—with no interaction from the user, thus marking it as read.

So while that is a clever trick for emails I actually want to preview without marking as read... more often than not, I don't get the chance to make that decision because Apple makes it for me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagooch

jagooch

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2009
781
238
Denver, co
Many years and Apple feedback submissions later, this is still a problem. Has anyone tried moving to Fastmail and using their email client
for Mac and iOS?

It will probably only work for their service, unfortunately.
 

MacGizmo

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2003
3,066
2,386
Arizona
Not only has Apple not added this feature, but MailSuite now costs $80 for the first year, and $45 per year ever after... and you do have to pay every year because the plugins stop working with every OS upgrade, which Apple does once per year.
 

TwoBytes

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2008
3,091
2,037
Agree. Shocking Apple hasn't added this feature as I keep missing mails as they are read/unread. MailSuite is the only solution so they can charge a high price. Fairly though, they are a nice bunch and you get a whole host of other features.

Let's just keep sending apple feedback on this!
 
  • Like
Reactions: freediverx00

TwoBytes

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2008
3,091
2,037
macOS Sonoma disables mac plugins so mail suite won't work.
This means there won't be a way anymore to mark mail as read manually and not have a mistake of marking something read accidentally.

I don't like having to mark mail as unread as i have missed important things before.

Does anyone have any workarounds? (apart from don't upgrade!) :)
 

nikguitar

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2011
43
9
macOS Sonoma disables mac plugins so mail suite won't work.
This means there won't be a way anymore to mark mail as read manually and not have a mistake of marking something read accidentally.

I don't like having to mark mail as unread as i have missed important things before.

Does anyone have any workarounds? (apart from don't upgrade!) :)
Sadly I am not aware of workarounds. I have switched to Outlook which is not as good as Mail. I submitted a feature request to Apple. Perhaps who cares about this important function should submit the request too https://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html and let's hope for the next Mail release....
 
  • Like
Reactions: TwoBytes

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,634
2,403
Baltimore, Maryland
I changed my habits a while back and send inbox items to folders and leave items that one might leave "unread" in the Inbox. So…if it's in my Inbox it needs attention.
 

nikguitar

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2011
43
9
I changed my habits a while back and send inbox items to folders and leave items that one might leave "unread" in the Inbox. So…if it's in my Inbox it needs attention.
Interesting workflows, but likely very demanding to manage if you receive lots of emails. With MailSuite not working in Sonoma, it seems we are now doomed to move to other email clients....
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.