Unread emails grouped within a chain become read when only latest email is opened

1

Example:

I have conversation feature enabled.
I have an email chain between numerous people.
There are multiple replies within the email chain.
As the conversation chain is minimised I don’t necessarily know there are multiple new replies, but I know there is at least one.
I click on the unread email.
It automatically then marks all unread emails within the chain as read. I’m finding there is the odd occasion here where I’m missing emails.

Is there any way around this other than having every conversation expanded? Every time eM is closed and opened again it automatically reverts to the conversation being minimised again.

1 Like
2

So that you can see which are unread, when you open a conversation, all the unread messages will be expanded, and the read ones will be collapsed. The conversation will then be marked as read following the option in Menu > Settings > Mail > Read > Mark messages as read after x seconds. So if you have that set to 4 seconds, after the conversation has been displayed for 4 seconds, it will be marked as read. The ones that were expanded as unread will remain expanded until you move away to another conversation.

3

Thanks Gary. Is there no way for unread emails within a conversation to remain unread until they’re actually opened? I understand that because they’re part of a conversation the whole conversation is being marked as read, but is there no way to stop this (other than with disabling conversation view)? If I click on a minimised conversation, it will display the latest email, and then as you say after 4 seconds it marks the entire conversation as read - but without expanding the conversation view I’m unaware if there are any older emails within the chain that I might have missed, as they’ve all been automatically marked as read.

4

When you click on a conversation, the preview opens to to the oldest unread message.

5

You’re absolutely correct, it does. But the issue still stands, just slightly reversed - the oldest email in the chain is displayed, but all the newer emails are automatically marked as read, even though I haven’t actually clicked on them.

6

Is there any solution to this?

7

Yes, because you have read them.

They are displayed there in the preview for you to read, but unfortunately there is no way for eM Client to connect with your brain to see if you have actually read every line displayed on the screen. So when it has been displayed for the appropriate time, it is marked as read.

You will either need to stop using conversations, or remove the option to automatically mark messages as read. If you choose the later, when you open the conversation, the unread messages will still be expanded as before as they are unread. You will just need to right-click in each message body and choose Mark as Read when you have actually read it.

8

I understand what you’re saying, in that eM thinks I’ve read them, but I haven’t physically read them.

I’m not sure how the mac mail system works as it’s been a while since I used it now, but that was able to differentiate between an email within a chain / conversation that had been read and one which hadn’t. I guess it’s therefore possible for eM to implement, but it’s obviously a change in how the working of the conversation feature is configured.