First message doesn't get marked as read

Problem reported by kevind - 6/2/2020 at 7:02 AM

Not A Problem

Saw this in the release notes from yesterday:

FIXED: First message is getting marked as read when loading the message in the content pane.

IMO, if the message is displayed in the preview window, then it should be marked as read. That's how most email clients and webmail systems work.

IDEA: If you don't want it to be marked as read, then show something else (e.g. disk usage) in the preview window like Gmail and Thunderbird do.

IDEA #2: Some mail programs leave the message unread for a couple seconds, then mark it as read. That's a slick feature.

8 Replies

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Ionel Aurelian Rau Replied

6/15/2020 at 2:39 AM

I personally do not want the first mail that loads to simply be read. I want emails that I read to be read :)

I would say that emails should not be marked as read automatically without one specifically clicking on it. If it`s selected automatically, that does not mean it has been read..

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

6/15/2020 at 6:52 AM

I agree with Ionel: don't want the mail be "read" only because it is automatically selected after I delete another one or it is the first that loads up...

In my mind it became "read" ONLY if I click on it at least once.

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS

Currently manages 6 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 5 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)

kevind Replied

6/15/2020 at 7:48 AM

OK, makes sense. So the problem is that SmarterMail previews the 1st message when you first open it up. Maybe it should work like most other email programs and not automatically preview the 1st message.

Solution: remember the "My Today Page" from v15? Display that in the preview window until the user clicks a message.

Tim Uzzanti Replied

6/15/2020 at 8:22 AM

Employee Post

When you first enter Webmail we do not mark the message as read unless you click on it.

When you delete a message and it moves the next message as highlighted it will mark the message read if it is unread.

This is how a number of clients operate and is the intended behavior of Webmail.

Tim Uzzanti

CEO

SmarterTools Inc.

www.smartertools.com

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

6/15/2020 at 10:31 AM

Hi Tim, to me it seems to be right.

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS

Thu Nguyen Replied

6/16/2020 at 12:06 PM

Don't need auto "mark as read" in this case.

kevind Replied

6/19/2020 at 1:55 PM

OK, clearly not much support for this, so I'll give up.

But for the record, every email program I've seen (both client and web) marks a message as read when it appears in the preview window.

Most programs (Outlook, Thunderbird, Gmail, etc.) avoid marking the first message as read by displaying a status or update message in the preview window at startup.

Ionel Aurelian Rau Replied

6/22/2020 at 1:34 AM

For example in MS Outlook 2019, the behavior is this:
- user opens MS Outlook

- first message is selected automatically and is unread, but the email contents are NOT displayed in the preview pane -> this is very good

- this first message is not automatically marked as read

- user can navigate away from that email and it is still not marked as read

- if the user manually, purposefully clicks on the same first unread email, the email contents are shown in the preview pane, but the mail is still not marked as read

- if the user now moves away from that first unread mail, it will become read

This the behavior that we want for WebMail as well. We do not want anything to become unread or read just because it was automatically selected. The fact that the WebMail also previews the first email that is autoselected I think is a problem, but that does not mean that I read the email and it should be marked as read.

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