How to automatically mark deleted messages as read in Outlook?

If you remove an unread email message in Microsoft Outlook, the message will be moved to the Deleted Items folder and keep the status of Unread. In some cases, Outlook users may want to mark deleted messages as read automatically, for the sake of running rules or other reasons. Here I will introduce methods to mark deleted messages as read in Microsoft Outlook.

Mark all deleted items as read manually

Auto mark delete messages as read with VBA

Auto Mark deleted items as read with one click

Mark all deleted items as read manually

In Microsoft Outlook, users can mark the whole mail folder as read easily, including the Deleted Items folder.

After deleting your email messages, select the Deleted Items folder in the Navigation Pane, right click and select the Mark All as Read from the Right-clicking menu. See screen shot below:

Auto mark deleted messages as read with VBA

This section will introduce a VBA macro which will automatically mark all deleted messages as Read when deleting.

Step 1: Press the Alt + F11 keys together to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

Step 2: Expand the Project 1 in the left bar, and double click the ThisOutlookSession to open a blank window.

Step 3: Paste the following VBA code in the blank window.

VBA: Auto mark deleted messages as read

Dim WithEvents g_OlkFolder As Outlook.Items
Private Sub Application_Quit()
Set g_OlkFolder = Nothing
End Sub
Private Sub Application_Startup()
Set g_OlkFolder = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderDeletedItems).Items
End Sub
Private Sub g_OlkFolder_ItemAdd(ByVal Item As Object)
Item.UnRead = False
Item.Save
End Sub

Step 4: Save the VBA macro, and restart your Microsoft Outlook.

Note: This VBA macro only works with Microsoft Outlook 2013, and this VBA macro will only mark deleted items as read which are in the default data file.

From now on, when you delete emails either manually or automatically with rules, the unread deleted emails will be marked as read at once in the Deleted Items folder.

Auto Mark deleted items as read with one click

If you want to mark deleted items in subfolders as read or auto mark items as read while they are deleted, how can you handle the job? Here, the Mark Delete as Read utility of Kutools for Outlook can do a favor.

Free install Kutools for Outlook, and then do as below steps:

1. Click Kutools tab, then select one option as you need in Mark Deleted as Read drop-down list.

Enable Mark Deleted As Read: while you activate this utility, the items will be automatically marked as read while they are removed.

Mark Deleted Items As Read: Mark all items in Deleted Items folder as read in Outlook.

Include subfolders in Deleted Items folder: Mark all items in Deleted Items folder and the subfolders as read in Outlook.

2. A dialog pops out to remind you the operation is finished after you applying the utility, just click Yes to close it.

  Demo