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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 good idea3


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.
doc mark deleted as read 3

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.
doc mark deleted as read 4




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Comments (21)
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This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
wow, it's amazing, especially the VBA code. It works very well.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
wow,太棒了!尤其是这个VBA code。
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Worked for outlook 2003 !
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Note that you will also need to tick the Apply macro security to installed add-ins option to make it work on Outlook 2016.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thanks for this - simple and effective.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
My question is simple: WHY?!

Who thought keeping deleted messages unread was good for the user?!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I enabled Macros in the Trust Center and got it to work with Outlook 2016 as well. Thanks!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Yes, worked this way for me too in Outlook 2016.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
EUREKA!!! IT WORKS!!!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I had the same issue as DUSTIN, ZOXDK, and GORDON... the macro wasn't working. The issue was that I had to enable macros in the Trust Center settings: Click File --> Options --> Trust Center --> Trust Center Settings --> Macro Settings Select "Notifications for all macros" You'll get a small popup whenever you open Outlook to Enable or Disable macros. As long as you click Enable, you should be good. Alternatively, you could set your Trust Center settings to automatically allow all macros, but that could present security concerns so I think the approach above is a good compromise since you'll only need to click "Enable Macros" when you launch Outlook.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thanks! VBA code worked perfectly.
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