Outlook 2003 - automatically mark all Junk email as "read"

[Ric]

Is there any way in Outlook 2003 to automatically mark all Junk email
filtered to the Junk email folder as "read"? I don't want to select the
"delete immediately" option as I like to scan the folder occasionally for
false positives, but also it is annoying to be constantly reminded by the
bold typeface in the "Today" view that there are an ever increasing number
of unread items in the Junk folder.

 

[Ric]

Ric, you wrote on Tue, 17 Jan 2006 21:31:11 +0100:


As far as I know it's not possible!

Thanks- that is more or less what I concluded after a lot of Googling, but I
rather hoped that in the last three years of similar posts that Microsoft
might have added a line or two of code to Outlook to allow this. But I guess
not - the luxury of having a neo-monopoly I suppose!

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Stop using the Junk Folder as one that displays in the Outlook Today folder.
Any why would you want to mark junk mail as read? Simply ignoring it and
deleting it is the best way to deal with it, after scanning the folder for
false positives.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Ric asked:

| Is there any way in Outlook 2003 to automatically mark all Junk email
| filtered to the Junk email folder as "read"? I don't want to select
| the "delete immediately" option as I like to scan the folder
| occasionally for false positives, but also it is annoying to be
| constantly reminded by the bold typeface in the "Today" view that
| there are an ever increasing number of unread items in the Junk
| folder.

 

[Ric]

"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"

Stop using the Junk Folder as one that displays in the Outlook Today
folder.
Any why would you want to mark junk mail as read? Simply ignoring it and
deleting it is the best way to deal with it, after scanning the folder for
false positives.

Because it is annoying to be constantly reminded of how many junk messages I
get per day - butas I need to scan it for false positives occasionally I
want to keep it in folder view. Then when I empty the junk folder into
deleted items, all the bold unread messages are in the bin, annoying me more
and not distinguishing themselves from genuinely useful unread items that
might also be in the bin. In any case, whatever my reasoning, why is it so
difficult for Microsoft to add this simple feature, which a few minutes
googling shows that a lot of people have requested over the past six -seven
years?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Then when I empty the
junk folder into deleted items, all the bold unread messages are in
the bin, annoying me more and not distinguishing themselves from
genuinely useful unread items that might also be in the bin.

First, emptying the Junk E-mail folder (i.e., right-click>Empty Junk E-mail)
does not move anything to the Deleted Items bin. Emptying the Junk E-mail
folder is a permanent delete for the items in it. Secind, by definition
there should be nothing "useful" in the Deleted Items folder, just like
there's nothing useful in the wastebasket in your bathroom or kitchen, since
you don't put anything in a wastebasket that you want to keep.

 

[KathrynBassett]

I don't have the problem, but maybe that's because I use IHateSpam
instead of the MS one. With IHateSpam, you can mark the items in the
Spam Quarentine folder just like you can in any other folder.
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/iHateSpam.cfm
Yes, there is a fee, but worth it not to use the MS spam filter.

 

[Ric]

First, emptying the Junk E-mail folder (i.e., right-click>Empty Junk
E-mail) does not move anything to the Deleted Items bin. Emptying the
Junk E-mail folder is a permanent delete for the items in it.

You're incorrect. Emptying Junk sends it to the bin - on my machine anyway.

Secind, by definition

there should be nothing "useful" in the Deleted Items folder, just like
there's nothing useful in the wastebasket in your bathroom or kitchen,
since you don't put anything in a wastebasket that you want to keep.

Eh? It is easy to accidentally delete useful items, particularly if you
synchronise with a PDA.

 

[Brian Tillman]

You're incorrect. Emptying Junk sends it to the bin - on my machine
anyway.

Then your machine is different, but I suspect that most machines would
behave as does mine: Outlook 2003. Naturally I tested prior to posting.

Eh? It is easy to accidentally delete useful items, particularly if
you synchronise with a PDA.

Naturally everyone had accidentally deleted something (although my years of
using a PDA don't indicate that PDAs make that more likely), but your
statement, "distinguishing themselves from genuinely useful unread items
that might also be in the bin," seemed to me to indicate that you use the
bin for storing useful items. I'll concede that may be a wrong impression
and you weren't trying to convey that, but it doesn't change the fact that
keeping useful items in the Deleted Items fodler is, in general, a bad idea.