# Outlook 2003 - "Mark As Read" Rule - Tray Enevlope Still Appears



## EphesiansSix (Mar 21, 2008)

Hi All,

I'm using Outlook 2003 on Widows XP. One of my rules includes "Mark As Read" after moving the email to a folder. It does get marked as read, but the tray notification (envelope) still appears. This defeats the purpose for me, and actually makes it harder (I use multiple folders, so I hunt through each to find the new message). What am I missing, or is this a glitch? I just want it to be marked as read, and NOT show the tray icon. 

Thanks in advance!


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## jimr381 (Jul 20, 2007)

Welcome to the forum.

What about using the Unread Mail search folder? Outlook is notorious for having the system tray icon act whacky.


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## EphesiansSix (Mar 21, 2008)

Wow, what a quick reply! Thanks for the warm welcome. 

I avoid using the Unread Mail search folder because that's how I track which email still need follow-up (by leaving or re-marking them unread). Using that folder, once I read it, it disappears into its sorted folder as read. I suppose I should really be using flags, eh? 

And please forgive my ignorance, but are you suggesting that I disable the tray notification, and just periodically look at the Unread Mail folder to see if there are new ones? I still like the tray to let me know when I have new (actual) mail...

Thanks!


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## jimr381 (Jul 20, 2007)

I am not specifying that you disable it, but I am saying that sometimes it is unreliable. When reading the beginning of your response I was definitely going to suggest flags, but you already have it. One click on the flag icon is much easier then going through the different ways of marking them unread. 

I am quick at everything I do just ask the wife. Oh wait I mean I try to dive into the problem quickly....... I will never be able to answer this question without it sounding dirty.


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## EphesiansSix (Mar 21, 2008)

Thanks again. I'll give flags a try. 

We'll see if someone has a workaround for the tray though; I'm using the same POP Gmail account on two computers, and use the recent:[email protected] method to get it on both computers. So it downloads the sent mail, which is fine, but I don't need to be notified when it does so. (That's what I marking as "read.") I tried IMAP, but got annoyed with the delays when trying to open messages.

Thanks!


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## GLComputing (Apr 27, 2007)

The tray icon remains on until you open any email


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## GLComputing (Apr 27, 2007)

Actually, not sure about 2003, but in Outlook 2007, in the Rules Wizard - "What do you want to do with the message" dialog, you can turn off "display Desktop Alert" which might do it for you?


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## jimr381 (Jul 20, 2007)

The Desktop Alert is the pop-up you see that fades out. The OP is talking about the icon in your system tray which is near the time.


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## GLComputing (Apr 27, 2007)

jimr381 said:


> The Desktop Alert is the pop-up you see that fades out. The OP is talking about the icon in your system tray which is near the time.


I thought they might be linked somehow... I can't get either to popup when I use Exchange server rules, only for local Outlook rules


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## Darth Papercut (Apr 21, 2008)

Try this... Break the steps into two separate rules.
Rule 1. Mark as read
Rule 2. Move to folder

Let me know if it works for you.
Mike


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## Steve Wollkind (May 23, 2008)

http://www.techhit.com/autoread/dl.html is a $10 plugin for outlook that creates a custom action for removing the envelope from the system tray. As far as I can tell, it's the only way to get the mark as read rule to actually remove the envelope.

Hope this helps
Steve


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## mickdo69 (Aug 28, 2008)

_Try this... Break the steps into two separate rules.
Rule 1. Mark as read
Rule 2. Move to folder

Let me know if it works for you.
Mike

_Worked for me! Thanks Mike_ :up:
_


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