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If the preview pane is no longer displayed in Outlook, you can easily show it again
Outlook: How to show the preview pane
The Outlook preview pane shows the content of a selected email without having to open it individually. By default, the preview pane appears to the right of or below the list of your messages. If you have switched this function off in the past, you can easily switch it on again:
- Open Outlook and switch to the View tab at the top
- Now click on the Layout field.
- Now move the mouse pointer over the menu item Reading pane.
- Select Right or Bottom to show the reading pane at the corresponding position. You can switch the reading pane off again with Off.
- Open the Options menu item to further customize the reading pane.
- Using a slider and plus/minus buttons at the bottom right of the Outlook program window, you can also change the zoom level within the reading pane.
Options for the preview window in Outlook
In the options of the reading pane you can customize it even better to your personal needs:
- Mark messages displayed in the reading pane as read: By activating this, messages are marked as read as soon as they are displayed in the reading pane. You can also set a waiting time in seconds
- Mark item as read when new selection is made: This setting ensures that Outlook marks an email as read when you switch to the next one.
- Single-button reading with space bar: Pressing the space bar takes you to the next section of an e-mail or to the next message.
- Activate automatic full-screen view in portrait format: As soon as you display the Outlook window in portrait format on your screen, the reading pane automatically switches to a full-screen view.
- Always show preview of messages: If you switch to a new folder, Outlook will automatically display the latest message in the reading pane, otherwise you will be prompted to select an item to read.
