Go to your Thunderbird Settings.

In the Settings tab, select General on the left.

Scroll down to the Reading & Display section.

Uncheck the box next to "Automatically mark messages as read."

Now, with that setting unchecked, a message will never be marked as read just by being selected in the list or viewed in the split pane. It will remain bold and unread until you manually change its status.

Thanks but I've tried that - just before I came here and posted my request. The results of checking that box or leaving it unchecked don't produce the results I was looking for. The message should show it was read after clicking on it to open it full pane for reading. Seeing it still in bold as if it hasn't been read after reading makes no sense.

Since the basic settings haven't worked for you, here are one more advanced solution that are more likely to achieve your desired workflow.

You can try use an Add-on Mark Read on Tab Open

There are options, but you need to understand that only you know when you have read an email.

I can't find a setting that will allow marking messages as read only after I read them. By that I mean only after I click on the message to open it in its own tab.

You seem to be very specific about what term as opened - but do you have the 'Message Pane enabled ? If yes then when you select an email in the Message List and it displays in Message Pane, that means you have opened the email - it is not a preview. If you disable the Message Pane then you can select (single left click or use arrow keys to ) any email in list and nothing alters as you have not opened it. That would mean using a double click to open email in a new tab at which point email is opened.

So in Settings > General scroll down to 'REading and Display'

If you have enabled 'Message Pane then this setting will auto mark as read upon opening in Message Pane. If you have disabled the Message Pane then the following will auto mark as read when you double click to open in a new tab.

• Select 'Automatically mark messages as read'
• select 'Immediately upon display'

OR you can choose to delay and mark as read after x seconds.

Open messages in :

• select 'A new tab'
• This means a double click will open in a new tab.

If you insist on wanting to use the Message Pane then you might prefer to opt for the 'delay' option, but obviously you would then only have x number of seconds before selecting another else it will get marked as read.

Otherwise you would need to not select 'Automatically mark messages as read' This means it's now up to you to mark each manually as read.

There are various methods to do this:

• In Message List click on the small green dot in the 'sort by read status' column header.
• Right click on message in list and click on the top left 'mark as read' icon
• You can also use the 'Unified Toolbar' - you can put a 'Mark' button on toolbar and use it instead after selecting an email.
• Use the Menu Bar' toolbar : Message > Mark > As Read
• Or keyboard : 'Alt'+'M' then 'K' then 'R'
• In opened email - Message Header - More > Mark as REad
• In opened email - click on the shortcut key 'M' and it will either mark as read or unread depending upon current status. This is probably one of the quickest methods.

As you can see there are many options and it's up to you to choose which suits you.

George Kitsoukakis Chosen Solution Since the basic settings haven't worked for you, here are one more advanced solution that are more likely to achieve your desired workflow.

You can try use an Add-on Mark Read on Tab Open

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I can't believe this isn't a built-in feature of TB. It does exactly what I was hoping to find somewhere in settings. It marks the message as read when I open the message in a tab. That's as it should be. It doesn't make any sense to leave a message appear as unread afterwards.

Thank you VERY much George for alerting me to this add-on. I had tried searching for a solution but this never came up.

Wow. Thanks George. I had troubles with this, also. I think I was predisposed to misunderstanding because Microsoft mail applications use a "Preview Pane" that displays the message but does not mark it as "read" until we actually "open" the message.

Mozilla Thunderbird (TB) "Message Pane" looks a lot like Microsoft (M$) "Preview Pane" and I just presumed all coded actions would be the same . My fault. I should have not presumed that to be so. Different app. Different coders. Different behavior.

I get it now. Parts of TB may look the same as M$ but that does not mean it all works the same. Thanks to you, I now know that all I have to do is turn off "Message Pane" because I didn't use it anyway. With "Message Pane" deactivated, I can select messages in the list for moving or deleting or junking but selecting them in advance of those actions won't mark them as opened.

Nice !