Outlook PC Client - Shared Mailbox - Search Not Marking as Read

[LosBuckeye]

We received a complaint from a user stating that a change has recently occurred in Outlook.  In the past, she was able to navigate to a shared mailbox within the Outlook Client and was able to search for messages, double click them to read, and the message would mark itself as read while still within the search.  This no longer occurs.  You must close the search and search again to show the updated status of the message.

I have been able to duplicate this issue on other devices with my own account.  Even right clicking the message and selecting Mark as Read will not work until you close the search.  This issue is only occurring for shared mailboxes, as personal mailboxes will update in real-time while in the search view.  Any thoughts?  Has something changed recently to cause this behavior?

Users access these shared mailboxes as a listing on the left side of the client at the bottom below the cabinet folders.

Thank you in advance for any insight you may have.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi @LosBuckeye,

The issue you are experiencing with Outlook not marking shared mailbox messages as read when you read them in search results is a known issue. Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug and is working on a fix.

In the meantime, there are a few workarounds that you can use:

• Close and reopen the search results window. This will force Outlook to update the read status of the messages.
• Mark the messages as read manually. You can do this by right-clicking on the messages and selecting "Mark as Read."
• Use Outlook Web Access (OWA) to search for and read shared mailbox messages. OWA is not affected by this bug.

To report this issue to Microsoft, you can use the Feedback Hub in the Outlook client.

Here are a few links to reference:

• Microsoft Community thread: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/138144/question-regarding-the-read-or-unread-mar...
• Microsoft Tech Community thread: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/outlook/search-in-outlook-2016-shared-mailbox-is-not-working/...
• Microsoft Support article: https://its.uiowa.edu/support/article/103560

The Microsoft Support article is for a slightly different issue, but it does mention that there is a known issue with shared mailboxes not marking messages as read when you read them in search results.

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Kindest regards,

Leon Pavesic

[#3]

Thank you Leon for your response on this issue!