Preview Items Without Opening Them

In the Preview pane, you can read the content of an item, open attachments, follow a hyperlink, and respond to meeting requests.

To preview items without opening them, do either of the following.

Preview the First Three Lines of Messages in the Main Outlook Window

Step

Mouse actions

Keyboard actions

On the menu bar:

Select View.
Select AutoPreview.

Note: To preview the first three lines of unread messages only, on the View menu, point to Current View, and then select Customize Current View. Select Other Settings, and then select Preview unread items.

On the menu bar:

Open the View menu by pressing ALT+V.
Select AutoPreview by pressing P.

Note: To preview the first three lines of unread messages only, on the View menu (ALT+V), select Current View (V), and then select Customize Current View (C). Select Other Settings (O), and then select Preview unread items (U).

Preview the Content of an Item in the Preview Pane

Step

Mouse actions

Keyboard actions

On the menu bar:

Select View.
Select Preview Pane.

To hide the preview pane, repeat this step.

Note: When you're viewing a message in the preview pane, you can view e-mail properties about a name in the From, To, or Cc fields by double-clicking it.

On the menu bar:

Open the View menu by pressing ALT+V.
Select Preview Pane by pressing N.

To hide the preview pane, repeat this step.