Preview Pane in Outlook
and Outlook Express
Teresa Pfeiff

Many people use the preview panes in Outlook and Outlook Express in order to view their e-mail quickly. This feature can be your best friend and worst enemy. Outlook and Outlook Express are defaulted to "open" the message when it is highlighted for more than 5 seconds when using the preview pane. Many users end up "opening" a message from a user they don't know accidentally because of the preview pane, thus causing unexpected ramifications such as viruses or spam.

When using the preview pane you are essentially using Internet Explorer to view the e-mail. Microsoft is constantly coming out with security patches for Internet Explorer, so if your computer doesn't have all the current Windows updates then it is vulnerable for hackers to spread their spam and viruses via e-mail that is "popped" open by preview panels.

To turn off the preview pane in Outlook Express:

1. Click View
2. Click Layout
3. Un-check the "Show preview pane" box near the bottom of the "Window Layout Properties" box.



4. Click Apply and OK.

To Turn off the preview pane in Outlook:

1. Click View
2. Put mouse on top of "Reading Pane" and wait for the sub-menu to appear.
3. On the sub-menu click "Off."