Show or hide the preview pane (Reading Pane) in Windows Mail

You can read your emails in several different ways in Windows Mail: the easiest way is to use the preview pane (typically called "reading pane" in other email programs). The preview pane, as we'll call it to use Windows Mail's terminology, allows you to see the content of the selected email message without actually having to open it. Like in most other email clients, you can move the reading pane to the bottom of the screen, or align it to the right; either way, this portion of the screen will be divided between your emails, and the content of your emails (email body). The alternative is to hide the preview pane altogether - in that case, the only way to read an email is to double-click on it to open it in a new email window. While this seems a bit impractical, we've seen quite a few people who prefer to work with the reading pane turned off (hidden).

Show or hide the preview pane in Windows Mail

Let's start this tutorial by showing you how to turn on or off the preview pane:

• Click on the View menu and choose a "Layout"
• Windows Mail will open the Window Layout Properties dialog, which lets you show or hide quite a few interface elements.
• Skip the top section of the Layout tab (the only tab in this dialog), and look at the bottom section labeled "Preview Pane"
• The first checkbox reads "Show preview pane" - to hide the preview pane, uncheck that checkbox (check it / leave it checked to show the preview pane).
• The remaining settings are only available if you are currently showing the preview pane
• You can choose show the preview pane "Below messages": this means that Windows Mail will display that reading pane at the bottom of the window, email listing on top, and the selected message's content showing below.
• Alternatively, you can choose to show the preview pane "Beside messages" - choosing this option has become increasingly popular with the advent of widescreen monitors that offer maximum horizontal screen real estate. If you choose to use a vertical Reading Pane, Windows Mail will display the full email listing of the current folder as a column on the left, and the selected email's content on the right, vertically.
• We recommend that you try both options - one is not better than the other, this is purely a question of personal preference, also influenced by the type of monitor you are using (and at which screen resolution).
• The final "Show preview pane header" checkbox determines whether Windows Mail should show basic email headers or not above the selected email's content: this includes the sender of the email, the recipient, and the subject line. While it is often redundant (because it is displayed in the email listing itself) it can be quite practical to have it showing at the top of the email content.
• Once you have customized your preview pane preferences, click on the "OK" button to return to Windows Mail. You can change these settings as often as you want, until you find the configuration you like most.

And this covers all the Reading Pane / preview pane settings available in Windows Mail!

Another manual option you can tweak is the size of your email listing vs. the size of the preview pane: just drag the top border of the preview pane up or down (in the case of a horizontal preview pane), or left-right (vertical preview pane) to resize it!