Marking Facebook Messages as Unread: A Comprehensive Guide

Marking a Facebook message as unread can be particularly useful for organizing your inbox, reminding yourself of important messages, or simply maintaining control over your communication flow. This guide will walk you through the different ways to mark a message as unread on both the Facebook website and the Facebook Messenger app.

Marking a Message as Unread on Facebook Messenger App

To mark a message as unread on Facebook Messenger, follow these steps:

Open Messenger: Launch the Facebook Messenger app on your device or go to the Messenger website. This will ensure you have the latest updates and features.

Locate the Conversation: Find the conversation that you want to mark as unread. This can be done by scanning through your list of conversations or by searching for a specific contact.

Long-Press or Right-Click: On a mobile device, you can long-press the conversation to bring up the context menu. On a desktop, right-click on the conversation to achieve the same effect. This action will display a menu from which you can select the 'Mark as unread' option.

Select Mark as Unread: From the menu that appears, choose the option that says 'Mark as unread' to change the message status back to unread. This will allow you to revisit the conversation later.

Note that this feature may not be available in all versions of Messenger, so ensure your app is updated to the latest version.

Alternative Method on Facebook Website

Alternatively, you can find the 'Mark as unread' option in the options menu at the upper corner:

Find the Message: Click on the message you want to mark as unread. You should see a small dot, which is typically a small circle or a dot that appears under the date.

Mark as Unread: Click on the small dot to mark the message as unread. This action will update the status of the message to unread, making it visible in your unread messages list.

This method works similarly when using the Messenger app on a computer. Follow the same steps, but ensure the information panel is active which can be checked by clicking the 'i' icon.

Additional Methods and Notes

For a more detailed guide, follow these additional steps:

1. Through the Facebook Website on a Computer

Go on Facebook: Navigate to the Facebook website.

Click on the Messages Icon: Locate and click on the Messages icon to open your message inbox.

Locate the Message: Find the message you want to mark as unread. Look for the small circle below the date in the thread.

Hover Over the Circle: When you hover over the circle, a hint will appear suggesting that you can 'Mark as unread.'

Click on 'Mark as Unread': Click on the circle to mark the message as unread. The message will be highlighted, similar to when you have a new unread message.

2. Through the Messenger Website on a Computer

Go to the Messenger Website: Visit the Messenger website.

Select the Thread: Choose the thread you wish to mark as unread. Ensure that the information panel is active, as indicated by the 'i' icon turning blue/highlighted.

Open the Panel: Click on the 'i' icon to open the information panel on the right side of the page.

Click on the Gear Icon: In the information panel, click on the gear icon to find the 'Mark as unread' option.

3. Through the Messenger App on a Computer

Open the Messenger App: Go to the main view where all conversation threads are shown as a list.

Select the Conversation: Hold and click on the conversation you wish to mark as unread.

Select 'Mark as Unread': Tap on the 'Mark as unread' option from the context menu.

Important Notes

It's important to note that the 'unread' status update may not be instantaneous. The message's state, including 'delivered' and 'seen' statuses, is 'cached' on the devices of everyone involved in the conversation. Therefore, it may take some time before the status is updated on everyone's device. Typically, the refresh happens after someone has closed the app and reopens it at a later time, which triggers a chain of events, including the fetching of the updated conversation status.

There were some intentional bugs in Facebook previously where the 'true' message status could be displayed regardless of whether you later manually set them as 'unread,' especially when accessed through the mobile Facebook website interface. However, these issues are likely addressed in the current site version.

If 'unreading' a message is a crucial task, you might want to consider actually not reading the message in the first place to avoid any potential delays in updating the 'unread' status on everyone's device.