I’m am a Google Reader Convert and fan. I love the look and feel and speed and accessibility of Google Reader. I just does the things I need a feed reader to do.
But, there is one thing that I love about Bloglines that I could never figure out how to do in Google Reader. When you scroll through posts in Google Reader, it automatically marks them read. I like that.
I could not figure out how to mark them unread which I frequently used to do with Bloglines.
Like a lot of these kinds of issues, it was my problem. I never took the time to figure it out even though it was right there in front of me. At the bottom of each post, right smack dab in the middle, there is a “Mark as read” check box. If it has been checked it means you have read the post. If you uncheck it, it means you have not.
I don’t know how I want several months without noticing that. So, once again, Google Reader does exactly what I need a feed reader to do. I still like Bloglines and have no issues with it, but the Google Reader just feels a little easier and more convenient for me.
Tags: Google Reader, Bloglines, Mark post as unread
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For some reason that little “Mark as read” checkbox doesn’t always appear when you expand an item (it appears for some items but doesn’t for others)!
Does anybody know how to mark an item as unread when this doesn’t appear (or at least how to make it appear)?
Even the keyboard shortcut (m) doesn’t work.
I never use the list view. I always stay in expanded mode. I did some testing and couldn’t recreate the problem and couldn’t find anything in google referencing it. I wonder if it is a browser type of thing.
If anybody finds out what causes that, please let me know.
I had the same problem. I don’t think its a browser problem.
Thanks for the how-to. I found your site by searching on Google for how to mark a Google Reader item as unread.
The fact that you’re not the only one who didn’t immediately figure this out tells me it’s Google’s problem, not ours.
The check box is not very noticeable. Google should have the “Mark as read” link change to “Mark as unread” when an item has been read. I think that would be much more obvious and intuitive, which is what Google’s all about.
I’ve been asking Google for a feature to switch unread items back to read for a long time. No effect. They just don’t seem to care. Too busy at the bank, I suppose.
Aside from the usability issue (click Mark As Read to mark as UNREAD–that’s as silly as click Start to shutdown!), I do not see this link anyway when items are expanded. Plus, is there no way to mark multiple items as unread? Google has the cash… why don’t they hire a usability team?
The “Mark as read” missing link happens if there is no new articles in the particular “tag”.
Once there is a new article, you will see the “mark as read” link
(I wish google would change this.)
I found a workaround. It’s a bit convulted but it works. Basically, you want to subscribe to a separate feed aggregator service like Feedburner to get one standardized URL for feed distribution. Once you have that URL, plug it into your blog or site feed input area and link to it on your own blog. When others subscribe to it, they’ll get the Mark as Read checkbox more reliably since the feed URL is consolidated down to one service.
I used this method to subscribe to my own blog in order to compare readership, subscription, and updating statistics.
I personally like list view better because I subscribe to quite a number of feeds and typically only like a handful of posts from each feed each day. List view lets me skim through the headlines much faster and it’s a big help when I get about 1000 new posts per day.
My one wish for list mode is a link on each item for “mark item as read” or a checkbox to select items that I don’t want to read and a button “mark checked items as read”.
These keyboard shortcuts have helped me navigate and mark items read and unread quicker.
Keyboard Shortcuts for Google Reader.
http://www.google.com/help/reader/faq.html#shortcuts