If you’re an introvert like me, then you’ll hate the idea of hitting a DM you’ve been ignoring for hours, and now you can’t help but reply to them anyway. If this has happened to you ever before, maybe fate has taken you here so that you know how to handle a situation like this.
The answer is yes; it is possible for you to mark a DM unread on Instagram after reading it. However, only business accounts can do this, but you can work your way around with a private account as well by restricting the user.
For you to know how to mark a direct message unread on Instagram, it’s essential that you keep on reading this article, which is a guide to take you out of a dangerous trap.
How to Mark Instagram Direct Messages As Unread?
Instagram has newly introduced its feature of marking direct messages on its platform as unread to help business accounts on Instagram deal with their clients effectively.
Since its introduction, many people weren’t made aware of it; now, they are completely clueless about whether this feature was introduced by the official Instagram recently. Therefore, I’ll make sure to cover every aspect of this article.
Before I proceed, just a point of clarification: while you’ll be able to mark a conversation as unread, the person on the other side would see the messages as seen anyway. It’s just a feature for managing your business account and reading the conversation when you’re free.
You can, sadly, only unread DMs on Instagram using a business account and not a personal one. For business accounts, the Instagram DM page is divided into two distinct sections.
The first one is the primary section, where, well, by its name, you can suggest what is featured here. Anyway, people messaging from the list of this section are deemed to be important to you. Thus, you receive quick notifications of their messages, and you can close the conversation by quickly replying to them.
The second section, on the other hand, is the general section where the unimportant messages go. Instagram won’t notify you about them, and you won’t have to bother messaging them at the moment.
This filtration is a good move to manage the flooded inboxes of businesses run through Instagram.
However, getting back to our main question, you can mark a message as unread after reading it by:
- Tap the DM sign in the top right corner of Instagram once it is open.
- To mark a communication as unread, long press on it.
- You’ll see an array of options; choose ‘More.’
- The first option you’ll see after hitting ‘More’ will be ‘Mark as unread.’ Tap on it.
Voila! It’s done. A few changes you’ll be able to see would be that as you exit your inbox, you’ll see the red notification highlighted as well, as you’ll be able to see a blue dot beside the conversation you marked unread.
Is There A Way For Personal Instagram Accounts to Unread Messages?
Although there’s no way to unread conversations on a private account, you can work your way around to get a similar result. I’ll tell you what I mean.
With a personal Instagram account, you can unread messages by opening your Instagram profile> tapping on the three dots in the upper right corner of the screen> and tapping on “Restrict.”
The application of this feature is in a very different circumstance than the business account, in which you’re tired of a person messaging you like an ex, or you literally want to cut off with someone as soon as possible.
After you choose to restrict someone on Instagram, you can see their messages while marking them as unread.
You can give them a reply, and their messages would no longer exist in the inbox but in your message requests.
How to Keep My DM Organized?
If you’re a business runner or a person who’s bad at organizing things, it can be frustrating to see your DM section on Instagram unorganized, and you don’t know what to do.
Well, if that’s the case, you can follow these tips to keep your DMs organized:
| Ways | Method |
| Archive conversation | Simply archive a conversation to tidy your DM section, as that conversation will be removed until you decide to open that conversation. To avail of this feature, you have to swipe a conversation left and tap “Archive.” |
| Delete conversations | Delete useless conversations so you can declutter the mess, and it’s easier for you to notice other important messages. Open the conversation you want to delete; on the upper right side is an icon represented by the letter “i.” Click it and press “Delete chat.” |
| Mute notifications | If you don’t want to receive notifications about messages from a conversation, you can mute the conversation by long pressing on the conversation and tapping on Mute notifications. |
| Block user | This is an extreme measure that you can take against a user to manage your DMs. If you want to block someone, go to the conversion, tap on their username above, and tap ‘block. |
How Do Unread Messages on Instagram Web?
To unread messages on Instagram Web, open Instagram Web and log in to your account.
You’ll enter the main page, where you’ll see an icon for the DM section, click that. Choose a conversation, long press it, and click ‘Mark as unread.’
If You Mark A Message As Unread, Will It Show As Seen?
Yes, if you mark a message unread, they will know that you’ve seen their message. It’s because the unread feature is for business accounts to highlight messages that they want to focus on and answer later.
A conversation unread doesn’t mean that the sender will think that their message is unseen.
Conclusion
The following are the key ideas to remember from this article:
- Instagram has newly introduced its feature of marking direct messages on its platform as unread to help business accounts on Instagram deal with their clients effectively.
- Instagram inboxes for business accounts are different than personal accounts.
- The general section is where the unimportant messages go. Instagram won’t notify you about them, and you won’t have to bother messaging them at the moment.
- To unread a message: Open Instagram, tap on the DM icon in the top right corner of the screen.>Long press on the conversation you want to mark as unread.
- You’ll see an array of options; choose ‘More’>The first option after hitting ‘More’ will be ‘Mark as unread.’ Tap on it.
- With a personal Instagram account, you can unread messages by opening your Instagram profile> tapping on the three dots in the upper right corner of the screen> and tapping on “Restrict.”
- You can organize your IG DM by archiving, blocking, deleting, or muting a conversation.
- Archive a conversation to tidy your DM section, as that conversation will be removed until you decide to open the conversation. To avail of this feature, swipe a conversation left and tap “Archive.”
- If you think that a specific conversation is unimportant or you don’t want to see it again, you can delete it.
- When you unread a conversation, the other person still knows that you’ve seen their message, but you’ll reply to it later.