Mark emails as read or unread in Mail on Mac
Email messages you haven’t read yet have a blue dot or star (for messages from VIPs) next to them. When you select a message to read it, the dot or star disappears. If you want, you can manually mark messages as read or unread.
In the Mail app on your Mac, do any of the following:
Mark one message in the message list: Select the message, swipe right with two fingers on the trackpad, then click Unread or Read.
Mark multiple messages in the message list: Select one or more messages, then choose Message > Mark as Unread or Message > Mark as Read.
Mark all unread messages in a mailbox as read: Control-click the mailbox in the Mail sidebar, then choose Mark All Messages As Read.