diff --git a/iarchiver/mail_conn.py b/iarchiver/mail_conn.py
index 3acba1d..e4fa83c 100644
--- a/iarchiver/mail_conn.py
+++ b/iarchiver/mail_conn.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class MailConnection:
 
     def __fetch_email(self, i):
         try:
-            result, data = self.mail.uid('fetch', str(i), '(BODY[])')  # fetch the raw email
+            result, data = self.mail.uid('fetch', str(i), '(BODY.PEEK[])')  # fetch the email without marking it as read
             if data[0] is None:
                 return
             raw_email_bytes = data[0][1]