diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/components/topics.css b/app/assets/stylesheets/components/topics.css
index 0d61a4b..d0daad3 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/components/topics.css
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/components/topics.css
@@ -283,6 +283,14 @@ a.topic-icon {
   color: var(--color-text-muted);
 }
 
+.topics-table.unread-bold-enabled .topic-link {
+  font-weight: var(--font-weight-normal);
+}
+
+.topics-table.unread-bold-enabled .topic-row.topic-unread .topic-link {
+  font-weight: var(--font-weight-bold);
+}
+
 .topic-icon-hover {
   display: none;
   position: absolute;
diff --git a/app/controllers/settings/preferences_controller.rb b/app/controllers/settings/preferences_controller.rb
index 2050d7d..1c07e9c 100644
--- a/app/controllers/settings/preferences_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/settings/preferences_controller.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def update
     private
 
     def preferences_params
-      params.require(:user).permit(:mention_restriction)
+      params.require(:user).permit(:mention_restriction, :bold_unread_threads)
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/app/views/settings/profiles/show.html.slim b/app/views/settings/profiles/show.html.slim
index 6bdc939..0dd343a 100644
--- a/app/views/settings/profiles/show.html.slim
+++ b/app/views/settings/profiles/show.html.slim
@@ -28,3 +28,21 @@
               strong Teammates only
               span.radio-description Only users who share a team with you can @mention you
       = f.submit "Save", class: "button-primary"
+
+  .settings-section
+    h2 Thread Overview
+    p.settings-hint Choose how unread threads are emphasized in topic lists.
+    = form_with model: current_user, url: settings_preferences_path, method: :patch, local: true do |f|
+      .form-group
+        .radio-group
+          label
+            = f.radio_button :bold_unread_threads, false
+            span.radio-text
+              strong Colored marker only
+              span.radio-description Use the existing left-side status marker
+          label
+            = f.radio_button :bold_unread_threads, true
+            span.radio-text
+              strong Bold unread titles
+              span.radio-description Unread threads appear in bold like an email inbox
+      = f.submit "Save", class: "button-primary"
diff --git a/app/views/topics/_topic_row_user.html.slim b/app/views/topics/_topic_row_user.html.slim
index 30e3338..ae9c0b8 100644
--- a/app/views/topics/_topic_row_user.html.slim
+++ b/app/views/topics/_topic_row_user.html.slim
@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@
 - tp_data = topic_participants_map[topic.id] || {}
 - top_participants = tp_data[:top] || []
 - contributor_participants = tp_data[:contributors] || []
+- status = (state[:status] || "new").to_s
+- unread_status = %w[new reading aware].include?(status)
 
-tr id=dom_id(topic) class="topic-row topic-#{state[:status] || 'new'}" data-topic-id=topic.id data-last-message-id=topic.last_message_id
+tr id=dom_id(topic) class=["topic-row", "topic-#{status}", ("topic-unread" if unread_status)].compact.join(" ") data-topic-id=topic.id data-last-message-id=topic.last_message_id
   = render partial: "topics/status_cell", locals: { topic: topic, state: state, note_count: note_count, team_readers: team_readers, star_data: star_data }
   td.topic-activity data-label="Activity"
     - replies_count = [topic.message_count - 1, 0].max
diff --git a/app/views/topics/index.html.slim b/app/views/topics/index.html.slim
index aa4ba39..7eb41e2 100644
--- a/app/views/topics/index.html.slim
+++ b/app/views/topics/index.html.slim
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
       span Filtering by ##{@active_note_tag}
       = link_to "Clear", topics_path, class: "clear-tag-filter"
 
-  .topics-table
+  .topics-table class=("unread-bold-enabled" if current_user&.bold_unread_threads?)
     table
       thead
         tr
diff --git a/app/views/topics/search.html.slim b/app/views/topics/search.html.slim
index 277d85f..0f783b8 100644
--- a/app/views/topics/search.html.slim
+++ b/app/views/topics/search.html.slim
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     - if user_signed_in?
       #user-state-requests
         = turbo_frame_tag "user-state-root", src: user_state_frame_topics_path(topic_ids: @topics.map(&:id), format: :turbo_stream), loading: :eager
-    .topics-table
+    .topics-table class=("unread-bold-enabled" if current_user&.bold_unread_threads?)
       table
         thead
           tr
diff --git a/db/migrate/20260128120000_add_bold_unread_threads_to_users.rb b/db/migrate/20260128120000_add_bold_unread_threads_to_users.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3e5c82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20260128120000_add_bold_unread_threads_to_users.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class AddBoldUnreadThreadsToUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration[8.0]
+  def change
+    add_column :users, :bold_unread_threads, :boolean, default: false, null: false
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index 5c8cda2..b3deba9 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema[8.0].define(version: 2026_01_20_184149) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema[8.0].define(version: 2026_01_28_120000) do
   # These are extensions that must be enabled in order to support this database
   enable_extension "pg_catalog.plpgsql"
   enable_extension "pg_stat_statements"
@@ -645,6 +645,7 @@
     t.datetime "deleted_at"
     t.bigint "person_id", null: false
     t.enum "mention_restriction", default: "anyone", null: false, enum_type: "user_mention_restriction"
+    t.boolean "bold_unread_threads", default: false, null: false
     t.index ["deleted_at"], name: "index_users_on_deleted_at"
     t.index ["person_id"], name: "index_users_on_person_id"
     t.index ["username"], name: "index_users_on_username", unique: true