I use Outlook daily and I do not want the preview pane when I look at my emails. Its easy enough to change the view by going to the view tab and setting the reading pane off, however when you have a fully structured inbox with various folders the reading pane off setting does not propagate to all folders, so here is a tip on how to change this. Do remember that you can change to any view and propagate the view to all folders using this way.
In the Ribbon on the View tab is where it all happens. Once you have changed the layout by using the option in the layout group of the view tab you are ready to proceed with the propagation to all folders and any other mailboxes.
Select the dropdown next to the Change view and click the Apply Current View to Other mail Folders this should open up the selection box. 
In the Apply View selection, check the boxes where you want to propagate the view to and then at the bottom of the view you will see another checkbox for the Apply the View to Subfolders.