Keyboard shortcuts

Mail is built to be driven from the keyboard. Press ? anywhere in the app to see this list without leaving what you are doing.

How shortcuts behave #

• Shortcuts are single keys and work whenever the cursor is not in a text field. Click outside a field, or press Esc in the search field, to get them back.
• Most combinations with Ctrl, ⌘ or Alt are left to the browser. The exceptions are ⌘+Enter, which sends the message you are writing; ⌘+Shift+C, which opens its Cc and Bcc fields; ⌘+K, which searches everything, even from a text field; and Mail's Outlook keys in the tables below: ⌘+N to compose (only in the installed app, since a browser tab keeps it), and ⌘+R, ⌘+Shift+R and ⌘+Shift+F to reply, reply all and forward while a conversation is open. Use Ctrl instead of ⌘ on Windows and Linux.
• j and k move a cursor down and up the list — the row with the ring inside its edge, shown while you are on the keys. With a reading pane the conversation under it opens as you go; with the pane off the cursor walks the list on its own and Enter or o opens.
• Archive, delete and mark-unread apply to the selected conversations when there are any, and otherwise to the conversation that is open, or under the cursor when nothing is. Pin (s) always acts on the open conversation or the one under the cursor. In Trash, delete asks first and then deletes for good.
• g starts a two-key chord. Press the second key within 1.5 seconds; after that the g is forgotten. g and a letter goes to another app from anywhere; in Mail it also goes to a folder. There are no chords for Scheduled, Sent or Spam.
• z takes back the last action, and the one before that: the same Undo the line at the foot of the window offers, kept for as long as the window is open rather than for the few seconds the line shows.

In every app #

These work whichever app you are in. ? lists them with the keys of the app on screen.

Go to Chat

g h

Go to Mail, where you left it: the conversation or folder you were last reading.

g m

Go to Calendar

g k

Go to Boards

g b

Go to Notes

g n

Go to Contacts

g c

Go to Digest

g l

Go to Settings

g ,

Take back the last archive, delete, move, pin or mark in Mail, or a deleted note, contact or event — and the one before that, for as long as the window has been open.

z

Find mail, people, notes, boards and events in one place — or go anywhere, or make something new.

Ctrl K

Put the cursor in the search field of the app you are in.

/

Show the shortcut list for the app you are in.

?

In the other apps #

Write to the agent

c

Today

t

Next month

n

Previous month

p

New event

c

Close the event

Esc

New board

c

Close the card

Esc

New note

c

Quick thought

t

Close the note

Esc

New contact

c

Close the contact

Esc

New digest

c

Close the digest

Esc

Close the section

Esc

Moving around in Mail #

Move down the list. With a reading pane the conversation opens as you go; at the bottom, it stays.

j

Move up the list; from the first conversation, it stays there.

k

Open the conversation the cursor is on — the way in when the reading pane is off, or after an action has left nothing open.

Enter·o

Clear the selection; with nothing selected, close the open conversation.

Esc

Go to Inbox

g i

Go to Pinned

g s

Go to Drafts

g d

Go to Archive

g a

Go to Trash

g t

Put the cursor in the open conversation's ask box.

.

Acting on a conversation #

Select or deselect the conversation under the cursor (the open one, or the first in the list).

x

Select every conversation in the list, then archive or delete them in one go. Works once something is selected, or with no conversation open; with one open, Ctrl+A still selects the text you are reading.

Ctrl A

Archive the selected conversations, or the one open or under the cursor.

e

Move the selected conversations, or the one open or under the cursor, to Trash; in Trash, delete them permanently.

#·Delete

Mark the selected conversations, or the one open or under the cursor, unread.

u

Pin or unpin the conversation open or under the cursor.

s

Add the open conversation to a board.

b

Writing #

Compose

c·Ctrl N

Reply to the open conversation.

r·Ctrl R

Reply to everyone on the open conversation.

a·Ctrl Shift R

Forward the open conversation.

f·Ctrl Shift F

Send, from the reply box or the composer.

Ctrl Enter

In the composer: close it, keeping the draft.

Esc

In the ask box: ask (Shift+Enter for a new line)

Enter

In a recipient field: move through the contact suggestions

↓ ↑

In a recipient field: pick the highlighted contact

Enter·Tab

In the list, with a mouse #

Select every conversation from the last one you picked to this one

Shift + click

Add this conversation to the selection without opening it

⌘ + click·Ctrl + click

In a note #

In a list, a checklist or a quote: carry it on. On an empty item: end it

Enter

On a list item: indent it, or pull it back out. Anywhere else Tab moves the focus, as it should

Tab·Shift + Tab

At the start of a list item's text: take the marker off

Backspace

Bold, italic, code around the selection

⌘ + B·⌘ + I·⌘ + E

Numbered list, bulleted list, to-do list

⌘ + Shift + 7·8·9

Undo — including anything the assistant put in

⌘ + Z

On a board #

Open Search cards

/

Close the card panel; in a name you are editing, cancel

Esc

In a new card or column: add it (Shift+Enter for a new line in a card title)

Enter

Show the shortcut list

?