Gmail has grown to become one of the most popular email service owing to its numerous features and integration with other Google products and services. One of these features is the host of keyboard shortcuts that are specific to Gmail.
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Using mouse click to do everything can be very inefficient so learning how to use the Gmail keyboard shortcuts saves you time, thus improving your productivity. Most of these Gmail shortcuts involve a single key, making them easy to remember and use than multiple key combinations. You only need to enable the shortcut feature in Gmail settings.
How to Enable Keyboard Shortcuts in Gmail?
- Click the ‘gear’ icon on the top right corner of the Gmail interface and select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.
- Scroll down under the “General” tab to find the “Keyboard shortcuts” settings.
- Click the radio button to turn on the keyboard shortcuts.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Save Changes” button. Now you are ready to start with the keyboard shortcuts in Gmail. Below, we have prepared a list of the shortcut keys you can use to perform a range of tasks without any mouse click.
Productive Keyboard Shortcuts for Gmail
There are shortcut keys for almost every task you need to do in Gmail including navigation, organizing your emails, reading and replying your emails among others.
Quick Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts in Gmail
| Description | Shortcut Key(s) | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Jump through Gmail Folders | G + Letter | A – Go to all mails (both sent and received) D – Go to saved drafts I – takes you back to the inbox T- Opens the list of Sent messages S – takes you to starred conversation |
| Switch between Sections and Features | G + Letter | C – Takes you to the contact list K – Opens the Tasks L – go to Labels |
| Ctrl + Alt + . | To switch to the next section ((Inbox/ Calendar/ Keep and Tasks Sidebar) | |
| Ctrl + Alt + , | To switch to the previous section (Inbox/ Calendar/ Keep and Tasks Sidebar) | |
| Search Shortcut keys | / | Shifts focus to the Search Mail |
| Q | To search chat contacts | |
| Shortcuts to Access Gmail | V | Opens the “Move to” menu |
| . | To open the “More Actions” menu | |
| L | To open the “Label as” menu |
Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating/ Managing the Conversation Lists (Thread list)
| Description | Shortcut Key(s) | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Shortcuts for Thread-list Navigation | J/K | J – to scroll down the conversation list K – to go up the conversation list |
| G + N/P | N – to go to the next page of the thread list P – to move to the previous page of the list |
|
| `/ ~ | To switch between the Inbox sections (Primary, Social, …) | |
| Shortcuts for Selecting Conversations | X | To check/uncheck a conversation on focus |
| * (Shift+8) + Letter | A – selects all conversations U – to select unread messages R – selects read messages N – to uncheck all the messages S – selects all starred messages T – selects all un-starred messages |
|
| Performing Actions on Conversation List | S | To star/ un-star the on focus conversation |
| M | Mute selected conversation(s) | |
| E | Archives the conversation | |
| ! (Shift + 1) | To report the selected message as spam | |
| Y | To remove the label (in label view) or archive the conversation in the inbox view. | |
| Shift + T | Creates a task for the conversation | |
| b | To snooze a conversation | |
| # | To delete the selected message (moving to Trash) | |
| Marking Selected Conversation | !ERROR! B15 -> Formula Error: Unexpected operator '/' | To mark the conversation as important |
| -/_ | Marks as not important | |
| Shift + Letter | U – to mark as unread I – to marks as read |
Keyboard Shortcuts When Reading or Sending E-mails
| Description | Shortcut Key(s) | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Shortcuts for Opening/ Closing a Conversation | Enter or O keys | To open currently focussed conversation |
| Shift + Enter/ O | Opens the current conversation in a new window | |
| U | Closes the open conversation, goes back to and refreshes the Mailbox/ label | |
| Reading Messages in a Conversation | N/ P | Moves to the Next/ Previous message |
| Shift + N | To refresh the conversation | |
| ;/ : | Expand/ Collapse the entire conversation | |
| Shortcuts keys for Reply/ Forward | R/ A | R – reply to the sender A – reply to all |
| Shift + R/A | Starts your reply in a new browser window | |
| F | Forward the conversation | |
| Shift + F | Forward conversation in a new window | |
| Composing and Sending Message | C | To compose a new message |
| D | Compose in a new tab | |
| Shift + C | Compose in new window | |
| Ctrl + ./, | Move to next/previous compose | |
| Ctrl + Shift + C | Shift to Cc recipient field | |
| Ctrl + Shift + B | To move to the Bcc recipients field | |
| Ctrl + Enter | To send the email | |
| Esc | Save message to draft and exit compose | |
| Ctrl + Shift + D | Discard draft and close compose | |
| Text Formatting | Ctrl + Shift + L/E/R | To align text to Left/ Centre/ Right |
| Ctrl + B/I/U | To Bold/ Italics/ Underline text | |
| Ctrl + [ | Indent less | |
| Ctrl + ] | Indent more | |
| Ctrl +Shift + -/+ | Decrease/ Increase the font size | |
| Ctrl + Shift + 7/8 | To add number/ bullet list | |
| Ctrl + / | To remove formatting |
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