Gmail became one of the most popular email services due 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. Using mouse click to do everything can be very inefficient and learning how to use 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.
How to Enable Keyboard Shortcuts in Gmail?
You need to enable the shortcut feature in Gmail settings before using.
Click the “Gear” icon on the top right corner of the Gmail interface and select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.
Gmail Settings
Scroll down under the “General” tab to find the “Keyboard shortcuts” settings.
Click the radio button to turn on the keyboard shortcuts.
Enable 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.
Jump Through Gmail Folders
Shortcut
Purpose
G + A
Go to all mails (both sent and received)
G + D
Go to saved drafts
G + I
Takes you back to the inbox
G + T
Opens the list of Sent messages
G + S
Takes you to starred conversation
Switch between Sections and Features
Shortcut
Purpose
G + C
Takes you to the contact list
G + K
Opens the Tasks
G + L
Go to Labels
Ctrl + Alt + .
To switch to the next section
Ctrl + Alt + ,
To switch to the previous section
Search and Access
Shortcut
Purpose
/
Shifts focus to the Search Mail
Q
To search chat contacts
V
Opens the “Move to” menu
.
To open the “More Actions” menu
L
To open the “Label as” menu
Thread-list Navigation
Shortcut
Purpose
J
To scroll down the conversation list
K
To go up the conversation list
G + N
To go to the next page of the thread list
G + P
To move to the previous page of the list
`or ~
To switch between the Inbox sections (Primary, Social, …)
Selecting Conversations
Shortcut
Purpose
X
To check/uncheck a conversation on focus
* (Shift+8) + A
Selects all conversations
* (Shift+8) + U
To select unread messages
* (Shift+8) + R
Selects read messages
* (Shift+8) + N
To uncheck all the messages
* (Shift+8) + S
Selects all starred messages
* (Shift+8) + T
Selects all un-starred messages
Performing Actions on Conversation List
Shortcut
Purpose
S
To star or un-star the on focused 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
Shortcut
Purpose
= or +
To mark the conversation as important
– or _
Marks as not important
Shift + U
To mark as unread
Shift + I
To marks as read
Opening/ Closing a Conversation
Shortcut
Purpose
Enter or O
To open currently focussed conversation
Shift + Enter or O
Opens the current conversation in a new window
U
Closes the open conversation, goes back to and refreshes the Mailbox / label
