Gmail provides keyboard shortcuts to save time by allowing you to never take your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse.
To enable this feature, follow these steps
Gmail Settings–General tab–Keyboard Shortcuts–Keyboard Shortcuts On–Save Settings.
Following are the keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut Key | Definition | Action |
|---|---|---|
| c | Compose | Allows you to compose a new message. <Shift> + c allows you to compose a message in a new window. |
| / | Search | Puts your cursor in the search box. |
| k | Move to newer conversation | Opens or moves your cursor to a more recent conversation. You can hit <Enter> to expand a conversation. |
| j | Move to older conversation | Opens or moves your cursor to the next oldest conversation. You can hit <Enter> to expand a conversation. |
| n | Next message | Moves your cursor to the next message. You can hit <Enter> to expand or collapse a message. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’) |
| p | Previous message | Moves your cursor to the previous message. You can hit <Enter> to expand or collapse a message. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’) |
| o or <Enter> | Open | Opens your conversation. Also expands or collapses a message if you are in ‘Conversation View.’ |
| u | Return to conversation list | Refreshes your page and returns you to the inbox, or list of conversations. |
| e | Archive | Archive your conversation from any view. |
| m | Mute | Archives the conversation, and all future messages skip the Inbox unless sent or cc’d directly to you. |
| x | Select conversation | Automatically checks and selects a conversation so that you can archive, apply a label, or choose an action from the drop-down menu to apply to that conversation. |
| s | Star a message or conversation | Adds or removes a star to a message or conversation. Stars allow you to give a message or conversation a special status. |
| + | Mark as important | Helps Gmail learn what’s important to you by marking misclassified messages. (Specific to Priority Inbox) |
| – | Mark as unimportant | Helps Gmail learn what’s not important to you by marking misclassified messages. (Specific to Priority Inbox) |
| ! | Report spam | Marks a message as spam and removes it from your conversation list. |
| r | Reply | Replies to the message sender. <Shift> + r allows you to reply to a message in a new window. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’) |
| a | Reply all | Replies to all message recipients. <Shift> +aallows you to reply to all message recipients in a new window. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’) |
| f | Forward | Forwards a message. <Shift> + f allows you to forward a message in a new window. (Only applicable in ‘Conversation View.’) |
| <Esc> | Escape from input field | Removes the cursor from your current input field. |
| <Ctrl> + s | Save draft | Saves the current text as a draft when composing a message. Hold the <Ctrl> key while pressing s and make sure your cursor is in one of the text fields — either the composition pane, or any of the To, CC, BCC, or Subject fields — when using this shortcut. |
| # | Delete | Moves the conversation to Trash. |
| l | Label | Opens the Labels menu to label a conversation. |
| v | Move to | Moves the conversation from the inbox to a different label, Spam or Trash. |
| <Shift> + i | Mark as read | Marks your message as ‘read’ and skip to the next message. |
| <Shift> + u | Mark as unread | Marks your message as ‘unread’ so you can go back to it later. |
| [ | Archive and previous | Removes the current view’s label from your conversation and moves to the previous one. |
| ] | Archive and next | Removes the current view’s label from your conversation and moves to the next one. |
| z | Undo | Undoes your previous action, if possible (works for actions with an ‘undo’ link). |
| <Shift> + n | Update current conversation | Updates your current conversation when there are new messages. |
| q | Move cursor to chat search | Moves your cursor directly to the chat search box. |
| y | Remove from Current View* | Automatically removes the message or conversation from your current view.
From ‘Inbox,’ ‘y’ means Archive |
| . | Show more actions | Displays the ‘More Actions’ drop-down menu. |
| <Ctrl> + <Down arrow> | Opens options in Chat | <Ctrl> + <Down arrow> moves from edit field in your chat window to select the ‘Video and more’ menu Next, press <Tab> to select the emoticon menu Press <Enter> to open the selected menu |
| ? | Show keyboard shortcuts help | Displays the keyboard shortcuts help menu within any page you’re on. (Note: Typing ? will display the help menu even if you don’t have keyboard shortcuts enabled) |
| k | Move up a contact | Moves your cursor up in your contact list |
| j |
Move down a contact
|
Moves your cursor down in your contact list |
| o or <Enter> |
Open
|
Opens the contact with the cursor next to it. |
| u |
Return to contact list view
|
Refreshes your page and returns you to the contact list. |
| e |
Remove from Current Group
|
Removes selected contacts from the group currently being displayed. |
| x |
Select contact
|
Checks and selects a contact so that you can change group membership or choose an action from the drop-down menu to apply to the contact. |
| <Esc> |
Escape from input field
|
Removes the cursor from the current input |
| # |
Delete
|
Deletes a contact permanently |
| l |
Group membership
|
Opens the groups button to group contacts |
| z |
Undo
|
Reverses your previous action, if possible (works for actions with an ‘undo’ link) |
| . |
Show more actions
|
Opens the “More actions” drop-down menu. |
Combo-keys– Use the following combinations of keys to navigate through Gmail.
| Shortcut Key | Definition | Action |
|---|---|---|
| <Tab> then <Enter> | Send message | After composing your message, use this combination to send it automatically. (Supported in Internet Explorer and Firefox, on Windows.) |
| y then o | Archive and next | Archives your conversation and moves to the next one. |
| g then a | Go to ‘All Mail’ | Takes you to ‘All Mail,’ the storage site for all mail you’ve ever sent or received (and have not deleted). |
| g then s | Go to ‘Starred’ | Takes you to all conversations you have starred. |
| g then c | Go to ‘Contacts’ | Takes you to your Contacts list. |
| g then d | Go to ‘Drafts’ | Takes you to all drafts you have saved. |
| g then l | Go to ‘Label’ | Takes you to the search box with the “label:” operator filled in for you. |
| g then i | Go to ‘Inbox’ | Returns you to the inbox. |
| g then t | Go to ‘Sent Mail’ | Takes you to all mail you’ve sent. |
| * then a | Select all | Selects all mail. |
| * then n | Select none | Deselects all mail. |
| * then r | Select read | Selects all mail you’ve read. |
| * then u | Select unread | Selects all unread mail. |
| * then s | Select starred | Selects all starred mail. |
| * then t | Select unstarred | Selects all unstarred mail. |