Anyone who has a new tablet knows how hard it can be to only use touch in Outlook (especially on a high-res screen) - I'm always opening the on-screen keyboard, even though it takes up half the screen. (I want the small onscreen keyboard I had on my old Tablet PC.)
What if you only had a keyboard? Could you get anything done?
I started thinking about this when a guy told me creates new messages by opening sent messages and replacing the contents because his new mail button was missing. I don't know about you, but I think the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+Shift+M would be faster. Ctrl+N will also open a new message form when you are viewing a Mail folder, but I like the shortcut that works anywhere in Outlook - it's easier to remember when I use it all the time.
Ctrl+N will get you a New item form in any folder. If you’re in a mail folder, Ctrl+N will open a new message form; if you are in the calendar, you'll get a new appointment form.
Use Ctrl+Shift+M for new Mail when you are working in any folder, Ctrl+Shift+A for new Appointment, Ctrl+Shift+C for new Contact, or Ctrl+Shift+N for Note. Notice the pattern? Tasks and Meetings break the pattern as you’ll use Ctrl+Shift+K for a new task and Ctrl+Shift+Q for a new meeting, but appointments can be turned into meetings easy enough.
To Save the item you are working on, press Ctrl+S (this is Save in all Windows applications). Use Alt+S to Send an email, meeting or task request. Alt+S will Save and Close contacts, appointments, and tasks (since they can't be sent.)
Need to Reply to a message? Use Ctrl+R, or Ctrl+Shift+R to Reply All. Forward is Ctrl+F. More patterns.
Need to go to the Inbox? Use Ctrl+Shift+I. The Outbox is Ctrl+Shift+O. It would be nice if we had shortcuts for Junk Email, Drafts and Sent Items…
Copy, Cut, Paste and Select All work in most (or all) Windows programs. Those shortcuts are Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V and Ctrl+A. If you need to Print, use Ctrl+P. Paste breaks the pattern, but V is more convenient to use after Ctrl+C or X.
Want to initiate a send and receive? Use F9 instead of the Send & Receive button. Use Ctrl+Alt+S to open the Send & Receive Settings dialog.
If you are looking at your day, week or monthly calendar, Alt+0 thru 9 (or, 1 through 0) displays the next 1 to 10 days. Ctrl+Alt+1 through 5 switches from a day (1) to work week (2) to week (3) to month (4) then schedule view (5).
Ctrl+1 jumps to the Mail module, while Calendar is Ctrl+2, Contacts are Ctrl+3. Ctrl+6 is the Folder List. Ctrl+4, 5, 7, and 8 (9 if you use BCM) cover the rest of the navigation pane modules. Use Ctrl+Y to open the folder picker.
Alt+F4 will close the current window. This is a Windows shortcut and works in most programs; it will also bring up the Shutdown window, which is handy in Windows 8.
Outlook Shortcuts
Outlook's main window | Reading messages | Working with folder and list views
When editing items | Appointment and Meeting shortcuts | Calendar shortcuts | Task shortcuts
Common Windows shortcuts
Outlook's main window:
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Open Mail module in Navigation pane | Ctrl+ 1 |
| Open Calendar module | Ctrl+ 2 |
| Open Contacts module | Ctrl+ 3 |
| Open Tasks Module | Ctrl+ 4 |
| Open Notes Module | Ctrl+ 5 |
| Open Folder list | Ctrl+ 6 |
| Open Shortcuts Module | Ctrl+ 7 |
| Open Journal module | Ctrl+ 8 |
| Open Folder picker dialog | Ctrl+ Y |
| Rotate Navigation pane on, off, minimized | Alt+F1 |
| Rotate To-Do bar on, off, minimized | Alt+F2 |
| Switch to Inbox | Ctrl+Shift+ I |
| Switch to Outbox | Ctrl+Shift+ O |
| Open the Address Book | Ctrl+Shift+ B |
| Open Send and Receive Settings dialog | Ctrl+Alt+ S |
| Open Advanced find dialog | Ctrl+Shift+ F |
| Add a Quick Flag or mark completed. | Insert |
| Reply to a message | Ctrl+ R |
| Reply All to a message | Ctrl+Shift+ R |
| Forward | Ctrl+ F |
| Forward as attachment (Outlook 2007 and up) | Ctrl+Alt+ F |
| Mark a message as read | Ctrl+ Q |
| Mark message as unread | Ctrl+ U |
| Advance through message in reading pane, then move to next message. (Single key reading with space bar can be disabled in Options.) | Spacebar |
| Reverse when reading a message in reading pane using Single key reading. | Shift+Spacebar |
| Delete an item | Ctrl+ D or Del |
| Create a new item of the current folder type | Ctrl+ N |
| Create a new Appointment (from any Outlook folder) | Ctrl+Shift+ A |
| Create a new Contact (from any Outlook folder) | Ctrl+Shift+ C |
| Create a new Task (from any Outlook folder) | Ctrl+Shift+ K |
| Create a new Message (from any Outlook folder) | Ctrl+Shift+ M |
| Create a new folder | Ctrl+Shift+ E |
| Create a new journal entry (Removed from Outlook 2013) | Ctrl+Shift+ J |
| Create a new Contact Group (distribution list) | Ctrl+Shift+ L |
| Create a new meeting request | Ctrl+Shift+ Q |
| Create a new note | Ctrl+Shift+ N |
| Create a new task request | Ctrl+Shift+ U |
| Create a new Post | Ctrl+Shift+ S |
| Open Help | F1 |
| Open Find dialog or Find pane. | F3 |
| Expand dropdown menus, use arrow keys to select from list | F4 |
| Refresh the current window | F5 |
| Move to next window element (Navigation pane, Message list, Reading pane, or To-Do Bar) | F6 |
| Run spell check | F7 |
| Send/Receive | F9 |
| Open VBA Editor | Alt+F11 |
Reading messages:
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| With a message open, Move to the Previous or Next message | Ctrl + < or > |
| Reply to a message | Ctrl+ R |
| Reply All to a message | Ctrl+Shift+ R |
| Forward | Ctrl+ F |
| Find (in the body of an opened message) | F4 |
Working with folder and list views:
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Expand or collapse the folder list | Plus, minus or multiply (*) on numeric keypad |
| Expand or collapse all groups in list view | Ctrl+ Plus or minus on numeric keypad |
| Expand or collapse current group in list view | Ctrl+ left or right arrow keys |
| Move between header elements, attachment row, and body in the reading pane | Ctrl+Tab use Shift+Ctrl+Tab to reverse |
When editing items
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Increase or decrease font size when composing HTML | Ctrl+ [ or ] |
| Show/hide formatting marks | Ctrl+Shift+ 8 |
| Toggle form fields off and on | Alt+F9 |
| Send Message or meeting /task request; Save and Close other forms | Alt+ S |
| Save | Ctrl+ S |
| Send (enable in Options) | Ctrl+Enter |
Appointment and Meeting shortcuts:
You can use shortcuts to enter dates. Use w for weeks, d for day, mo for month, and y for year. Enter date in 1w format. Use h for hours and m for minutes for times.
Can type times as numbers only: 230 instead of 2:30 PM.
When typing times in the snooze field, shortcuts won’t work. You need to type the words week, day, hour or minute in full: "27 minutes"
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Set up recurrence for an appointment or task | Ctrl+G |
Calendar shortcuts:
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Show 1 day | Alt+ 1 |
| Show 2 days | Alt+ 2 |
| Show 3 days | Alt+ 3 |
| Show 4 days | Alt+ 4 |
| Show 5 days | Alt+ 5 |
| Show 6 days | Alt+ 6 |
| Show 7 days | Alt+ 7 |
| Show 8 days | Alt+ 8 |
| Show 9 days | Alt+ 9 |
| Show 10 days | Alt+ 0 |
| Switch to the Day View | Ctrl+Alt+ 1 |
| Switch to the Work Week View | Ctrl+Alt+ 2 |
| Switch to the Week View | Ctrl+Alt+ 3 (Outlook 2010/2013) Alt+ - (minus) (All) |
| Switch to the Month View | Ctrl+Alt+ 4 (Outlook 2010/2013) Alt+ = (equal) (All) |
| Switch to the Schedule View | Ctrl+Alt+ 5 |
| Go to a date | Ctrl+ G |
| Go to the next or previous  day | Ctrl+ left or right arrow |
| Go to the next or previous week | Alt+ up or down arrow |
| Go to the next or previous month | Alt+ page up or page down |
| Go to the start or end of the week | Alt+ Home or End |
| Go to next or previous appointment | Ctrl+ comma or period |
Task shortcuts:
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Show or hide the To-Do Bar. | Alt+F2 |
| Accept a task request. | Alt+C |
| Decline a task request. | Alt+D |
| Find a task or other item. | Ctrl+E |
| Create a new task (when in Tasks). | Ctrl+N |
| Create a new task (from any Outlook folder). | Ctrl+Shift+K |
| Create a new task request. | Ctrl+Shift+U |
| Open selected item. | Ctrl+O |
| Forward a task as an attachment. | Ctrl+F |
| Switch between the Navigation Pane, Tasks list, and To-Do Bar. | Shift+Tab |
| Flag an item or mark complete. | Insert |
Common Windows shortcuts:
Tip for Windows 8 users: The Windows key is your friend.
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Select all text | Ctrl+ A |
| Save | Ctrl+ S |
| Copy text | Ctrl+ C |
| Paste text | Ctrl+ V |
| Cut text | Ctrl+ X |
| Undo | Ctrl+ Z |
| Ctrl+ P | |
| Move forward through a form's fields/windows | TAB |
| Move backward through a form's fields/windows | Shift+TAB |
| Close the active window | Alt+F4 |
| Cancel edits and close a form | ESC |
| Move the cursor to the start of the next or previous word | Ctrl+ right or left arrow |
| Reset Zoom (100%) | Ctrl+0 |
| Increase and Decrease Zoom | Ctrl+ + (Plus) or - (Minus) |
I used to be able to use Ctrl + Enter to put a message in my Outbox, but now if I activate Ctrl + Enter in Settings, it sends the mail immediately. So now I have to manually click the Send button in the mail, which is a pain. What do I need to do use Ctrl + Enter to put mail in the Outbox but not send it? I feel like there must be some other setting I need to activate, but I don't know what it would be.
Hi Diane - I have Outlook 2013 on Windows 10. I just changed one of my bigger email accounts from POP to IMAP and it seems like some of the functionality has changed as well. With POP, I used to use F5 (refresh) quite often - especially after reviewing an Unread Mail folder. With IMAP, F5 doesn't seem to work at all. Any trick to get the function back? Many thanks.
Try switching folders if f5 doesn’t work. (It should work... will check on that.)
Thanks, I tried various folders after seeing one of your responses on the MS support site for the same issue (from years ago). The same problem still exists. It's as if F5 no longer tries to triggers an action. Thanks again.
Switching folders and then returning to the Unread Mail folder works but it's just an extra step. I'm set in my ways and like using F5 in my process but I guess I can live with changing folders. I have a funny feeling that, if I use a few rules to set up my own Unread Mail folder, the F5 function will work again. I'll give it a shot. Thank you.
Hello, Diane.
Is there a possibility to bring up the date picker in the Due Date and Start Date fields in the new task / appointment windows using keyboard?
Thanks
No keyboard shortcut but you can type shortcuts. You can use natural language - next week, next month etc - or type things like 3w (for 3 weeks) 3w+2d should work too. if you know the date, type it in short date format - 3/10. Times can be types as 9.30a (or try it without a dot: 930 - I use the dot out of habit) - a and p are optional during the working hours - I always use the a & p out of habit too.
Thank you Diane. I cleared my doubts. I tried everything from trivial Alt-Down Arrow to all Ctrl, Alt and Shift combos with F-keys :).
Hi Diane, this is a great article thanks. I'm just wondering if you can help me with the following two things. I've searched and searched for a keyboard shortcut but just can't find it... 1) what is the keyboard shortcut to replace right clicking on another icon such as the calender and choosing open in new window. 2) do you know of a shortcut to sort the columns by received and from when looking at mail in bottom preview format. thanks in advance for any help you are able to give!
1. If your keyboard has the context menu button, that will fly out the menu - not exactly a shortcut though. Or you can add the Open in New Windows command to the Quick Access Toolbar - if its in position 1 -10, you can use Alt+the number to open the selected folder in a window.
2. Add the reverse sort button to the QAT - use Alt+it's position.
In Outlook 2013, how does one bring up the Find Dialog to search for text in the current message?
Try F4
Whats the short cut to zoom email message when reading the mails?
The only zoom shortcut I am aware of is ctrl+0, +, or - (100%, larger, smaller) but they do not work in email. Sorry.
Hold CTRL and scroll the wheel of your mouse.
A great pity that CTRL + 0, + + and + - doesn't work and can't be configured.
Yeah, it's annoying. You can also use the zoom button and the zoom slider controls, but the keyboard shortcuts are usually faster... when they exist. :)
Nm, I figured it out. :)
Hi, Diane. Is there a way to set up a hotkey shortcut/macro to an add-in on the ribbon toolbar in Outlook 2013 (i.e. Evernote)? Thanks for all of your help. Your blogs are very helpful.
I assume you mean "an easy to use shortcut that won't be as long as novel" shortcut. :) Alt+ at least 4 - 6 keystrokes should be available, probably something like Alt+Y1YA (you only need Alt for the first key, the shortcuts should stay enabled as you work through any menus.)
Otherwise, no, unless you can add it to the QAT - then its Alt+nn where nn is the position number. (I'm not sure if addin's buttons can be added to the QAT.)