Outlook is one of the widespread email client application which is in practice today. But, the complexity involved with the app also makes it quite annoying due to a number of available options. However, undoubtedly, there are many Outlook keyboard shortcuts.
With keyboard shortcuts, you don’t have to go through all frames of Outlook wasting your time. In fact, if you can practice all these shortcuts and able to apply them flawlessly then it is more than enough to finish your work on time.
So, if you are one among those many Outlook users, then this article has keyboard shortcuts for Outlook to save your lots of time.
Of course! You can find all keyboard shortcuts for Outlook listed in official Microsoft Office Support site. But, what I am going to share today is the Outlook keyboard shortcuts which surely help you in cutting down your mouse clicks. In other words, here are the essential (must know!) keyboard shortcuts for Outlook, that saves your time as well as energy.
List of Keyboard Shortcuts for Outlook:
1. Shortcuts to Work with Emails
- CTRL +U and CTRL + Q: To Mark a Mail as Read or Unread
Unread option helps in organizing important emails so that you can remember to go back and deal it later. In Outlook, you can do this quickly by selecting the email then by pressing CTRL + Q or U keys.
CTRL + U will change the email to unread state. CTRL + Q will change the status to read state.
- CTRL + SHIFT + F: To open Advanced Find Window
Advanced find window will be a life-saver when you are working with more number of emails. And, CTRL + SHIFT + F shortcut will open the Advanced Find window.
- INSERT: To Flag Emails
When you have an email highlighted, just hit the INSERT button to quickly flag the respective message. If it is already flagged, then tapping INSERT key will un-flag it.
- CTRL + SHIFT + G: To Mark an Email for Follow-up
This keyboard shortcut is to custom flag an email with a specific date and reminder (if you wish).
2. Shortcuts for Navigating in Outlook
- CTRL + SHIFT + M: To Open a New Email
Try CTRL + SHIFT + M shortcut for opening a compose window (New Email) and you are ready to type-in.
- CTRL + SHIFT + Q: To Open a New Meeting
Use CTRL + SHIFT + Q to launch the new meeting window. Just set up the time and place and you are done.
- F7: Spell Check
While you are writing a new email or new meeting invitation, always ensure to hit the F7 key once before you send it. This triggers the inbuilt spell checker for Outlook.
I agree, even while you are typing anything in New Mail window of Outlook, you will notice a red wavy line whenever you misspelled the words, but tapping F7 before sending is a great way to things even better.
- CTRL + Y: To Reach Another Folder
If you are a person who manages a lot of email accounts in a single Outlook client, then probably CTRL + Y keyboard shortcut help you a lot.
This shortcut opens Go to Folder window, from there you can jump around from one mail folder to another, more swiftly.
- F3 / CTRL + E: Search Box
To open a search window in Outlook, you don’t have to click exactly on the search icon. Just try F3 or CTRL + E combinations to open the search box.
| Added Info: Lost or deleted important Tasks from your Outlook profile? Then, here is how to restore lost tasks in Outlook in an easy and rapid way. |
- F9 / CTRL + M: To Check New Mails
You may not always receive new messages instantly irrespective how often you have set your Outlook to sync with email accounts. So, you can use an F9 key or CTRL + M keyboard shortcut to execute Send/Receive task
- Arrow Up / Down / Left / Right: To Navigate and Collapse
Another easy way to boost navigation of your emails in the inbox is via using keyboard arrow keys.
So, use Left/Right arrow to collapse or wrap categories. Likewise, use Up/Down arrow to traverse up and down through the attributes of each category.
- CTRL + SHIFT + V: To Move Email to Folder
If you need to quickly move an email into a selected folder then use CTRL + SHIFT + V keyboard shortcut instead of right-clicking on the email and then opting Move.
When you highlight an email and you use this shortcut, Outlook launches Move Items window, there, you just pick a destination folder to move the email into.
3. Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating Through Emails
- SPACE / SHIFT + SPACE: To Page Up or Down Through an Email
Scrolling the mouse button will be a real pain when you are reading really long emails. To solve this problem, use Space and SHIFT + SPACE buttons to page up or down through a message.
Also, scrolling through an email using mouse or keyboard (arrows) can work little slow sometimes, so using shortcut or PgUp and PgDn keys can save some amount of time.
- CTRL + . / CTRL + ,: To Scroll Through Emails
Almost all Outlook users prefer using a preview window because it allows the user to scroll down emails and preview messages quickly.
But, using “CTRL + .” (scroll down to open next message) and “CTRL + ,” (scroll back to open the previous message) keyboard shortcuts you can eliminate the use of an extra preview window. Yes, you can just open the first email in your Inbox, and use these keyboard shortcuts to directly view rest of your emails in the Inbox.
- F12: To Save Mails
When you come across an email that is very important, thus you don’t want to lose it then, you can save it. Yes, by pressing the F12 function key with the mail (which you want to save) open allows you to save the message as .msg file.
4. Shortcuts for Formatting Messages
- CTRL + K: To Insert Hyperlink
When writing an email, you will first highlight the text and then look into the menu to find insert option while adding a hyperlink. Instead, press CTRL + K button and save time; as this directly opens the Insert Hyperlink window.
- CTRL + SHIFT + P: To Find Font Wizard
To launch Font dialogue box, use CTRL + SHIFT + P shortcut.
This works as a real time saver. You don’t have to navigate through formatting menu in order to achieve complex formatting while composing emails. With the keyboard shortcut, it’s all right at your fingertips.
You can also use simple formatting keyboard shortcuts like CTRL + B, CTRL + I, and CTRL + U to do bold, italics and underlining.
- CTRL + SHIFT + L: To Add Bullets
CTRL + SHIFT + L will quickly add bullets to highlighted items in your email.
And, to align a highlighted text to the left, right, or center you can use CTRL + L, CTRL + R, and CTRL + E respectively.
- CTRL + SHIFT + H: To Delete the Next Word
And, use CTRL + SHIFT + H keys to delete the entire next word after your cursor. This saves little time compared to using Delete or Backspace keys to delete each character, at a time.
Basically, all applications are meant to make a work more productive. And, with keyboard shortcuts, we can make the job even more prolific and effective.
