29 Gmail keyboard shortcuts to help you power through your inbox

Gmail keyboard shortcuts: The secret to efficiently manage email

You may already be familiar with keyboard shortcuts for Windows and macOS, but you may not know that Gmail web version also has its own set of shortcuts – they can run on any browser and any desktop platform.

Efficient keyboard shortcuts can help you complete your calculation tasks faster without using a mouse or trackpad – any method of increasing efficiency is very useful when handling your email inbox.

Enable Gmail keyboard shortcuts

You may not know much about these shortcuts because you need to enable them first: Open Gmail in the browser tab, click the gear icon in the upper right corner, and select to view all settings . Under the General tab, make sure the keyboard shortcut is selected. If you feel the shortcut keys listed below are not enough, you can create your own. In the main settings screen of Gmail, click

Advanced

, find the Custom keyboard shortcuts option, and select Enable . Click Save changes , and a new keyboard shortcut tab will be added to the settings page. You can use this tab to edit existing shortcuts or create new shortcuts.

Basic shortcut keys

• C

  : Compose a new email Press the C anywhere in Gmail, and a new compose window will pop up in the corner of the screen, and the cursor is located in the To field of the new email.

• D

  : Compose a new email in a new tab You may not want to block the current Gmail view with a new email, the D key will open a new email in the new browser tab.

• Slash (/)

  : Perform a search Press the / anywhere in Gmail, and the cursor will jump to the search box at the top. You can enter the search terms and search your email archive.

• Period (.)

  : Open More Menu MoreMenu (depending on your settings, it may appear as three dots) contains options such as marking messages as read and mute conversations.

• V

  : Open Move to Menu Move to Menu (may appear as arrows in folder icons) allows you to quickly apply Gmail tags to the current message.

• L

  : Open the Mark as Menu If you want to apply multiple tags to your message at the same time, you can use the Mark as menu (may appear as a bookmark icon).

Writing an email

• Ctrl/Cmd Shift C: Add cc recipient Depending on whether you are using Windows or macOS, Ctrl or Cmd Shift C is a shortcut to adding cc (CC) recipients to your email—a contact that cc with the original recipient.

• Ctrl/Cmd Shift B: Add a passive recipient This shortcut key is almost the same as the previous shortcut key, except that the passive (BCC) recipient cannot see which other email addresses have been sent secretly.

• Ctrl/Cmd Enter: Send an email When you are satisfied with the appearance of the mail in the compose window, you can use this shortcut to send an email immediately.

• Ctrl/Cmd K: Insert link If you need to direct the recipient to the website address, you can use this shortcut. You can first highlight the text you want to link to, or enter the URL in the pop-up dialog box.

• Shift Esc and Esc: Toggle Focus These shortcuts toggle focus between the Composition box and the main Gmail window, so you can browse your inbox as you write your email.

• Ctrl/Cmd M: Open Spelling Suggestions Gmail comes with a spelling checker, and this shortcut key will display replacement words for the wrongly spelled word.

Manage email

• X: Select a conversation thread When the mailing list is displayed on the screen, you can use the cursor keys to move between messages, and then use the X keys to select one or more messages.

• E: Archive After selecting one or more emails, or if you currently have a conversation thread open, press E key to move it from your inbox to the archive.

• S: Add a Star Like the archive shortcut key, pressing the S will add a star to any selected or opened emails. If you set multiple star types in your Gmail settings, repeating clicks will loop through them.

• M: Mute After selecting one or more emails (or opening them), you can use the M keys to mute the conversation so that new messages in these threads do not bring them back to the inbox.

• R: Reply; A: Replies All When the email thread is opened, these shortcut keys can be used. If the Shift key is added in front of it, the reply will open a new pop-up window on the screen.

• #: Delete emails In Gmail, the # key is not used to apply tags, but is used to send any selected or opened emails directly to the trash folder, ready to be deleted.

Navigation

• G, then I: Go to Inbox Several shortcut keys can help you jump in the interface, you can press G and then I (in turn) to go to your Inbox from anywhere in Gmail.

• G, then S: Go to Starry Email Press G and then S will take you directly to the email you have starred for future reference.

• G, then D: Go to Draft If you are ready to continue processing emails that started at a certain previous time, press G and then D to open your draft.

• G, then T: Go to Sent Email If you want to view the emails you recently sent from your Gmail account, use the G and T shortcut keys (click).

• G, then N: Go to the next page; G, then P: Go to the previous page No matter which view you are in, these keys allow you to browse the page of the conversation thread, from the Inbox to the Draft folder.

• U: Return to the conversation list If you open a message from a view of Gmail (such as star mail or sent mail), press U to return to the previous mailing list.

Processing thread

• Asterisk (), and then A: Select All Conversations Press , and then A (in turn, not together) to select all conversation threads displayed on the current screen in any view you open.

• Asterisk (), then R: Select a read dialogue; Asterisk (), then U: Select an unread dialogue Click R or U after will limit your choices to read or unread threads only.

• Shift N: Update conversation Sometimes you open a thread and a new email appears in it (showing an alert in the corner). Shift N will refresh the thread.

• ] (Close bracket) or [(Close bracket): Archive thread and continue Click ] or [ to archive the thread you are currently viewing and move to the previous or next thread in your current Gmail view.

• Underscore (_): Mark the open thread as unread If you are viewing a thread but want to mark it as unread again, press _ and return to the previous view.

• Semi-colon(;) or Colon(:): Expand or collapse the entire conversation ; and : keys can be used to expand or collapse all messages in the thread you are currently viewing.

By mastering these shortcut keys, you can significantly improve the efficiency of using Gmail.

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