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Gmail's Keyboard Shortcuts

Gmail Power Tips
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A Table of Gmail Shortcuts The keyboard shortcuts are many and various, and are all good to know about. But they're also very simple. By now you should have the hang of their power. Here then, before moving on, in Table 3-1 is a complete run-down of the keyboard shortcuts available at the time of writing. Table 3-1 Gmail's Keyboard Shortcuts 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.) 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. y Archive (Remove from current view) Automatically removes the message or conversation from your current view. From Inbox, y means Archive From Starred, y means Unstar From Spam, y means Unmark as spam and move to Inbox From Trash, y means move to Inbox From any label, y means Remove the label Pressing y has no effect if you're in Sent or All Mail. x Select conversation Automatically checks and selects a conversation so 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 a star to or removes a star from a message or conversation. Stars allow you to give a message or conversation a special status. ! Report spam Marks a message as spam and removes it from your conversation list. r Reply Reply 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 Reply to all message recipients. Shift+a allows you to reply to all message recipients in a new window. (Only applicable in Conversation View.) f Forward Forward 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.

Combo-Key Shortcuts

Now that you're familiar with Gmail's keyboard shortcuts, Table 3-2 outlines the combo-key shortcuts:

Table 3-2 Combo-Keys Shortcuts

Shortcut Key	Definition	Action
Tab then Enter	Send message	After composing your message, use this combination to automatically send it. (Only supported in Internet Explorer)
y then o	Archive and next	Archive your conversation and move to the next one.
g then a	Go to All Mail	Takes you to All Mail, the storage place for all the mail you've ever sent or received, but haven't deleted.
g then s	Go to Starred	Takes you to all of the conversations that you've starred.
g then c	Go to Contacts	Takes you to your Contacts list.
g then d	Go to Drafts	Takes you to all the drafts that you've saved.
g then i	Go to Inbox	Takes you back to the Inbox.

Moving on from the keyboard shortcuts, the next section shows you how you can avoid them altogether by using filters.
Plus Addressing and Filtering

One little known feature of the more old-school email systems is the one called plus addressing. It can be exceptionally useful both in Gmail and in your other email systems, and I use it extensively for things like mailing lists and weblog commenting.

In a nutshell, Gmail will ignore anything in the first half of an email address after a plus sign. So ben.hammersley+chapter_three_comments@gmail.com is treated in exactly the same way as ben.hammersley@gmail.com. It is not, as you might expect, a different address. You can put anything after the plus sign except for a space or an at (@) sign, and it will always get delivered to your real Inbox. Figure 3-5 should prove that it works.

Figure 3-5

click on image for full view

Plus Addressing is remarkably useful, as it enables you to set up filters for your incoming mail. In order to set up filters, click the "Create a filter" link to the right of the search bar. You will be presented with a screen containing something very much like Figure 3-6.

Figure 3-6

click on image for full view

Copy, as shown, the address into the To: box, and click on the Next Step button. Of course, this is how you create filters for any other part of the message, too. I'll leave it to the reader's intelligence to see how this works. Figure 3-7 shows the next stage.

Figure 3-7

click on image for full view

A filter can move, star, directly archive, label, forward, and trash any message that triggers it. Select the actions you want, and click on the Create Filter button. Figure 3-8 shows the final result.

Figure 3-8

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Because Plus Addressing effectively gives you an unlimited number of email addresses to the same Gmail inbox, it allows you to assign one to each mailing list, website, and so on that you subscribe to. You can also use it to track which email addresses have been sold to spammers, and send those to Trash automatically.

Advanced Searching

Gmail is run by Google, so it's obvious that its built-in search engine is going to be extremely powerful. Everyone is used to the ordinary search technique of putting keywords into the box and pressing enter, but not everyone is aware of the additional operators you can use. Table 3-3 gives a rundown:

Table 3-3: Gmail's Search Operators

Operator	Definition	Example(s)
from:	Used to specify the sender	Example: from:amy Meaning: Messages from Amy.
to:	Used to specify a recipient	Example: to:david Meaning: All messages that were sent to David (by you or someone else).
subject:	Search for words in the subject line	Example: subject:dinner Meaning: Messages that have the word dinner in the subject.
OR	Search for messages matching term A or term B OR must be in all caps	Example: from:amy OR from:david Meaning: Messages from Amy or from David.
- (hyphen)	Used to exclude messages from your search	Example: dinner-movie Meaning: Messages that contain the word dinner but do not contain the word movie.
label:	Search for messages by label There isn't a search operator for unlabeled messages	Example: from:amy label:friends Meaning: Messages from Amy that have the label friends. Example: from:david label:my-family Meaning: Messages from David that have the label My Family.
has:attachment	Search for messages with an attachment	Example: from:david has:attachment Meaning: Messages from David that have an attachment.
filename:	Search for an attachment by name or type	Example: filename:physicshomework.txt Meaning: Messages with an attachment named physicshomework.txt. Example: label:work filename:pdf Meaning: Messages labeled work that also have a PDF file as an attachment.
" "(quotes)	Used to search for an exact phrase Capitalization isn't taken into consideration	Example: "i'm feeling lucky" Meaning: Messages containing the phrase i'm feeling lucky or I'm feeling lucky. Example: subject:"dinner and a movie" Meaning: Messages containing the phrase "dinner and a movie" in the subject.
( )	Used to group words Used to specify terms that shouldn't be excluded.	Example: from:amy(dinner OR movie) Meaning: Messages from Amy that contain either the word dinner or the word movie. Example: subject:(dinner movie) Meaning: Messages in which the subject contains both the word dinner and the word movie.
in:anywhere	Search for messages anywhere in your account Messages in Spam and Trash are excluded from searches by default.	Example: in:anywhere subject:movie Meaning: Messages in All Mail, Spam, and Trash that contain the word movie.
in:inbox in:trash in:spam	Search for messages in Inbox, Trash, or Spam	Example: in:trash from:amy Meaning: Messages from Amy that are in the trash.
is:starred is:unread is:read	Search for messages that are starred, unread, or read	Example: is:read is:starred from:David Meaning: Message from David that have been read and are marked with a star.
cc: bcc:	Used to specify recipients in the cc: or bcc: fields Search on bcc: cannot retrieve messages on which you were blind carbon copied	Example: cc:david Meaning: Messages that were cc-ed to David.
after: before:	Search for messages after or before a certain date Date must be in yyyy/mm/dd format.	Example: after:2004/04/17 before:2004/04/18 Meaning: Messages sent on April 17, 2004. More precisely: Messages sent on or after April 17, 2004, but before April 18, 2004.

The operators detailed in Table 3-3 are all self explanatory, and can be combined. For example, consider the following search parameters:

in:inbox from:BenHammersley "fancy a pint?"

This search would result in any message from my Gmail account, in your Inbox, suggesting a visit to the pub. In order to bring any unread mail sent before New Year's Eve 2004, with an attachment, and the subject line New Year's Eve Invitation, you would conduct the following search:

is:unread before:2004/12/31has:attachment subject:"New Years Eve Invitation"

Very simple indeed.

Using Gmail to...

Using Gmail to...