Help › Mail
Keyboard shortcuts in the desktop app
The desktop app has a menu bar at the top of the screen. Everything below is on it, so you can always look a shortcut up rather than remember it.
These are the Mac shortcuts. On Windows, use Ctrl where this says Cmd.
Paste without the formatting
Copying text from a website or another email usually brings that page's fonts and colours with it. To paste just the words, so they match what you are already writing:
Edit > Paste and Match Style, or Cmd+Shift+V
The pasted text takes on the style of the message you are writing.
Writing
| What you want | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Start a new message | Cmd+N |
| Send the message (you can still undo it) | Cmd+Enter |
| Paste without formatting | Cmd+Shift+V |
| Bold | Cmd+B |
| Italic | Cmd+I |
| Underline | Cmd+U |
| Strikethrough | Cmd+Shift+X |
| Move a paragraph in | Cmd+] |
| Move a paragraph back out | Cmd+[ |
| Insert a link | Cmd+K |
| Clear formatting | Format > Clear Formatting |
| Emoji and symbols | Ctrl+Cmd+Space |
| Undo | Cmd+Z |
| Redo | Cmd+Shift+Z |
Moving around
| What you want | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Search this screen | Cmd+F |
| Open Settings | Cmd+, |
| New tab in this group | Cmd+T |
| Close the tab | Cmd+W |
| Close the window | Cmd+Shift+W |
| Next tab in this group | Ctrl+Tab |
| Previous tab in this group | Ctrl+Shift+Tab |
| Jump to a tab in this group | Cmd+1 through Cmd+9 |
| Jump to the Mail, Ledger or Web tabs | Cmd+Option+1, 2 or 3 |
| Move a Ledger or Web tab along | Cmd+Shift+Left or Right |
| Back | Cmd+[ |
| Forward | Cmd+] |
Tabs come in three groups, Mail, Ledger and Web, and the tab shortcuts work within the group you are in. Cmd+T opens a Dashboard in the Ledger group, a second view of your mailbox in the Mail group, and the Add a site window in the Web group. Cmd+W does nothing on a mailbox's own tab. On Windows, the group jump is Ctrl+Alt+1, 2 or 3. Keep several screens open at once has the whole picture.
Back and Forward work everywhere except inside a message you are writing, where Cmd+[ and Cmd+] indent the paragraph instead.
Closing the window leaves TALISK_HQ running in the menu bar, so mail keeps arriving. Click the TALISK_HQ icon there to bring it back.
Reading the screen
| What you want | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Zoom in | Cmd+= |
| Zoom out | Cmd+- |
| Back to normal size | Cmd+0 |
| Full screen | Ctrl+Cmd+F |
In the inbox
These single keys work in Mail, in the desktop app and in a browser, whenever you are not typing in a box. They pause while a reply is open, so a stray letter never archives the email you are answering. Press ? to see the whole list on screen.
| What you want | Key |
|---|---|
| Next email | j |
| Previous email | k |
| Open the first email, or move into the open one | Enter or o |
| Search | / |
| Close search, then close the email | Esc |
| Archive | e |
| Delete | # |
| Star or unstar | s |
| Mark read or unread | u |
| Select or deselect | x |
| Reply | r |
| Reply all | a |
| Forward | f |
| Write a new message | c |
| Undo the last archive, delete or move, while its Undo is showing | z |
| Show the shortcut list | ? |
Archive and Delete act on the open email only. To archive or delete the emails you have ticked, use the buttons in the bar above the list.
To select a run of emails, tick the box on the first one, then hold Shift and tick the last: everything between them is selected too. Clicking works the same way: click one email, then hold Shift and click another, and every email from the first to the second is ticked, ready to archive or delete from the bar above the list.
After you archive, delete or move the open email, the next one in the list opens, so you can work down the inbox without clicking. Undo brings back the email you were on.
Reply and Reply all open the quick reply box under the message, the same as the buttons. In a conversation they answer the newest message.