Keyboard shortcuts to Inbox, Draft, Outbox, etc.

[jmt356]

Is there a keyboard shortcut to the Inbox, Drafts, Outbox and Sent Items in Outlook 2007? In Outlook 2003, I was able to tab my way into Mail Folders, type the first letter of the folder I wanted (e.g., "i" for Inbox) and then press enter. This does not work in Outlook 2007.

[Leif]

Have you ever tried using Google? A quick search brings up plenty of suggestions such as http://www.shortcutworld.com/en/win/Outlook_2007.html

[jmt356]

I did not have much luck on Google. I could not find anything for Sent Items, Drafts, etc. Do people no longer use shortcut keys for these? Are people just relying on the mouse nowadays?

[StuartR]

Have you ever tried using Google?...

Just for a moment, I thought you were suggesting that he try GMail instead of Outlook!

I think your advice to carry out a basic Google search before asking questions is very sensible. These things can often be found quite easily.

[Argus]

I think your advice to carry out a basic Google search before asking questions is very sensible. These things can often be found quite easily.

The key is to find the right keyword(s).

[jmt356]

Easy or not, I can't find the shortcuts to Sent, Drafts and Unread mail so if anyone knows them I would be grateful for your sharing.

[HansV]

I did not have much luck on Google. I could not find anything for Sent Items, Drafts, etc. Do people no longer use shortcut keys for these? Are people just relying on the mouse nowadays?

You can still press Tab until the navigation pane has been activated.
Pressing a letter key (not Alt+letter) will select the first folder starting with that letter. If there is more than one folder starting with the letter (e.g. Deleted Items and Drafts), pressing the letter key repeatedly will cycle through those folders. When you have found the one you want, press Enter or the space bar to activate the folder.
The up and down arrow keys also let you walk through the folders.

[jmt356]

Tabbing does in fact work in Outlook 2007. I guess before when I was tabbing I did not notice that it did make it to the Mail Folders. Now I am testing it and it appears it does. It is exactly 2 tabs from the email items to cycle to the Mail Folders, where you can key up and down or press the first letter of each folder. Shift + tab 2 times goes backwards from the Mail Folders back to the email items.

Hans is a much better resource than Google.

[HansV]

If you press F1 in Outlook, enter keyboard shortcuts in the search box, press Enter, then select the subject "Keyboard shortcuts for Outlook", you see a page that is also available on the Microsoft website: Keyboard shortcuts for Outlook. Expand the section "Basic Navigation". Part of the keyboard shortcuts listed is shown below:

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[jmt356]

Thank you! Ctrl + Y is going to really speed things up. I never knew that existed.

The web page you mention gives the following shortcuts:
Ctrl + Shift + I = Inbox
Ctrl + Shift + O = Outlook

Nothing is listed for Drafts or Sent Items. A logical extension of this would have been Ctrl + Shift + D (for Drafts) and Ctrl + Shift + S (for Sent items), but for some reason, MS reserved those for other functions.

[jmt356]

If searching in Outlook 2003, I have discovered the following keyboard combination to clear the search items: ctrl + I, followed again by ctrl + I, followed by escape.

Is there a more efficient keyboard shortcut?

[HansV]

What exactly do you mean by search items?

[jmt356]

The items that appear after searching for a keyword in the Inbox, Contacts, etc. I am searching for a shortcut to "Clear" these items (i.e., return to the default with ALL items (not just the search result items) are displayed).

[HansV]

Simply pressing Esc should be sufficient.

[jmt356]

That does not work for me on Outlook 2003. It does, however, work for me on Outlook 2007.

[HansV]

You started this thread asking about keyboard shortcuts in Outlook 2007, so I assumed that your last question was about Outlook 2007 too, even though you did mention 2003.
I'm not aware of a keyboard shortcut for Clear Search in Outlook 2003.

[jmt356]

You started this thread asking about keyboard shortcuts in Outlook 2007, so I assumed that your last question was about Outlook 2007 too, even though you did mention 2003.

I thought I would post the Outlook 2003 question on this thread since it was related to the original question on shortcuts.