Outlook.com Tip: Keyboard Shortcuts

On day three of my series of Outlook.com tips, another way for former Gmail users to more easily make the transition to Outlook.com: Enable Gmail-style keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcuts are one of several Outlook.com features that help this web app work like a native Windows application, and I recommend enabling this feature (and perhaps pinning Outlook.com to the Windows 7 or 8 taskbar for more a native application feel).

Outlook.com offers three types of keyboard shortcuts: Outlook and Outlook Web Access (OWA), Yahoo! Mail, and Gmail. (You can also choose to turn off keyboard shortcuts if you’d like.) Of course, this is identical to the way Hotmail works, but since most people seem have spent the past decade ignoring Hotmail, this will be new to many.

Keyboard shortcuts are enabled and configured from Outlook.com Options. To find this, click the Settings icon in the toolbar (it resembles a gear), and then More mail settings. From Options, choose Keyboard shortcuts under Customizing Outlook.

Microsoft maintains lists of the various keyboard shortcuts if you need help.

I happen to prefer the Microsoft-style (Outlook/Outlook Web Access) keyboard shortcuts, since they work across so many Microsoft email solutions. But you can obviously use the set you're most comfortable with.