The keyboard shortcuts described in this article refer to the U.S. keyboard layout. The layout of the keys on other keyboards may not correspond exactly to the keys on a U.S. keyboard.

You can press the Esc key to close any open form or dialog box. However, if you do this, any information you add to the form or dialog box may not be saved.

Keyboard shortcuts for

Getting to Mail, Calendar, People, and Tasks

General keyboard shortcuts

Mail

Keyboard shortcuts for the folder list:

Keyboard shortcuts for the message list:

Keyboard shortcuts for the reading pane:

Keyboard shortcuts for text editing:

Keyboard shortcuts for text formatting:

Calendar

Keyboard shortcuts for calendar forms:

Tasks

Getting to Mail, Calendar, People, and Tasks

You can use a combination of keys to navigate the items at the top of the Outlook Web App window.

  • Use the Right arrow and Left arrow keys to move among Mail, Calendar, People, and Tasks.

  • Use the Tab key to move to your information, Options, Search, and Help.

  • When the area you want is highlighted, use Enter to go to that area.

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General keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Ctrl+F6

Top-level navigation. Moves you from one region to another. When you reach the region you want, use the arrow keys to navigate to the item you want, and then press Enter to act on that item. In Mail, Ctrl+F6 cycles through the top bar, personal status, new items, folders, and reading pane.

Alt+Q

Go to the search box.

Ctrl+N

Creates a new item of the same type as the current folder.

Tab

Moves to next area or item.

Shift+Tab

Moves to previous area or item.

Up arrow

Moves up in list, or scrolls up in window.

Down arrow

Moves down in list, or scrolls down in window.

Esc

Closes the item.

Enter

Selects highlighted option. When a message, calendar item, contact, or task is selected, opens the selected item in a new window.

Context menu key

Equivalent to right-clicking a selection. Found to the right of the spacebar on Windows-compatible keyboards.

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Mail

Keyboard shortcuts for the folder list:

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Right arrow

Expands the selected folder.

Left arrow

Collapses the selected folder.

Up arrow

Moves up in the folder list.

Down arrow

Moves down in the folder list.

F2

Renames the selected folder.

Keyboard shortcuts for the message list:

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Ctrl+Q

Marks the selected conversation or message as read.

Ctrl+U

Marks the selected conversation or message as unread.

Insert

Applies the default flag to the selected conversation or message without opening the flag menu. If the conversation or message is already flagged, Insert will mark the conversation or message as Complete. This also works when multiple conversations or messages are selected.

Delete or Ctrl+D

Deletes the selected message.

Shift+Delete

Permanently deletes the selected message.

Esc

Cancels a search. If the context menu is open, Esc will close the context menu but not cancel the search.

Up arrow

Selects the previous message in the list.

Down arrow

Selects the next message in the list.

Shift+Up arrow

Selects the current and previous messages in the list. Use to select multiple contiguous messages.

Shift+Down arrow

Selects the current and next messages in the list. Use to select multiple contiguous messages.

Home or Ctrl+Home

Selects the first message in the folder.

End or Ctrl+End

Selects the last message in the folder.

Page up

For message lists of two or more pages, selects the first message on the previous page.

Page down

For message lists of two or more pages, selects the first message on the next page.

Keyboard shortcuts for the reading pane:

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Ctrl+N

Creates a new message.

Ctrl+Q

Marks the selected conversation or message as read.

Ctrl+U

Marks the selected conversation or message as unread.

Ctrl+R

Replies to the selected message.

Ctrl+Shift+R

Replies to the sender and all recipients of the selected message.

Ctrl+Shift+C

Replies to the selected message by IM.

Ctrl+Shift+F

Forwards the selected message.

Insert

Applies the default flag to the selected conversation or message without opening the flag menu. If the conversation or message is already flagged, Insert will mark the conversation or message as Complete. This also works when multiple conversations or messages are selected.

Delete or Ctrl+D

Deletes the selected message.

Shift+Delete

Permanently deletes the selected message.

Home or Ctrl+Home

Goes to the top of the conversation or message.

End or Ctrl+End

Goes to the bottom of the conversation or message.

Page up

For conversations or messages of two or more pages, moves up one page.

Page down

For conversations or messages of two or more pages, moves down one page.

Up arrow

Scrolls up.

Down arrow

Scrolls down.

Esc

Closes the new message.

ALT+S

Sends the message.

Keyboard shortcuts for text editing:

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Backspace

Deletes the selection or the characters to the left of the cursor.

Ctrl+Backspace

Deletes the word to the left of the cursor, but not the space before the word.

Ctrl+C

Copies the selection to the Clipboard.

Ctrl+V

Pastes the contents of the Clipboard into the current location.

Ctrl+X

Cuts the selection to the Clipboard.

Delete

Deletes the selection without copying it to the Clipboard.

Insert

Toggles between inserting and overwriting text.

Ctrl+Z

Reverses the most recent action.

Ctrl+Y

Repeats the most recent action.

Ctrl+L

Displays the hyperlink text dialog box.

Keyboard shortcuts for text formatting:

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Ctrl+B

Toggles bold formatting.

Ctrl+I

Toggles italic formatting.

Ctrl+U

Toggles underlining.

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Calendar

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Ctrl+N

Creates a new calendar item.

Delete

Deletes the selected item.

Enter

Opens the selected item.

Ctrl+F6

Moves to a different region in the calendar.

Shift+Alt+1

Switches to day view.

Shift+Alt+2

Switches to work week view.

Shift+Alt+3

Switches to full week view.

Shift+Alt+4

Switches to month view.

Shift+Alt+Y

Goes to today.

Shift+Right arrow

Goes to the next time period. For example, if you’re in month view, Ctrl+Right arrow will take you to the next month.

Shift+Left arrow

Goes to the previous time period. For example, if you’re in month view, Ctrl+Left arrow will take you to the previous month.

Tab

Moves to the next event or area in the current view.

Shift+Tab

Moves to the previous event or area in the current view.

Ctrl+P

Prints the current view of the calendar.

Keyboard shortcuts for calendar forms:

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Ctrl+Enter

Sends a meeting.

Alt+S

Sends a meeting.

Ctrl+S

Saves an appointment.

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Tasks

Keyboard shortcut

Action

Delete

Deletes the selected item.

Up arrow

Selects the previous item in the list.

Down arrow

Selects the next item in the list.

Page up

For lists of more than two pages, selects the first item on the previous page.

Page down

For lists of more than two pages, selects the first item on the next page.

Home

Selects the first item in the list.

End

Selects the last item in the list.

Ctrl+N

Creates a new task.

Applies To: Office 365 End User, Outlook Web App, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Outlook Web App for Office 365