Chapter 7: Outlook 2003 Keyboard Shortcuts

After Word, Outlook is perhaps the most text-based of the Office applications, so you might expect Outlook to offer plenty of keyboard shortcuts ”and indeed it does. Outlook provides shortcuts for navigating among categories, creating new items (such as messages, contacts, and journal entries), applying formatting, and working with its main tools.

Notes on the Standard Shortcuts

Outlook supports the standard Office keyboard shortcuts discussed in Shared Keyboard Shortcuts in Chapter 3. The following exceptions are worth noting.

Shortcuts for Opening, Deleting, and Saving Items

Because Outlook doesn t work with files in the same way as the other Office applications, it uses a different method of opening items. Outlook also has a different shortcut for deleting the selected item.

Open the selected item

[Ctrl]-[O]

Select an item, and then press [Ctrl] - [O] to open it. You can press [Enter] instead to open some selected items.

Delete the selected item

[Ctrl]-[D]

You can also delete a selected item by pressing [Delete] .

Save the file to the default Outlook folder

[Ctrl]-[S], [Shift]-[F12]

Shortcuts for Navigating from Pane to Pane

Use these shortcuts to navigate from pane to pane, and between the main Outlook window and the Folder List.

Cycle among the Outlook window, the Navigation pane, and the Reading pane

[Tab], [F6]

Switch among the open windows or toolbars

[Ctrl]-[Shift]-[Tab]

Most of the time, pressing this shortcut switches focus from one window to another. But when a toolbar is selected, pressing [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [Tab] selects the next toolbar instead.

Shortcuts for Getting Around in the Navigation Pane

Outlook 2003 supports the following shortcuts for getting around in the Navigation pane.

Outlook XP and Outlook 2000 do not have the Navigation pane, so they don t support these shortcuts.

Toggle the display of the Navigation pane

[Alt]-[F1]

Move the selection among the items in the Navigation pane

[ ], [ ’ ], [ ‘ ], [ “ ]

Expand the selected group in the Navigation pane on the numeric keypad

[+] on the numeric keypad

Collapse the selected group in the Navigation pane

[ ’ ]

Expand a group in the message list

When working in the message list, you can use 2 to expand a group, as well as [+] on the numeric keypad.

Collapse a group in the message list

[ ]

When working in the message list, you can use 1 to collapse a group, as well as [`] on the numeric keypad.