Keyboard shortcuts in Mail

Mail has a set of single-key shortcuts in the style of Gmail: j and k move through the list, e archives, c starts a new message. They are switched off until you ask for them. This page shows where to turn them on and lists every key.

Turn the shortcuts on

1. Open Mail in Space.
2. Scroll to Keyboard and navigation.
3. Turn on Keyboard shortcuts.

Below the switch you can also set After archiving, deleting, or reporting spam, which decides where you land after acting on a message you have open.

Open the cheat sheet

Press ? anywhere in Mail to open the Keyboard shortcuts sheet with the same list you see below. This key only works once the shortcuts are turned on.

The sheet is also in the message list: click the ⋮ button next to the Search emails... box and choose Keyboard shortcuts. That way works whether the shortcuts are on or off, so you can read the list first and decide afterwards. When they are off, the sheet says so and links to the setting.

Navigation

Key	What it does
j	Older conversation
k	Newer conversation
o	Open conversation
u	Back to the list

Jump

Press g, then the second key.

Keys	What it does
g then i	Inbox
g then t	Sent
g then d	Drafts

Selection

Key	What it does
x	Select conversation

Select

Press *, then the second key. Each pair replaces the current selection with the messages it names.

Keys	What it does
* then a	All
* then n	None
* then r	Read
* then u	Unread
* then s	Starred
* then t	Unstarred

Actions

Key	What it does
e	Archive
#	Delete
!	Report spam
s	Toggle star
Shift+i	Mark as read
Shift+u	Mark as unread
]	Archive & newer
[	Archive & older
z	Undo last action

Archive, delete, report spam, star, and the two mark keys act on the message you have open. With nothing open they act on the messages you have selected, and failing that on the row under the cursor.

Conversation

Key	What it does
r	Reply
a	Reply all
f	Forward

Application

Key	What it does
c	Compose
/	Search
?	Show this help