We are migrating over from Eudora to Apple Mail.app. I have resisted for years but… well, the time is right.
Of course a move like this must include a few twists and turns. One of my first involves keystrokes. I am not sure why Apple would make ‘Power User’ keystrokes for this app so arcane.
Get New Mail = Command-Shift-N.
Really? What about just Command-M like everyone else? Getting mail is not ‘creating new mail’ which, as you would assume, is Command-N. ‘N’ implies new. ‘M’ implies mail. Create new = Command-N. Get new mail = Command-M. Whatever, it is easy to change, just not sure what Apple was thinking.
After much searching, I found usingmac.com has the best list of keystrokes. I figured I would repost them here so more folks might find them.
PS: Dan Rodney and macrumors have some nice keystroke lists as well.
Continue reading and you will see a list of more than 60 Mail shortcuts!
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut | |
| 1 | Copy Entire Message | Select Title → Command-C |
| 2 | Copy Selected Text to Find | Command-E |
| 3 | Find for Current Message | Command-F |
| 4 | Find Next | Command-G |
| 5 | Append Selected Messages to New | Command-Option-I |
| 6 | Jump to Selected Text | Command-J |
| 7 | Erase Deleted Messages | Command-K |
| 8 | Toggle Deleted Messages (Hide/Show) | Command-L |
| 9 | Minimize Window | Command-M |
| 10 | New Message | Command-N |
| 11 | Reply Message to Sender | Command-R |
| Reply Message to All | Command-Shift-R | |
| 12 | Save as Draft | Command-S |
| 13 | Reveal Font Panel | Command-T |
| 14 | Increase Quote Level | Command-[‘] |
| Decrease Quote Level | Command-Option-[‘] | |
| 15 | Open Activity Window | Command-0 |
| 16 | Select Inbox | Command-1 |
| 17 | Select Outbox | Command-2 |
| 18 | Select Drafts | Command-3 |
| 19 | Select Sent | Command-4 |
| 20 | Select Trash | Command-5 |
| 21 | Select Junk | Command-6 |
| 22 | Select Notes | Command-7 |
| 23 | Select To Do | Command-8 |
| 24 | Select RSS Reader | Command-9 |
| 25 | Larger Font SIze | Command-[+] |
| Smaller Font SIze | Command-[-] | |
| 26 | Align Left | Command-[{] |
| 27 | Align Center | Command-[|] |
| 28 | Align Right | Command-[}] |
| 29 | Spell Checker | Command-[:] |
| 30 | Flag Mispelling Words | Command-[;] |
| 31 | Attach File | Command-Shift-A |
| 32 | Bounce to Sender | Command-Shift-B |
| 33 | Reveal Colors Panel | Command-Shift-C |
| 34 | Send Message | Command-Shift-D |
| 35 | Redirect Message | Command-Shift-E |
| 36 | Forward Message | Command-Shift-F |
| 37 | Find Previous | Command-Shift-G |
| 38 | Toggle Detailed Headers (Hide/Show) | Command-Shift-H |
| 39 | Reply with iChat | Command-Shift-I |
| 40 | Mark as Junk | Command-Shift-J |
| 41 | Select All Related Messages | Command-Shift-K |
| 42 | Mark as Flagged | Command-Shift-L |
| 43 | Toggle Mailbox (Hide/Show) | Command-Shift-M |
| 44 | Get New Mail | Command-Shift-N |
| 45 | Switch Between Rich/Plain Text | Command-Shift-T |
| 46 | Mark as Read/Unread | Command-Shift-U |
| 47 | Paste as Quotation | Command-Shift-V |
| 48 | Add to Address Book | Command-Shift-Y |
| 49 | Reveal Bcc Header | Command-Option-B |
| 50 | Copy Font Style | Command-Option-C |
| 51 | Select Search Field | Command-Option-F |
| 52 | Delete Messages in Junk Mail | Command-Option-J |
| 53 | Apply Rules to Selected | Command-Option-L |
| 54 | New Viewer Window | Command-Option-N |
| 55 | Show Plain Text Alternative | Command-Option-P |
| 56 | Reveal Reply-To Header | Command-Option-R |
| 57 | Move Selected to Last Working Mailbox | Command-Option-T |
| 58 | Show Original Content | Command-Option-U |
| 59 | Paste Font Style | Command-Option-V |
| 60 | Collapse/Expand | ←/→ |
| 61 | Move to Next/Previous Message | ↓/↑ |
| 62 | Change Toolbar Style | Command + Click Pill Button |
| 63 | Copy Message to Other Mailbox | Option + Drag Message |
Modifier keys Command, Option, and Shift allow us to have more available keyboard shortcuts to perform fairly distinctive actions. By observing how these modifier keys behave, adapting yourself to new Mac keyboard shortcuts will come in handy.