Outlook 2010: Sending Email Using Only Your Keyboard

How much time a day do you spend on composing, reading, and sending email each day? In a fast paced world, we are always looking for ways to improve our efficiency.  Have you ever considered how much time switching between the keyboard and the mouse slows you down? Carpal tunnel is a reality for the average business user as we continue to become more and more dependent on computers in the work place.  Few people realize that it is possible to compose and send email without ever touching the mouse.

Sending an Email Using only the Keyboard

Once Outlook 2010 is open you can do everything straight from the keyboard following the simple steps below.

1. Make sure Outlook 2010 is open and the active window.
2. Open a New Email Message
• Ctrl + N – mail view
• Ctrl+Shift+M – any other view (i.e. Calendar)
3. The New Message will open with the cursor in the To: field. Enter the name or email address of the first person name or email you want to send the message to in the field. The Autocomplete may present you with a list of names, you can use the down and up arrow to select the names, then press Enterkey to make a selection.
• If you need to add more people to the list then use a ; semicolon, a space and start typing the next person.
4. Press Tab to move to the next field to fill in the Cc: and Subject field to fill in accordingly. Once you have added the subject press Tab again which will move you to the body of the message.
5. Type your message as you normally would.
6. You can check you spelling by pressing F7 key.
7. Once you are ready to send the message press Ctrl+Enter.

Adding an Attachment Using only the Keyboard

A common part of sending an email is to attach a file to send as well, but don’t worry you can also do this complete using the keyboard and not have to switch to a mouse!

1. After you have typed your message and before you send your message you want to add an attachment. Press and release the Alt key on your keyboard to activate the keyboard shortcut on the ribbon.
2. Press and release the H, then A, then F keys on the keyboard. Collectively, they are the Insert File keyboard shortcut. The Insert File dialog box opens. You navigate in this box using the Tab key (to move to the next field),Shift-Tab (to move to the previous field), Space (to select files and folders), Up arrow and Down Arrow (to move forward and backward through lists) and Enter to work in this box.
3. Begin by pressing Tab until the focus is in the section of the dialog box where you want to work. Depending on where you are in the box, an item may be highlighted, or surrounded by a solid or a dotted blue box.
4. If the focus is in a list of items, you can use the Up arrow and Down arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate through the list.
5. Use the Space bar or the Enter key to choose the selected item, then Tab and Shift-Tab to move to the next pane or field in the box.
6. Navigate to the Insert button and press the Enter key to insert the attachment