Outlook for Mac has a Custom App Shortcut bug. I found a fix but is there a better way

Question

I receive a lot of mails, and sorting them with point and clicking takes time, so I like to define keyboard shortcuts to move the mails to folders, which speeds up things considerably. The only way, I've found to do this, is to use Macos preferences and the Custom App Shortcut feature. This works, once I activate the outlook menu which shows the shortcut, but when outlook is restarted, then it's forgotten or put in the wrong order of priority, so I again have to find the menu item, which somehow reintegrates the shortcut. Is there a better way?

I'm using outlook for mac v. 16.110 and macos 26.6, but this has been a stable 'feature' for many versions.

Answer 1

Hello @Jon Sporring

From your description, it sounds like you're using macOS Custom App Shortcuts to assign keyboard shortcuts to Outlook menu commands, but those shortcuts are not consistently recognized after Outlook restarts. If that's the case, you may find Outlook's native message management features more reliable than relying on custom menu shortcuts.

You may consider the following alternatives:

1/ Use Outlook's built-in Move to Folder shortcut (Shift + Command + M).

• This allows you to quickly move a selected message to another folder.
• After pressing the shortcut, you can type the folder name and press Enter to file the message.
• Because this is a native Outlook shortcut, it is generally more reliable across application restarts.

For Example:

If you frequently file messages into folders such as Projects, Finance, or Customers, you can select the message, press "Shift + Command + M", type the first few letters of the folder name, and press "Enter".

This provides a keyboard-driven workflow without relying on custom shortcuts.

2/ Use Outlook Rules for messages that follow a consistent pattern, such as emails from specific senders or with specific subjects.

Rules can automatically move messages to designated folders, reducing the need for manual filing altogether.

For Example:

• If all invoices arrive from "____@abc.com", or all project updates contain a specific keyword in the subject line, you can create a rule to automatically move those messages to the appropriate folder as soon as they arrive.
• This removes the need to manually sort those emails altogether

*For your reference:

• Outlook for Mac keyboard shortcuts
• Create a rule in Outlook for Mac

If you still need my assistance, please let me know.

Have a nice day!

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