Keyboard Shortcuts

Article
07/03/2012

Applies to: Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, Office 365 for enterprises, Microsoft Exchange, Live@edu

The keyboard shortcuts described in this Help topic refer to the U.S. keyboard layout. The layout of the keys on other keyboards may not correspond exactly to the keys on a U.S. keyboard.

You can press the ESC key to close any open form or dialog box. However, if you do this, any information you add to the form or dialog box won't be saved.

Keyboard shortcuts are provided for the following areas:

Calendar	New Appointment and Meeting Request Forms
Contacts	New Message Form
Inbox and Other E-Mail Folders	Text Editing
Options	Checking Spelling
Tasks	Text Formatting
Message and Meeting Request Forms	Right-to-Left Layout

Calendar

Keyboard shortcut	Function
ENTER	Opens the selected appointment or meeting.
DELETE	Deletes the selected appointment or meeting. For repeating appointments or meetings, only the selected occurrence is deleted.
TAB	Selects the next option, appointment, or meeting in the Day view.
SHIFT+TAB	Selects the previous option, appointment, or meeting in the Day view.

Contacts (Includes Groups)

Keyboard shortcut	Function
CTRL+S	Saves changes to the open contact.
ENTER	Opens the selected contact.
DELETE	Deletes the selected contact.
UP ARROW	Selects the previous contact in the list.
DOWN ARROW	Selects the next contact in the list.
SHIFT+UP ARROW	Selects the current and previous contacts in the list.
SHIFT+DOWN ARROW	Selects the current and next contacts in the list.
HOME	Selects the first contact in the list.
END	Selects the last contact in the list.
PAGE UP	For contact lists of two or more pages, selects the first contact on the previous page.
PAGE DOWN	For contact lists of two or more pages, selects the first contact on the next page.
TAB	Selects the next option in the Contacts view.
SHIFT+TAB	Selects the previous option in the Contacts view.

Inbox and Other E-Mail Folders

Keyboard shortcut	Function
ENTER	Opens the selected message.
CTRL+N	Opens a new message form.
CTRL+Q	Marks the selected message as Read. To use this shortcut with Internet Explorer 7, you need to disable the Quick Tabs feature.
CTRL+R	Replies to the selected message.
CTRL+SHIFT+R	Replies to the sender and all recipients of the selected message.
CTRL+SHIFT+F	Forwards the selected message.
DELETE	Deletes the selected message.
SHIFT+DELETE	Permanently deletes the selected message.
UP ARROW	Selects the previous message in the list.
DOWN ARROW	Selects the next message in the list.
SHIFT+UP ARROW	Selects the current and previous messages in the list.
SHIFT+DOWN ARROW	Selects the current and next messages in the list.
HOME	Selects the first message in the list.
END	Selects the last message in the list.
PAGE UP	For message lists of two or more pages, selects the first message on the previous page.
PAGE DOWN	For message lists of two or more pages, selects the first message on the next page.
TAB	Selects the next option in the Inbox view.
SHIFT+TAB	Selects the previous option in the Inbox view.

Options

Keyboard shortcut	Function
CTRL+S	Saves changes to your Options.
TAB	Selects the next option in the Options view.
SHIFT+TAB	Selects the previous option in the Options view.

Tasks

Keyboard shortcut	Function
CTRL+S	Saves changes to the open task.
ENTER	Opens the selected task.
DELETE	Deletes the selected task. For recurring tasks, the entire series is deleted.
SHIFT+DELETE	Permanently deletes the selected task.
UP ARROW	Selects the previous task in the list.
DOWN ARROW	Selects the next task in the list.
SHIFT+UP ARROW	Selects the current and previous tasks in the list.
SHIFT+DOWN ARROW	Selects the current and next tasks in the list.
HOME	Selects the first task in the list.
END	Selects the last task in the list.
PAGE UP	For task lists of two or more pages, selects the first task on the previous page.
PAGE DOWN	For task lists of two or more pages, selects the first task on the next page.
TAB	Selects the next option in the Tasks view.
SHIFT+TAB	Selects the previous option in the Tasks view.

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Message and Meeting Request Forms

Keyboard shortcut	Function
ESC	Closes the window.
CTRL+> or CTRL+period	Views the next item in the list.
CTRL+< or CTRL+comma	Views the previous item in the list.
CTRL+R	Replies to the sender of the item.
CTRL+SHIFT+R	Replies to everyone in the To and Cc boxes.
CTRL+SHIFT+F	Forwards the item.
TAB	Selects the next option on the message or meeting request form.
SHIFT+TAB	Selects the previous option on the message or meeting request form.
CTRL+TAB	Returns to the beginning of the tab sequence in the item. For example, in a meeting request, if an attendee's name is selected, pressing CTRL+TAB resets the focus so that pressing TAB selects Accept in the toolbar.
CTRL+D	Permanently deletes the message or meeting request form.

New Appointment and Meeting Request Forms

Keyboard shortcut	Function
CTRL+S	Saves the appointment or meeting request.
CTRL+D	Permanently deletes the appointment or meeting request.
ALT+S	Sends the meeting request.
CTRL+K or ALT+K	Resolves the names in the address boxes.

New Message Form

Keyboard shortcut	Function
CTRL+S	Saves the message to the Drafts folder.
CTRL+D	Permanently deletes the message.
ALT+S	Sends the message.
F7	Checks the spelling in the message.
CTRL+K or ALT+K	Resolves the names in the address boxes.
ALT+T, ALT+C, or ALT+B	Opens the Find Names dialog box.

Text Editing

Keyboard shortcut	Function
BACKSPACE	Deletes the selection or the character to the left of the cursor.
CTRL+BACKSPACE	Deletes the word to the left of the cursor but not the space before the word.
CTRL+C	Copies the selection to the Clipboard.
CTRL+V	Pastes the contents of the Clipboard into the current location.
CTRL+X	Cuts the selection to the Clipboard.
DELETE	Deletes the selection without copying it to the Clipboard.
INSERT	Toggles between inserting and overwriting text.
CTRL+Z	Reverses the effect of the most recent formatting command.
CTRL+Y	Reapplies the most recent formatting command.
CTRL+F	Finds text.
SHIFT+F10	Displays a menu of options, if one exists. This is the same as right-clicking an item or option in the text.
CTRL+L	Displays the Hyperlink dialog box. This lets you insert or change a hyperlink in the text.

Checking Spelling

Keyboard shortcut	Function
F7	Checks the spelling in the message.
CTRL+J	Jumps to the next misspelled word after the pointer and opens the Suggestions menu.
	When the Suggestions menu is open:
UP ARROW	Moves up through the list.
DOWN ARROW	Moves down through the list.
RIGHT ARROW	Puts the pointer at the end of the misspelled word.
LEFT ARROW	Puts the pointer at the beginning of the misspelled word.
ESC	Hides the menu and puts the pointer at the beginning of the misspelled word.
ENTER	Selects a highlighted item in the menu.

Text Formatting

Keyboard shortcut	Function
CTRL+B	Toggles bold formatting.
CTRL+I	Toggles italic formatting.
CTRL+U	Toggles underlining.

Right-to-Left Layout

Keyboard shortcut	Function
CTRL+LEFT SHIFT	Sets the message area for left-to-right typing and editing. This is the orientation for most Western languages.
CTRL+RIGHT SHIFT	Sets the message area for right-to-left typing and editing. This is the orientation for languages such as Arabic and Hebrew. When you press CTRL+RIGHT SHIFT, the scroll bar moves to the left edge of the message window.

What if I want to know more?

Accessibility Features