Speed up your email, contacts, and calendar tasks with the help of keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Outlook for Windows or macOS.
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Outlook’s Ribbon interface is great for finding everything you might ever want to do in the email, contacts, and calendaring program — particularly things you don’t do frequently, like using the mail merge feature.
But if you’re looking to do common tasks fast, you’ll find keyboard shortcuts far more useful. Why bother to lift your hands from the keyboard if you want to create an email message or a meeting, or switch to the calendar?
There are keyboard shortcuts to accomplish a vast array of tasks in the Outlook desktop client, in both the Windows and Mac versions. (Fewer shortcuts are available for the Mac, but you can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts if you like.)
We’ve listed the shortcuts we’ve found the most useful below. Most work whether you’re using a subscription (Microsoft 365/Office 365) or non-subscription version of Outlook. For even more shortcuts, see Microsoft’s Office site.
Note: On Macs, the ⌘ key is the same as the Command or Cmd key.
Useful Outlook keyboard shortcuts
General shortcuts
Action | Windows key combination | Mac key combination |
Open selected item | Ctrl-O | ⌘-O |
Close an open item (message, appointment, contact, task, etc.) | Esc | ⌘-W |
Delete selected item | Ctrl-D | Delete |
Select all items | Ctrl-A | ⌘-A |
Copy selected item | Ctrl-C | ⌘-C |
Cut selected item | Ctrl-X | ⌘-X |
Paste item from the clipboard | Ctrl-V | ⌘-V |
Undo last action | Ctrl-Z | ⌘-Z |
Save | Ctrl-S | ⌘-S |
Ctrl-P | ⌘-P | |
Flag an item for follow-up | Ctrl-Shift-G | Control-5 |
Go to the Search box | F3 or Ctrl-E | ⌘-Option-F |
Use Advanced Find | Ctrl-Shift-F | ⌘-Shift-F |
Search for text within an open item | F4 | ⌘-F |
Check spelling and grammar | F7 | ⌘-: |
Make text bold | Ctrl-B | ⌘-B |
Make text italic | Ctrl-I | ⌘-I |
Add bullets | Ctrl-Shift-L | ⌘-Shift-L |
Switch to Mail | Ctrl-1 | ⌘-1 |
Switch to Calendar | Ctrl-2 | ⌘-2 |
Switch to Contacts | Ctrl-3 | ⌘-3 |
Switch to Tasks | Ctrl-4 | ⌘-4 |
Switch to Notes | Ctrl-5 | ⌘-5 |
Go to the Home tab on the Ribbon | Alt-H |
Email shortcuts
Action | Windows key combination | Mac key combination |
Create a new message (when in Mail) | Ctrl-N | ⌘-N |
Create a new message (from any Outlook view) | Ctrl-Shift-M | |
Go to the previous / next message (in the email list) | ↑ (up arrow) / ↓ (down arrow) | ↑ (up arrow) / ↓ (down arrow) |
Go to the previous / next message (when you have a message open) | Ctrl-. (period) / Ctrl-, (comma) | |
In the Reading Pane, move one page down through text | Spacebar | Page down |
In the Reading Pane, move one page up through text | Shift-Spacebar | Page up |
Mark message as read | Ctrl-Q | ⌘-T |
Mark message as unread | Ctrl-U | ⌘-Shift-T |
Move message to a folder | Alt-H, MV | ⌘-Shift-M |
Send a message | Alt-S | ⌘-Return |
Send/Receive mail | F9 or Ctrl-M | ⌘-Control-K |
Reply | Ctrl-R | ⌘-R |
Reply All | Ctrl-Shift-R | ⌘-Shift-R |
Forward | Ctrl-F | ⌘-J |
Attach a file to a message | Alt-H, AF | ⌘-E |
Create a folder | Ctrl-Shift-E | ⌘-Shift-N |
In the Folder pane, go to a different folder | Ctrl-Y | |
Collapse / expand a conversation group in the email message list | ← (left arrow) / → (right arrow) | ← (left arrow) / → (right arrow) |
Calendar shortcuts
Action | Windows key combination | Mac key combination |
Create a new appointment (when in Calendar) | Ctrl-N | ⌘-N |
Create a new appointment (from any Outlook view) | Ctrl-Shift-A | |
Create a meeting request | Ctrl-Shift-Q | |
Snooze a reminder | Alt-S | |
Forward an appointment or meeting | Ctrl-F | |
Reply to a meeting request with a message | Ctrl-R | |
Reply All to a meeting request with a message | Ctrl-Shift-R | |
Go to a date | Ctrl-G | |
Show 1, 2, etc. days in the calendar | Alt-1, Alt-2, etc. | |
Switch to Work Week view | Ctrl-Alt-2 or Alt– (minus sign) | |
Switch to Full Week view | Ctrl-Alt-3 | |
Switch to Month view | Ctrl-Alt-4 or Alt-= (equals sign) | |
Go to the previous / next day | ← (left arrow) / → (right arrow) | ⌘-Option-← (left arrow) / ⌘-Option-→ (right arrow) (in Day view) |
Go to the previous / next week | Alt-↑ (up arrow) / Alt-↓ (down arrow) | ⌘-Option-← / ⌘-Option-→ (in Week or Work Week view) |
Go to the previous / next month | Alt-Page Up / Alt-Page Down | ⌘-Option-← / ⌘-Option-→ (in Month view) |
Go to the previous appointment | Ctrl-. (period) | |
Go to the next appointment | Ctrl-, (comma) |
Contacts shortcuts
Action | Windows key combination | Mac key combination |
Create a new contact (when in Contacts) | Ctrl-N | ⌘-N |
Create a new contact (from any Outlook view) | Ctrl-Shift-C | |
Create a new contact group | Ctrl-Shift-L | |
Find a contact | F11 | |
Open the Address Book | Ctrl-Shift-B |
Tasks shortcuts
Action | Windows key combination | Mac key combination |
Create a new task (when in Tasks) | Ctrl-N | ⌘-N |
Create a new task (from any Outlook view) | Ctrl-Shift-K | |
Create a new task request | Ctrl-Shift-Alt-U | |
Accept a task request | Ctrl-C | |
Decline a task request | Ctrl-D |
Notes shortcuts
Action | Windows key combination | Mac key combination |
Create a new note (when in Notes) | Ctrl-N | ⌘-N |
Create a new note (from any Outlook view) | Ctrl-Shift-N |
Looking for more help with Outlook for Windows? If you have Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription, see “Outlook for Microsoft 365 cheat sheet.” If you have a non-subscription version of Office, see “Outlook 2016 and 2019 cheat sheet.” We’ve also got tips and cheat sheets for an array of Microsoft products, including older versions of Office.