Recently we took a look at what was new in Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. The biggest new item on the menu is Outlook, and it’s no PC-version-wannabe. Outlook for Mac has everything that you’ll find in the Windows version, and it’s designed with an elegant and efficient user interface. However, to navigate that user interface quickly you’ll need to know the shortcut keys!
Here they are however if you notice a few missing, please let me know so I can add them to the list!
Most Common Shortcuts
Action
Hotkeys
Start Outlook without running schedules or attempting to connect to a mail server. Use this option to prevent receiving connection errors when you use Outlook while you are not connected to the network.
SHIFT (when you start Outlook)
Open the Database Utility while Outlook is closed
Hold down the OPTION key, and then click the Outlook icon in the Dock.
Save an item
⌘+S
Print an item
⌘+P
Undo the last action
⌘+Z
Redo the last action
⌘+Y
Minimize the active window
⌘+M
Create a new folder in the navigation pane
SHIFT+⌘+N
Hide the reading pane or show it on the right
⌘+
Hide the reading pane or show it below
SHIFT+⌘+
Move the selected item to a different folder
SHIFT+⌘+M
Copy the selected item to a different folder
SHIFT+⌘+C
Select all items in the item list, if the item list is the active pane
⌘+A
Minimize or expand the ribbon
OPTION+⌘+R
Hide Outlook
⌘+H
Quit Outlook
⌘+Q
Windows and Dialog boxes
Action
Hotkeys
Go to Mail view
⌘+1
Go to Calendar view
⌘+2
Go to Contacts view
⌘+3
Go to Tasks view
⌘+4
Go to Notes view
⌘+5
Open the Progress window or make it the active window
⌘+7
Open the error log or make it the active window
⌘+8
Open My Day
⌘+9
Open the Contacts Search window
⌘+0
Open the Preferences dialog box
⌘+COMMA (,)
Open the Media Browser
CONTROL+⌘+M
Cycle forward through open windows
⌘+TILDE (~)
Cycle back through open windows
SHIFT+⌘+TILDE (~)
Close the active window
⌘+W
Open the selected item
⌘+O
Move forward through boxes in a dialog box
TAB
Move back through boxes in a dialog box
SHIFT+TAB
Search
Action
Hotkeys
Do a basic search in Outlook
OPTION+⌘+F
Do an advanced search in Outlook
SHIFT+⌘+F
Find text within an item
⌘+F
Find the next instance of the text you searched for in an item
⌘+G
Find the previous instance of the text you searched for in an item
⌘+SHIFT+G
Cancel a search in progress
⌘+PERIOD (.)
Mail
Action
Hotkeys
Create a new message
⌘+N
Send the open message
⌘+RETURN
Send all messages in the Outbox and receive all incoming messages
⌘+K
Send all the messages in the Outbox
SHIFT+⌘+K
Save the open message and store it in the Drafts folder
⌘+S
Add an attachment to the open message
⌘+E
Open the Spelling and Grammar dialog box
⌘+COLON(:)
Check recipient names in the open messages
CONTROL+⌘+C
Reply to the sender of the message or, if the message is from a mailing list, reply to the mailing list
⌘+R
Reply to all
SHIFT+⌘+R
Forward the message
⌘+J
Open the selected message in a separate window
⌘+O
Clear the flag for the selected message
OPTION+⌘+APOSTROPHE (‘)
Mark the selected message as junk mail
⌘+SHIFT+J
Mark the selected message as not junk mail
⌘+SHIFT+OPTION+J
Display the previous message
CONTROL+[
Display the next message
CONTROL+]
Move the selected message to a folder
SHIFT+⌘+M
Decrease the display size of text in an open message or in the reading pane
⌘+HYPHEN (-)
Increase the display size of text in an open message or in the reading pane
⌘++
Scroll down to the next screen of text or, if you are at the end of a message, display the next message
SPACEBAR
Scroll up to the previous screen of text or, if you are at the beginning of a message, display the previous message
SHIFT+SPACEBAR
Delete the selected message
DELETE
Delete the current message, and, if the message window is open, close it
⌘+DELETE
Mark selected messages as read
⌘+T
Mark selected messages as unread
SHIFT+⌘+T
Mark all messages in a folder as read
OPTION+⌘+T
Calendar
Action
Hotkeys
Create a new appointment
⌘+N
Open the selected calendar event
⌘+O
Delete the calendar event
DELETE
Switch the view to include today
⌘+T
Open the View Date date picker
SHIFT+⌘+T
In day view, move to the previous day. In week and work week views, move to the previous week. In month view, move to the previous month.
⌘+LEFT ARROW
In day view, move to the next day. In week and work week views, move to the next week. In month view, move to the next month.
⌘+RIGHT ARROW
Contacts
Action
Hotkeys
Create a new contact
⌘+N
Save and close a contact
⌘+RETURN
Open the selected contact
⌘+O
Delete the contact
DELETE
Close the current open contact and open the previous contact
CONTROL+[
Close the current open contact and open the next contact
CONTROL+]
Tasks
Action
Hotkeys
Create a new task
⌘+N
Save and close a task
⌘+RETURN
Open the selected task
⌘+O
Delete the task
DELETE
Close the current open task and open the previous task in the Tasks list
CONTROL+[
Close the current open task and open the next task in the Tasks list
CONTROL+]
Notes
Action
Hotkeys
Create a new note
⌘+N
Open the selected note
⌘+O
Delete the note
DELETE
Close the current open note and open the previous note in the Notes list
CONTROL+[
Close the current open note and open the next note in the Notes list
CONTROL+]
Send a note as an e-mail message
⌘+J
Send a note as an attachment to an e-mail message
CONTROL+⌘+J
Editing and Formatting Text
Action
Hotkeys
Cut the selected text to the Clipboard
⌘+X
Copy a selection to the Clipboard
⌘+C
Copy the selection to the Scrapbook
CONTROL+OPTION+C
Paste a selection from the Clipboard
⌘+V
Paste a clip from the Scrapbook
CONTROL+OPTION+V
Paste a selection from the Clipboard and match the destination style
SHIFT+OPTION+⌘+V
Make the selected text bold
⌘+B
Make the selected text italic
⌘+I
Underline the selected text
⌘+U
Strikethrough the selected text
SHIFT+⌘+X
Move the cursor left one character
LEFT ARROW
Move the cursor right one character
RIGHT ARROW
Move the cursor up one line
UP ARROW
Move the cursor down one line
DOWN ARROW
Move the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph
OPTION+UP ARROW
Move the cursor to the end of the current paragraph
OPTION+DOWN ARROW
Move the cursor to the beginning of the current word
OPTION+LEFT ARROW
Move the cursor to the end of the current word
OPTION+RIGHT ARROW
Delete the character to the left of the cursor, or delete the selected text
DELETE
Delete the character to the right side of the cursor, or delete the selected text
DELETE ⌦
If your keyboard does not have a DELETE ⌦ key, use FN+DELETE.
Insert a tab stop
TAB
Move the cursor to the beginning of the line
⌘+LEFT ARROW
Move the cursor to the end of the line
⌘+RIGHT ARROW
Move the cursor to the top of the message body
⌘+UP ARROW
Move the cursor to the bottom of the message body
⌘+DOWN ARROW
Move the cursor to the beginning of the selected text
⌘+HOME
Move the cursor to the end of the selected text
⌘+END
Scroll up
PAGE UP
Scroll down
PAGE DOWN
Flagging messages, contacts, and tasks for follow up
Action
Hotkeys
Flag the selected item for follow up, with Today as Due Date
CONTROL+1
Flag the selected item for follow up, with Tomorrow as Due Date
CONTROL+2
Flag the selected item for follow up, with This Week as Due Date
CONTROL+3
Flag the selected item for follow up, with Next Week as Due Date
CONTROL+4
Flag the selected item for follow up, with No Due Date
CONTROL+5
Flag the selected item for follow up, and add a custom Due Date
CONTROL+6
Flag the selected item for follow up, and add a reminder
CONTROL+=
Mark the selected item as Complete
CONTROL+0
Clear the selected item’s follow-up flag
OPTION+⌘+APOSTROPHE (‘)
Help Window
Action
Hotkeys
Open the Outlook Help menu
SHIFT+⌘+?
Scroll toward the beginning of a Help topic one screen at a time
PAGE UP
Scroll toward the end of a Help topic one screen at a time
PAGE DOWN
Scroll toward the beginning of a Help topic one line at a time
UP ARROW
Scroll toward the end of a Help topic one line at a time
DOWN ARROW
Copy the selection to the Clipboard
⌘+C
Close the Help window
⌘+W
60 Comments
60 Comments
Vadim
So, I use a MAC at work and I have to say, Microsoft hit a home run by ditching Entourage and launching Outlook on the MAC.
So far so good, Outlook 2011 for MAC rocks! It still lacks all the features like iMAP and Calendaring integration with GMAIL (at least I can’t find it) but I can live with that. I’m sure it will be in an SP.
Do you have a shortcut for permanently deleting an e-mail from the inbox? In Outlook for pc’s you use shift+delete. I can not find that short cut for Mac Outlook. It is useful for not having to go into the delete box and get rid of the junk. I like to keep items in the delete box for reference, but not active action items.
It looks like shift-delete does the same thing (permanently delete an email) on Mac Outlook 2011. If I click shift-delete on a selected message, it does not move the message to the “Deleted Items” folder and I cannot undo the delete.
This is a great list – thanks! However, I do have one question with my conversion of using Outlook on my pc to my mac — is there a way to be able to view e-mail, calendar and tasks on the same screen? I loved that feature on my pc since I did not have to keep going back to click on the various functions (e.g., calendar and tasks). Hopefully there is an easy way to do this!
Is it possible to delete a contact from the autocomplete list in Outlook 2011.
So the suggested contacts and recent contacts.
Some are double and some are old, but cannot delete them…
When I want to see what the calendar for a date years in the future looks like, it drives me crazy to click through the calendar one month at a time. Unlike Outlook 2010, I don’t see any other way to do this in the Mac version; am I missing something?
great list! is there a keyboard shortcut to assign a note, task or email to a specific category? i’m pretty sure there was a way to do this in entourage…or at least to open up the category menu.
Thank you!
michael
Hi, thanks for a useful list. How do I delete the emails from the web server once they’ve been downloaded? I could do this on Outlook 2003 on PC. All I could find online was an instruction to uncheck the ‘Leave message on server’ box, but I can’t see that on the Outlook 2011 account options.
Good list! Anyone know a work around for drag-drop emails to create a calendar appt/new contact/new task? In PC version this was really helpful – filled out the notes section/email address etc automatically.
What is the commmand to add an attachment? I have command + E assigned to send an email (from old Eudora days). I want to assign it command + H (old Eudora again), but I don’t know the exact menu wording to assign. TIA. TG
How can I save a message to a folder other than “Sent Items” at the time I’m sending it? In Outlook 2010 (Windows) it’s a menu choice. Not able to find a way to do it in Outlook 2011, so I have been sending the message, then in a second step, I go to “Sent Items” and move the message to a different folder.
On Macs, the Option and Alt keys are the same. If you are on a Mac laptop, there may be times when the Alt key doesn’t work as expected (e.g., when you are logging into Parallels); in this case, press the Function key (fn) along with the Alt key.
In Mac Mail, it is possible to highlight contacts and use Command+Shift+I to merge the contact information. Is there a way to do this using Outlook. I use Mac Outlook 2011.
I just installed Outlook and there is no arrows to scroll up and down through by inbox email. The bar grab is way too fast (I’ve got a thousands of emails that load and without the up and down arrows, I can’t do it. I get about 250 emails a day and I just can’t scroll down!
Is there any way to copy an attachment in an email to the clipboard and past it into another email? This seems like basic functionality to me but I believe it is missing from my Outlook for Mac.
Also missing the format painter functionality and see no way to add that customization to the toolbar.
Tried giving the suggestion to Microsoft but all the directions on how to recommend it seem to be a dead end.
Sridhar, try opening Keyboard Shortcuts (Mac Menu -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts), then highlight “Application Shortcuts”, then add a new shortcut. I had to find Outlook in the Application drop-down, then I typed “Collapse All Groups” and chose a keyboard shortcut by pressing the keys you want- I used Cmd-Ctrl-K.
What is the equivalent key in MAC (Yosemite) for MS-Windows key combination of , especially with Outlook 2016? I have this habit of typing out an enter or while typing mails and the editor capitalizes the first letter when I dont want it to. I am hoping that the key equivalent will do the trick for me. Open to other options also..
Is there a way to de-activate the hotkey/shortcut command to send the open email?
Outlook for Mac 2011 Version 14.5.6
I cannot find any hotkey/shortcut area to edit, change or add.
Every once in a while (twice today) I will be typing pretty fast and hit some combination that sends the email as I am typing it…Not good.
Thanks, but your sequence is confusing. For us dummies, it is:
Click on Word [next to the apple icon]. Click Preferences. Click Edit. Remove tick from Show Paste Options Buttons. It’s that easy when it’s spelt proper and in correct order.
Does anyone know a keyboard shortcut for simply opening a specific folder (as opposed to moving or copying an email to a specific folder) in Outlook for for Mac?
Phishing is a huge problem. One of the ways to protect folks is to try to help them easily check a suspicious e-mail message *without opening it*. I’ve been trying to find or create a hotkey that would do the equivalent of the “View Source” command. In your inbox you can hover over a message, right-click (two finger tap on the touchpad) and select the “View Source” option to see the mail header. Does anyone know of a hot ket or way to map a hotkey for this function? I think it would help a LOT for training folks on what to do with a questionable e-mail.
Recently we took a look at what was new in Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. The biggest new item on the menu is Outlook, and it’s no PC-version-wannabe. Outlook for Mac has everything that you’ll find in the Windows version, and it’s designed with an elegant and efficient user interface. However, to navigate that user interface quickly you’ll need to know the shortcut keys!
Vadim
So, I use a MAC at work and I have to say, Microsoft hit a home run by ditching Entourage and launching Outlook on the MAC.
So far so good, Outlook 2011 for MAC rocks! It still lacks all the features like iMAP and Calendaring integration with GMAIL (at least I can’t find it) but I can live with that. I’m sure it will be in an SP.
Tom
Great list, thanks!
Stefan
This list is a great help.
But one question remains – how can i put a new email to the outbox … without sending it ?
Matthew
Hi,
Great post grooveDexter. Do you know if there is a shortcut key to open the mail and calendar views in a new window?
Cheers,
Matthew
Sabrina
Do you have a shortcut for permanently deleting an e-mail from the inbox? In Outlook for pc’s you use shift+delete. I can not find that short cut for Mac Outlook. It is useful for not having to go into the delete box and get rid of the junk. I like to keep items in the delete box for reference, but not active action items.
Great list of other commands!
Sabrina
Suresh
It looks like shift-delete does the same thing (permanently delete an email) on Mac Outlook 2011. If I click shift-delete on a selected message, it does not move the message to the “Deleted Items” folder and I cannot undo the delete.
Dave
Control – Delete in OSX is the same as Shift – Delete in Windows.
Dave
Dave is mistaken. Control–Delete worked one time, but never again.
Julie
This is a great list – thanks! However, I do have one question with my conversion of using Outlook on my pc to my mac — is there a way to be able to view e-mail, calendar and tasks on the same screen? I loved that feature on my pc since I did not have to keep going back to click on the various functions (e.g., calendar and tasks). Hopefully there is an easy way to do this!
Leroy van Dijk
Is it possible to delete a contact from the autocomplete list in Outlook 2011.
So the suggested contacts and recent contacts.
Some are double and some are old, but cannot delete them…
thanks
Oskar
Thanks!! Great help!!
Don Mathis
What is the keyboard shortcut for adding a comment on the side to a text in Word 2011 mac?
Don Mathis
This was answered on another website. To add a comment on the side in Word 2011 mac
command+option+A
A McClellan
Thanks for this! I thought I’d be looking for this information for hours, but your suggestion popped up right away.
Casey
When I want to see what the calendar for a date years in the future looks like, it drives me crazy to click through the calendar one month at a time. Unlike Outlook 2010, I don’t see any other way to do this in the Mac version; am I missing something?
alvaro
is it possible pls to flag a mail when you are typing it, for follow up in certain date and time…??
because now, the only way is that you send it and then go to the outbox and then flag it….
which means too many steps…
thanks.
michael
great list! is there a keyboard shortcut to assign a note, task or email to a specific category? i’m pretty sure there was a way to do this in entourage…or at least to open up the category menu.
Thank you!
michael
bjc
You rock…this list is awesome! Will follow you because I haven’t found anything this extensive on the web – exactly what I needed.
Possibly I missed it…is there a shortcut to remove and/or change the Priority?
Thanks!
Andrew
Hi, thanks for a useful list. How do I delete the emails from the web server once they’ve been downloaded? I could do this on Outlook 2003 on PC. All I could find online was an instruction to uncheck the ‘Leave message on server’ box, but I can’t see that on the Outlook 2011 account options.
Jeffrey Kohn
GREAT list!!! Thank you for this!!
2 things I cannot find/change from Outlook 2010 to 2011 are:
The function when you delete a message, have Outlook to go to the next message, NOT return back to the inbox. Any idea if that’s possible?
Also, I’d like my reply (only reply) font color to be a different color than the original “sent” message. Any idead if that’s possible?
Again, thanks!
Jeff
Doug
Is there an equivalent to the Ctrl-K in windows for email address auto-complete?
Steven J Klein
The feature invoked by ctrl-k is called “Check Names.” On a Mac the equivalent keyboard shortcut is the relatively awkward Control-⌘-C.
(It actually appears in the list above, where it’s described as “Check recipient names in the open messages.”)
mike
Good list! Anyone know a work around for drag-drop emails to create a calendar appt/new contact/new task? In PC version this was really helpful – filled out the notes section/email address etc automatically.
Damian
Is there an equivalent to the Ctrl+B in windows to remove formatting ?
Dave
Yes, to paste without formatting it’s Command-Option-Shift+V
TG
What is the commmand to add an attachment? I have command + E assigned to send an email (from old Eudora days). I want to assign it command + H (old Eudora again), but I don’t know the exact menu wording to assign. TIA. TG
Chris
How do I scroll quickly to the bottom of my inbox? On a Windows PC it’s CTRL + End. Any equivalence on a Mac?
TG
Function – right arrow
Brian
Hi! Grat list. Very helpful.
One question. I can’t seem to get the hide and unhide reading pane hotkey to work. Any suggestions?
Casey
What about “accept a meeting request”?
Craig
How can I save a message to a folder other than “Sent Items” at the time I’m sending it? In Outlook 2010 (Windows) it’s a menu choice. Not able to find a way to do it in Outlook 2011, so I have been sending the message, then in a second step, I go to “Sent Items” and move the message to a different folder.
Phil
found the answer here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macoutlook/outgoing-rule-to-copy-items-from-sent-items-on/8f49b2da-5322-4149-934b-22645fbe126e?msgId=c16c0c10-6b70-42bd-b4de-d3003911411e
Sal
On regular Outlook, when waiting to speallcheck, the short cut was simple F7, and ShiftF7 (Ther). Is there a shortcut for those features?
Mike
Command-option-L and control-command-option-R respectively. A 4 key shortcut, ridiculous I know.
Stacie
Mike, the spell-check shortcut isn’t working for me on Lion… am I missing something?
Joseph
It should be: ⌘ + SHIFT + ;
jill
where is the ‘option’ key on mac ? I am trying to find out way to spell check emails before they automatically send – any other top tips ? thanks.
Casey
On Macs, the Option and Alt keys are the same. If you are on a Mac laptop, there may be times when the Alt key doesn’t work as expected (e.g., when you are logging into Parallels); in this case, press the Function key (fn) along with the Alt key.
Brad
In Mac Mail, it is possible to highlight contacts and use Command+Shift+I to merge the contact information. Is there a way to do this using Outlook. I use Mac Outlook 2011.
Chris Haughey
Is there a shortcut for going directly to the Inbox (not just the Mail window)? This used to be Ctrl + Shift + i Outlook for Windows
Jonathan
I am also looking for the Mac shortcut to go directly to the inbox.
Lars J
I just installed Outlook and there is no arrows to scroll up and down through by inbox email. The bar grab is way too fast (I’ve got a thousands of emails that load and without the up and down arrows, I can’t do it. I get about 250 emails a day and I just can’t scroll down!
Chad P
Is there any way to copy an attachment in an email to the clipboard and past it into another email? This seems like basic functionality to me but I believe it is missing from my Outlook for Mac.
Also missing the format painter functionality and see no way to add that customization to the toolbar.
Tried giving the suggestion to Microsoft but all the directions on how to recommend it seem to be a dead end.
Sridhar
I am trying to collapse / expand all email groups, but i am not finding the same in mac. Can any one help me.
Supervolt
Sridhar, try opening Keyboard Shortcuts (Mac Menu -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts), then highlight “Application Shortcuts”, then add a new shortcut. I had to find Outlook in the Application drop-down, then I typed “Collapse All Groups” and chose a keyboard shortcut by pressing the keys you want- I used Cmd-Ctrl-K.
HTH
whassupe
This.
Been looking for this for over a year. Huge, huge help. Thanks!
tonny
Hi, don’t you know what is a shortcut to move between mail folders list of emails reading pane?
Katrina
My mother in law is blind and uses the voice over. She needs to know how to open an attachment in an email. Anyone know?
Nat
Thanks for this!
Can you tell me how to remove current formatting when copy and pasting into outlook?
Is there a mac equivalent to paste special?
Vadim
COMMAND+ENTER to send an email? Really?
Thnx for the tip. Was going crazy.
Holly
Does anyone know how to make the formatting (hard returns, spaces, etc. show)? In MS Word 2010 for PC the shortcut is control shift 8. Thank you.
bjc
If you’re speaking of showing the formatting in Word – Command 8
Hope that works
Holly
Thanks!
Viswanathan
What is the equivalent key in MAC (Yosemite) for MS-Windows key combination of , especially with Outlook 2016? I have this habit of typing out an enter or while typing mails and the editor capitalizes the first letter when I dont want it to. I am hoping that the key equivalent will do the trick for me. Open to other options also..
Michael Yoder
Is there a way to auto advance to the next email after you delete or move the previous email?
Chris
Is there a way to de-activate the hotkey/shortcut command to send the open email?
Outlook for Mac 2011 Version 14.5.6
I cannot find any hotkey/shortcut area to edit, change or add.
Every once in a while (twice today) I will be typing pretty fast and hit some combination that sends the email as I am typing it…Not good.
jayjaymartin
Thanks, but your sequence is confusing. For us dummies, it is:
Click on Word [next to the apple icon]. Click Preferences. Click Edit. Remove tick from Show Paste Options Buttons. It’s that easy when it’s spelt proper and in correct order.
Gregg
Does anyone know a keyboard shortcut for simply opening a specific folder (as opposed to moving or copying an email to a specific folder) in Outlook for for Mac?
Matt
Phishing is a huge problem. One of the ways to protect folks is to try to help them easily check a suspicious e-mail message *without opening it*. I’ve been trying to find or create a hotkey that would do the equivalent of the “View Source” command. In your inbox you can hover over a message, right-click (two finger tap on the touchpad) and select the “View Source” option to see the mail header. Does anyone know of a hot ket or way to map a hotkey for this function? I think it would help a LOT for training folks on what to do with a questionable e-mail.
Daniel
Shift + Cmd + M isn’t working for me, for moving to a new folder. Can anyone help with this? Thanks!