Keyboard shortcuts

Click the keyboard icon at the foot of the right rail for the list inside the app. This page is the same list with the fine print.

The five that matter

Key	Does
j / k	Next / previous conversation. ↓ / ↑ do the same.
e	Archive the open conversation (done)
u	Mark the open conversation unread
c	Compose a new message
/	Search

Learn those and most of a triage session happens without the mouse. Moving with j / k marks each conversation read as you land on it, the way opening it with a click would.

The rest

Key	Does
#	Move the open conversation to trash
⌘K / Ctrl K	Quick switcher: jump to a view, an inbox, a tag or Settings by typing its name. Press Enter on text it does not recognise and the text goes to search.
⌘↵ / Ctrl ↵	In a reply: send and archive. In a new message: send.
⌘Click / Ctrl Click	Select several conversations in the list. Once one is selected, plain clicks add and remove.
Esc	Clear the selection. In table layout, with nothing selected, go back to the list.

Archive and trash both show an Undo button at the foot of the screen for a few seconds. There is no key for it.

What is mouse-only

Assign, snooze, star, tags and reply have no key. They live in the reader header and its menu. ? does not open the shortcut list; the keyboard icon on the right rail does.

Where keys stop working

Shortcuts are for the inbox. They do not fire while you are typing in any field, including the reply editor and the comment box, and they do not work on the Settings pages at all. If a key seems dead, click on empty space in the conversation and try again.

Inside the comment box, plain Enter posts the comment and Shift ↵ starts a new line.

Gmail muscle memory

j, k, e, c, u, / and # are Gmail’s keys, on purpose. Your team is already fluent in a mail client and should not have to learn a new one.