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How to use keyboard shortcuts with Hotmail

We know you're out there, Hotmail users. If you want to save some time in Hotmail, try using keyboard shortcuts.

Ed Rhee
Ed Rhee, a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is an IT veteran turned stay-at-home-dad of two girls. He focuses on Android devices and applications while maintaining a review blog at techdadreview.com.
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Ed Rhee
Microsoft Hotmail
Microsoft

Hotmail, like Gmail and Yahoo Mail, supports the use of keyboard shortcuts. The interesting part? You can customize them to mimic the keyboard shortcuts from Gmail or Yahoo Mail.

Hotmail shortcuts
Ctrl+N : new e-mail
Ctrl+Enter : send e-mail
Delete : delete e-mail
Ctrl+Shift+O : open e-mail
Ctrl+R : reply
Ctrl+Shift+R : reply all
Ctrl+Shift+F : forward e-mail
Ctrl+Q : mark as read
Ctrl+U : mark as unread
Ctrl+S : save as draft
L : flag e-mail
Ctrl+Shift+J : mark as junk
Esc : close e-mail
F7 : check spelling
S then A : select all
S then N : deselect all
F then I : go to inbox
F then D : go to drafts
F then S : go to sent folder
/ : search

If you want to change the default shortcuts to Gmail mode or Yahoo Mail mode, go Options > More Options > Keyboard shortcuts, then choose which set you'd like to use.

Change default Hotmail keyboard shortcuts
Screenshot by Ed Rhee

That's it. The full list of the keyboard shortcuts, including the Gmail- and Yahoo-supported ones, are available at the Windows Live Hotmail Help Center.