I guess it's been a little over a year since we made the switch to Google mail with our Element Fusion accounts. And throughout that time, I never used the keyboard shortcut features, until recently.
I'm a pretty big mouse user so I guess I never really saw the need. But, recently, I decided to give them a look, and wow what fun I'm having now!
If you've never used keyboard shortcuts and want to get in on the fun, you have to first go to "settings" and enable them. When you do, Google adds a peculiar looking little arrow beside your conversation list which serves as your pointer while you move things around with the keys. Here's a picture of the arrow, which to me seems a little clunky compared to the rest of the interface, but oh well.
The thing I never like about keyboard shortcuts is it takes a little effort to learn them. I'm a pretty fast mover on email and so anything that interrupts the normal flow and adds time to the process can be a big pain. The thing that I really like about them, however, is that once you learn them, they save you a lot of time, and they are just so fun to use.
My recommendation is pick two or three and start trying to incorporate those. Pick the two or three that are the most common, like open, reply and send. Then, you start to notice the things you don't yet know how to do with keyboard shortcuts. Figure out which ones are the most common, and pick two or three more. If you use a slow steady approach like this you can break yourself in easily without adding too much strain to your normal work flow. Just use the mouse to fill in the gaps until eventually, you have mastered them all.
Perhaps you don't wait as long as me and you've been using keyboard shortcuts for years. If so, feel free to leave a comment with your favorites or your tips and tricks. Or, if you're like me and just starting to give them a try, let us know how they work out for you.
Posted on
Fri, November 30, 2007
by Tim Wall