18 Popular Outlook 2003 Shortcut Key Combinations to Save You Time

Outlook is in millions of user's hands. Yet, the way most use it is like building a house with a hammer and nails vs a nail gun. With the hammer you will get the job done with consequences… it's slower than the nail gun, it's more tiring than the nail gun, and sometimes the hammer is less accurate than a nail gun (think at driving the nails to the best depth for connecting the pieces vs just deep enough). Here are some nail gun style keyboard shortcuts for Outlook 2003 to help you migrate from hammer to nailgun.

Notes:

ctrl-X means hold down the control key then type the X key where X starts the action described.

Alt-X means hold down the alternate (alt) key then type the X key where X starts the action described.

Switch to Mail	Ctrl-1
Switch to Calendar	Ctrl-2
Switch to Contacts	Ctrl-3
Switch to Tasks	Ctrl-4
Send the message you've been typing	Alt-S
Start a new message (you must be in mail)	Ctrl-N
Move a word to the right / left	Ctrl-{right arrow} / Ctrl-{left arrow}
Forward an email	Ctrl-F
Start a new appointment in calendar, task in task list, email message in email	Ctrl-N
To add sender of an email you received to your address book: open the message and hover over their name in from:	Right mouse click then click on add to contacts.
Make some text bold (in Word & email)	Ctrl-B to start, type the word(s), ctrl-B to stop
Print	Ctrl-P
Change windows (programs)you're working in	Alt-tab
In a folders list	Proceed the folder name with a symbol to move it to the top of the list
Reply to an email	Ctrl-R
Open the Inbox	Ctrl-shift-i
Cut selected text	Ctrl-C
Edit	F2

Comments

[Susan Sabo]

@Yvonne ~
Using Outlook 2007 you can stay on the keyboard (always faster than moving to the mouse to click). You must be in the message tab to start (this is where you normally are when writing an email). Tap the alt key, (let go) then tap these letters one at at a time: P S D

Let me know how it works for you.
Susan

[yvonne]

Does anyone know the shortcut to enable and disable 'save sent message'? For example, sometimes my reply is just one line and I don't need to keep that in my sent box. At the moment, i have to click on 'Option' then uncheck the box 'save sent message'. Appreciate someone can show the shortcut to this.Thank you.

[Mike Wilson]

"I'm a mac user as well as all in my office."

Give me a break. Be thankful for such an informative article and great web site.

Boo hoo hoo to your "mac". Get Outlook already if you want to use the info and/or manage email on a professional basis.

Jeeze...

[Susan Sabo]

@Andrew ~
I understand you would like more neutral posts regarding managing email - those are in the works and will start later this month. Since >85% of businesses use Outlook I consciously decided to get specific on some useful ways to use it.
Thanks for reading!
Susan

[Andrew]

Ctrl-Enter also sends the current message.

[omar]

I'm a mac user as well as all in my office. Hope you could post more neutral articles about managing email.