4. Find your old friends
The full integration of the Ribbon in Outlook 2010 means that you might have a hard time locating many of your favorite commands from earlier versions of Outlook. Use our quick reference charts for an extensive list of where to find your old friends in the newest version of Outlook.
5. Use keyboard shortcuts
If you're a keyboard-centric kind of person who prefers typing to clicking, there are plenty of keyboard shortcuts for you in Outlook 2010. We've included several of the most useful at the bottom of the page.
You can also use a clever set of keyboard shortcuts for working with the Ribbon. Press the Alt key and a tiny letter or number icon will appear on the menu for each tab -- for example, the letter H for the Home tab. Now press that letter on your keyboard, and you'll display that tab or menu item.
Once you've started to learn these shortcuts, you'll naturally begin using key combinations. So instead of pressing Alt then H to display the Home tab, you can press Alt-H together.
The screenshot to the right shows the most useful Alt key combinations in Outlook 2010.
For more nifty keyboard shortcuts, see the table below. And even more shortcuts are listed on Microsoft's Office 2010 site.
Next: Outlook 2010 quick reference charts
More useful keyboard shortcuts in Outlook 2010
| Key combination | Action |
|---|---|
| Navigation shortcuts | |
| Ctrl-1 | Go to Mail |
| Ctrl-2 | Go to Calendar |
| Ctrl-3 | Go to Contacts |
| Ctrl-4 | Go to Tasks |
| Ctrl-5 | Go to Notes |
| Ctrl-6 | Go to the Folder List in the Navigation Pane |
| Ctrl-7 | Go to Shortcuts |
| Ctrl-. (period) | Go to the next message (when you have a message open) |
| Ctrl-, (comma) | Go to the previous message (when you have a message open) |
| F6 | Move between the Navigation pane, the main Outlook window, the Reading pane, the To-Do bar, and the access keys in the Outlook Ribbon |
| Tab | Move between the main Outlook window, the smaller panes in the Navigation pane, the Reading pane, and sections in the To-Do bar |
| Arrow keys | Move around within the Navigation pane |
| Ctrl-Y | Go to a different folder |
| F3 or Ctrl-E | Go to the Search box |
| Alt-Up arrow or Alt-Page Up | In the Reading pane, go to the previous message |
| Alt-Down arrow or Alt-Page Down | In the Reading pane, go to the next message |
| Spacebar | In the Reading pane, scroll down through the text of a message |
| Shift-Spacebar | In the Reading pane, scroll up through the text of a message |
| Creating items | |
| Ctrl-Shift-M | Create an email message |
| Ctrl-Shift-A | Create an appointment |
| Ctrl-Shift-Q | Create a meeting request |
| Ctrl-Shift-C | Create a contact |
| Ctrl-Shift-L | Create a contact group |
| Ctrl-Shift-X | Create a fax |
| Ctrl-Shift-E | Create a folder |
| Ctrl-Shift-P | Create a Search Folder |
| Ctrl-Shift-K | Create a task |
| Ctrl-Shift-U | Create a task request (if you have an SMS account configured) |
| Ctrl-Shift-H | Create a new Microsoft Office document |
| General shortcuts | |
| Ctrl-Shift-Y | Copy an item |
| Ctrl-Shift-V | Move an item |
| Ctrl-F | Forward an item |
| Ctrl-D | Delete an item |
| Ctrl-Shift-G | Flag for follow-up |
| F7 | Check spelling |
| Ctrl-S | Save (except in Tasks) |
| Alt-S | Save and close (except in Mail) |
| Ctrl-Z | Undo |
| Ctrl-P | |
| Email shortcuts | |
| Ctrl-Shift-I | Go to Inbox |
| Ctrl-Shift-O | Go to Outbox |
| Alt-S or Ctrl-Enter | Send |
| Ctrl-P | |
| Ctrl-R | Reply to a message |
| Ctrl-Shift-R | Reply All to a message |
| Ctrl-F | Forward a message |
| Ctrl-Alt-F | Forward as attachment |
| Ctrl-Alt-J | Mark a message as not junk |
| Ctrl-Shift-I | Display blocked external content (in a message) |
| Ctrl-Shift-N | Apply Normal style |
| Ctrl-M or F9 | Check for new messages |
| Up arrow | Go to the previous message |
| Down arrow | Go to the next message |
| Ctrl-N | Create a new message (when in Mail) |
| Ctrl-Shift-M | Create a new message (from any Outlook view) |
| Ctrl-O | Open a message |
| Ctrl-Shift-B | Open the Address Book |
| Insert | Add a Quick Flag to an unopened message |
| Ctrl-Shift-G | Display the Flag for Follow Up dialog box |
| Ctrl-Q | Mark a message as read |
| Ctrl-U | Mark a message as unread |
| F4 | Find or replace in an open message |
| Shift-F4 | Find next in an open message |
| Alt-Enter | Show the properties for the selected item |
| Ctrl-B | Display Send/Receive progress (when a Send/Receive is in progress) |
Preston Gralla is a contributing editor for Computerworld.com and the author of more than 35 books, including How the Internet Works (Que, 2006). See more by Preston Gralla on Computerworld.com.