At ProtonMail, our core mission is to build an encrypted internet that is more safe and private for everyone. As part of this mission, we know how important it is to develop the tools you need to be efficient and productive. We are therefore very pleased to introduce keyboard shortcuts in the V4 web app available at beta.protonmail.com.
Designed for power users, keyboard shortcuts allow you to navigate the ProtonMail interface; organize your mail; open, close, or archive your emails; and much more using a simple combination of keystrokes instead of your mouse or trackpad.
A faster way to navigate ProtonMail
Keyboard shortcuts in our V4 web client offer a number of key improvements over the Hotkeys function offered in our V3 web app. These include:
- Improved navigation using your keyboard’s arrow keys
- Tooltips — when keyboard shortcuts are enabled, you can find out the shortcut for an action by hovering your mouse pointer over any action button.

- Pressing the Tab key shows the keyboard shortcut focus. Press enter to perform the action focused on.
- The Tab key can be used to cycle the focus through all keyboard actions available, starting with the currently selected element of the web interface (for example, a dropdown menu or the Composer window).
How to use keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are not enabled by default in beta.protonmail.com. To enable the feature, go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard shortcuts and toggle the setting on.

Now whenever you hover your cursor over an element of the ProtonMail web interface, you will see a tooltip showing the keyboard shortcut associated with it.
You can click the Display keyboard shortcuts button (shown above) for a full list of shortcuts available. These are also listed in our keyboard shortcuts support page and can be brought up at any time within the ProtonMail V4 web app using the ? key (Ctrl + / on many keyboards).
Where key combinations are specified (using more than one key), hold down the leftmost button first, then work your way right. For example, to go to the Inbox, hold down the G key and press I. To expand or contact the Composer window, hold down the Ctrl key, then also hold down the Shift key, then press M.
Don’t have a ProtonMail account yet? Get one today and start using keyboard shortcuts
Other features for power users
For many power users, keyboard shortcuts are a must-have feature that greatly improves productivity. Other ProtonMail productivity features that power users might also be interested in include:
- Advanced custom filters that automatically filter emails by assigning tags or sorting them into folders
- Advanced search using ProtonMail Bridge
- Catch-All email to receive all emails sent to your demain (even if improperly addressed)
- Automated email signatures
- Out-of-office responses
We depend on your feedback to help make ProtonMail even more useful and convenient. Send bug reports and suggestions inside the web app or contact our support team. Thank you for being a part of the Proton community.
One comment on “Get more done with keyboard shortcuts in ProtonMail”
It would be great if we had the ability to create custom keyboard mappings. In my case the ability to map functions to VIM like mappings would be a benefit and allow me to bring ProtonMail mappings in line with the rest of my keyboard shortcuts.
Also, when will there be keyboard mappings for other Proton Apps, like Calendar and Drive?
Thanks.