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.
Feel free to share your feedback and questions with us via our official social media channels on Twitter and Reddit.
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8 comments 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.
“Keyboard shortcuts are not enabled by default in beta.protonmail.com” – and please, please keep it like that in the final version! I really hate it when my pc does seemingly random things I didn’t want it to because I accidentally hit some keyboard shortcut combination I wasn’t aware of. I would be scared to touch anything if I knew that some keyboard shortcut might send an email I wasn’t finished writing, or deleting something vital.
I’d see potential for improvement if long time users had insight to development strategy. While I understand one has to safeguard IP, the potential. necessity, lies in the fact that Proton is purchased for security and so there will be compromises in functionality that need improvisation.
Lest this gets lost in translation, I have tweaked my data with amazing results but this could all turn out ugly if it conflicted with future upgrades.
One nightmare issue is that keylogging phishing could get into my account and delete all my data at the press of a single button. Now that can happen with any data system, but what precautions are in place, should Proton not have a backup?
I also find your support 100% on functionality but poor on addressing the root issue – maybe priority support will solve this? What drives me mad is when you keep asking how good your agents are and in light of this – you with me?
Thanks for the update on the keyboard shortcuts! They are one of my favorite features in ProtonMail.
please please please can we have a spelling checker.
I would like to second the request for being able to customise the keyboard shortcuts!
Or honestly, like Sam suggested, a toggleable vim-like layout…
I am already using vimium in the browser, but it does not work great in protonmail for navigation.
If I could set vim-like keys then I would disable vimium for protonmail, and still be able to navigate how I wish.
I love the new keyboard shortcuts! I think they are very well done.
Any developer insights into how this was implemented?
I like the keyboard shortcuts, but trying to figure out how to read thru my Inbox easily with the keyboard.
When I Trash or Archive a message, how do I get to the next message?