Keyboard Shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts are supported by default in the main window. Notice that many "universal" shortcuts (e.g. Ctrl+C to copy selected text to the clipboard, or Ctrl+F to open a "Find" dialog) are recognized by KMail, but are not documented here.

Keyboard ShortcutAction
SpaceScroll down in the current message.
or NGo to the next message in the current folder and display the message preview.
or PGo to the previous message in the current folder and display the message preview.
Ctrl+HomeGo to the very first message in the current folder and display the message preview.
Ctrl+EndGo to the very last message in the current folder and display the message preview.
+Go to the next unread message in the current folder.
-Go to the previous unread message in the current folder.
CCopy this message to another folder.
MMove this message to another folder.
AReply to all recipients of this message (with quote).
RReply to sender with quote.
Shift+RReply to sender without quoting anything.
SLaunch the message search dialog.
TOpen this message in the composition window.
EnterView selected message in the full-screen message viewer.
VView the raw message, headers and all, as a text file.
Ctrl+LCheck for new messages on the server(s).
Ctrl+NOpen the composition window to write a new message.
Ctrl++Zoom in on the current message, in increments of 20%.
Ctrl+-Zoom out of the current message, in increments of 20%.
Ctrl+0Reset message Zoom factor to 100% (full size).
Ctrl+Alt+DToggle message structure display (below the message preview pane).
Ctrl+Shift+OCreate the tabbing toolbar (appears above the message list).
Ctrl+Shift+WRemove the currently active tab from the tabbing toolbar.
Alt+Go to the previous folder in the folder list (if the folder list has focus).
Alt+Go to the next folder in the folder list (if the folder list has focus).
Ctrl+HomeFocus on the very first folder. Use Ctrl+Space to actually enter the folder.
Ctrl+EndFocus on the very last folder. Use Ctrl+Space to actually enter the folder.
Ctrl+SpaceEnter the folder that has focus, i.e. the folder that you navigated to using Ctrl+Home or Ctrl+End.
Shift+HToggle between plain text and HTML (unless HTML has been preferred via the Settings dialog).
Shift+ & Shift+Select messages sequentially in the message list, starting with the current message.

For more keyboard shortcuts, take a look at the SettingsConfigure Shortcuts... dialog. If you're not happy with the defaults, you can change them!

Two mouse actions deserve mention here. First, you can select multiple noncontiguous messages to be processed all at once (e.g. copied, deleted, or moved) by pressing Ctrl and selecting them with the left mouse button. Second, you can open a message in an external window by double-clicking an item in the message list. If the message is in the outbox, drafts, or templates folder, it will be opened in a composition window. Otherwise, it will be opened with the external message viewer, an abbreviated version of KMail's main window without the folder and message lists, and with shorter menus.