Mastering Outlook with a screen reader, keyboard shortcuts which make email easier, received 2025 11 14

[Colin Howard]

https://vi.ie/mastering-outlook-with-a-screen-reader-keyboard-shortcuts-that-make-email-easier/

Greetings,

I have absolutely no experience with this, am sending with no further
comment, apart from being well aware the software is fairly widely used by
AVIP members and perhaps this from David Goldfield might be of use.

By Dorian Salzmann

14/11/2025

If you use Microsoft Outlook with a screen reader, you may already know how
powerful the keyboard can be. Instead of navigating with the mouse or
searching through ribbons, you can use keyboard shortcuts to move quickly
between messages, create appointments, and manage your inbox efficiently -
all without losing your place.

Whether you're using JAWS, NVDA, or Windows Narrator, these shortcuts work
consistently across Outlook on Windows, and they can make your day-to-day
communication much smoother. I know that a lot of people have been switching
over to Microsoft Outlook New Version, so I thought I would remind you of
some useful shortcuts to help you ease into the transition if not already
done so.

Navigating Outlook Efficiently
Outlook has several main sections: Mail, Calendar, Contacts (sometimes
called People), and Tasks. You can move between them using simple keyboard
commands:

Ctrl + 1 jumps straight to your Inbox.
Ctrl + 2 switches to your Calendar.
Ctrl + 3 takes you to your Contacts.
Ctrl + 4 opens your Tasks view.
It's worth noting that the order of these sections can vary slightly
depending on which version of Outlook you're using.

Reading and Replying to Emails
When reviewing messages, Arrow Down moves to the next email, while Arrow Up
goes back to the previous one. JAWS and NVDA will automatically announce the
sender and subject line as you move through messages, helping you decide
which ones to open. Enter Key will open the email for you, and Escape will
return you to the List. Whilst CTRL + Shift + I will return you to the first
item in your current folder.

To reply to an email that you already have selected or open, press Ctrl + R;
to reply to everyone on the thread, use Ctrl + Shift + R. To forward a
message, press Ctrl + F. If you want to open an email in a separate window -
which can make navigation easier with a screen reader press Shift + Enter.

Writing and Sending Emails from the Keyboard
Creating and sending emails is one of the most common tasks in Outlook, and
it's possible to do entirely with the keyboard. To start a new message,
press Ctrl + N. Outlook opens a new message window, and your cursor lands in
the "To" field so you can start typing a contact name or address right away.
TAB will bring you around to the other fields, such as CC, BCC, Subject and
Main text.

When you're finished writing, Ctrl + Enter sends the message. If you're not
ready to send it yet, Ctrl + S saves your message as a draft - your screen
reader will confirm it's saved.

Managing Your Inbox with Ease
Keeping your inbox tidy is much easier when you can perform common actions
quickly.

To mark a message as read, press Ctrl + Q.
To mark as unread, use Ctrl + U.
Traditionally, if you want to flag a message for follow-up, press Ctrl +
Shift + G. Or at least that is how it used to work. I've been trying this
keyboard shortcut recently, and it doesn't seem to work now, however.
Moving or organising messages can also be simple. Ctrl + Shift + V opens the
Move dialog box so you can choose where to file a message. Using the Arrow
Keys will help you navigate to the folder of choice whilst Enter moves the
email to the folder you've chosen. Ctrl + Shift + E creates a new folder.

Working in the Calendar
When using the Calendar view which is Ctrl + 2, you can create a new event
with Ctrl + N, send a meeting invite with Ctrl + Enter, or reply to an
invitation using Ctrl + R.

If you lose your place in the calendar, press F6 repeatedly until the focus
moves to the current date. Most screen readers will announce "Today,"
confirming that you're back on the current day's schedule.

Editing and Formatting Emails
When you're composing a message, Outlook supports all the familiar text
editing shortcuts:

Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow to Highlight one word at a time to the right of
your keyboard cursor.
Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow to Highlight one word at a time to the left of
your keyboard cursor.
Ctrl + C, Ctrl + X, and Ctrl + V copy, cut, and paste text.
Ctrl + B, Ctrl + I, and Ctrl + U apply bold, italics, or underline.
Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y undo and redo.
You can also insert a hyperlink with Ctrl + K, and in the new Outlook, the
spell checker is typically enabled by default and will often adjust for you.

Searching and Managing Folders
Finding specific emails or contacts could be made easier once you try this:
As Alt + Q opens a general search, and you type your result.

To move between folders, Ctrl + Y opens the folder list then Arrow Down and
Enter to proceed. These commands are especially helpful if you keep your
mailbox organised by category or project.

Final Thoughts
For screen reader users, Outlook is one of the most accessible email clients
around - and these keyboard shortcuts are the key to unlocking that power.
Once you start relying on them, you'll find you can move through your inbox,
write messages, and check appointments far faster than before.

If you're just getting started, try focusing on a few shortcuts each week -
perhaps navigation one week, and email management the next. With a little
practice, they'll become second nature, and you'll be working as efficiently
as any Outlook power user, with or without a screen.

David Goldfield,

Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist

http://www.DavidGoldfield.com

Director of Marketing,

Blazie Technologies

http://www.BlazieTech.com

JAWS Certified, 2022

NVDA Certified Expert

Subscribe to the Tech-VI announcement list to receive blindness technology
news, events and information.

Email: tech-vi+...@groups.io

http://www.DavidGoldfield.com

Colin Howard, Southern England.

[david.g...@gmail.com]

                                Colin,

 

Found the contents of this email very useful, and, will be keeping it.

 

I knew most of the shortcuts in outlook, but some I did not, so will bring them into use.

 

May be worth while putting this on a future edition of “Interlink”, and set the reading to a lower speed.

 

Many Thanks.

 

Dave Stephenson.

[Colin Howard]

Dave,

 

Yes, glad you found it of use and if there is room, will put on the November magazine and as you suggest, reduce the reading speed and perhaps adjust some of the punctuation and spacing, to try and make it flow more naturally, then if people can take notes, it will be easier.

 

Of course, they can save the post from the AVIP-World group or look it up in the group archive if they've not already taken it.

 

Perhaps you are thinking I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs!  Well, in some people's case, they need such teaching!

 

 

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[mj.ba...@gmail.com]

Thanks, colin.

I've saved what I want from this in a Word document. I use Outlook daily and so I knew a lot of it already but by no means all of it.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: avip...@googlegroups.com <avip...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Colin Howard
Sent: 15 November 2025 07:59
To: post AVIP list <avip...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [avip] Mastering Outlook with a screen reader, keyboard shortcuts which make email easier, received 2025 11 14

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[Colin Howard]

Greetings,

Mike, join with Steevo, glad to receive your positive reply along with his.

I plan to include the piece on November's Interlink, I'll have to modify the
text to make it flow getter and will reduce the speed of speech to give
people the opportunity of saving items.

However, as I have left the original following your reply to me, I suggest
anybody who wants it should save from this post removing the unnecessary
pieces such as this reply and your reply, they really have no excuse for not
saving the original text from David Goldfield's article.

Cheers.

----- Original Message -----
From: <mj.ba...@gmail.com
To: <avip...@googlegroups.com

[Avip]

How do you open attachments and send attachments?
Kate

> On 15 Nov 2025, at 10:48 am, mj.ba...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> Thanks, colin.

> To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/avipworld/001501dc561d%2455d05830%2401710890%24%40gmail.com.

[mj.ba...@gmail.com]

Hello kate

I've changed the subject line in order to reply to your questions.

To attach a file to an email, press Alt + N for the Insert menu and arrow down to the very first option, which is attach file. I didn't know this myself, but I tried Alt + I and then Alt + N, and I discovered that the latter was what I needed.

I then sent myself and email from a different account with a file attached to it. I discovered that all you need to do is to press the tab key several times until you get to the attachment. You should know if there is an attachment from the announcement of the email when you arrow up or down the inbox.

In my Office Outlook 365, things come in what seems a rather peculiar order when you keep tabbing through the email. For instance, reply comes before you have got to the text. Nevertheless, if you listen for the "to" box being announced, the next announcement will be the title of the attached file. Just press enter, and if it is a Word document it will open in protected view.

I have not found a keyboard shortcut to enable the editing of a protected file. I can see to use the mouse, but if you can't do this, one work-around would be to copy the whole text and to paste it into a new file,which you can then edit to your heart's content .

Thanks, Kate, for asking these questions, because it has made me do some work to find out the answers, which has helped me too.

BTW, it seems a bit strange that your name appears as AVIP, rather than Kate Fensome on most occasions that you send emails, but occasionally as your correct name.

Best wishes

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/avipworld/83167C40-6A2A-4F71-8B37-84E9AE8E6AC2%40gmail.com.

[Colin Howard]

Kate,

It would be useful to know what software you are using and on what device
before we can sensibly give you any guidance.

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/avipworld/83167C40-6A2A-4F71-8B37-84E9AE8E6AC2%40gmail.com.

[mj.ba...@gmail.com]

I didn't receive this into my inbox, so I don't know whether anyone else, especially Kate, got it. I'm therefore re-sending it. Colin, as most people now have Windows 11, I expect Kate can use the shortcuts I used and I daresay they also work in windows 10. I don't know about older versions of Office.