How to customize Gmail's keyboard shortcuts

Create your own custom shortcuts and become a Gmail master

We all have our individual preferences when it comes to how we interact with software, so it's nice that Google allows us to create custom shortcuts in Gmail. Keyboard shortcuts are already useful — see how to enable them in our other guide — but customizing the keys that trigger them can make them easier to remember. This may seem like a feature meant for power users, but you also don't have to be an expert to benefit from them since they're so easy to set up.

Enable custom keyboard shortcuts

Before utilizing custom keyboard shortcuts in Gmail, you first need to enable them in the settings.

1. In the desktop version of Gmail, go to the Settings cog > See all settings > Advanced.
2. Locate the Custom keyboard shortcuts section, then click Enable to turn this feature on.
   
3. Hit Save Changes at the bottom to finish up here, and it'll automatically take you back to your primary inbox.

Set up your custom keyboard shortcuts

Now that your Gmail account has the setting enabled, you'll be able to start tweaking your shortcuts to suit your needs.

1. Go to the Settings cog > See all settings > Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. Look over the list and replace one or multiple actions with your new custom keyboard shortcuts.
   
   The Key(s) section will show you the default action, and the blank boxes on the right are where you press a key to assign new shortcuts.
3. Once you are all set, scroll down to the bottom and hit Save Changes to finalize the settings.

Beware, if you unwittlingly assign a new shortcut that is already set against another action, Gmail will throw up this error message when you try to save:

If that happens, figure out which shortcut has been duplicated and either use a different key or delete it from the pre-existing defaults.

You might want to experiment with different combinations until you find something that works best for you. How many keyboard shortcuts you change and how many you leave on their default setting is entirely up to you.

Restore your keyboard shortcuts back to default

I think we've all been there — we can sometimes go overboard with the customization and end up not liking the final result. If you are unhappy with the custom shortcuts you set and want to go back to the default ones, it's easy to do.

1. Head back to the Settings cog > See all settings > Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. Scroll down to the bottom and click the Restore Defaults option in the lower right corner of the UI.
   
3. Click Save Changes, and it will restore all of your Gmail keyboard shortcuts to their default settings.

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Now that you've learned how to create your own custom Gmail keyboard shortcuts, it's time to test them out and see how they work for you. It will probably take some getting used to initially, but once you get them working right, you'll see how powerful they can be. This should help you to save some time and navigate your email more efficiently.

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