It’s a general rule in life that if you think you’re skilled or knowledgeable about something there is probably someone out there more so.  For instance, I consider myself really good at grammar – but I’m willing to bet someone, somewhere is gooder than me.  It’s just a fact, and I’m willing to accept that.

That’s why it comes at no surprise to me that when I thought I was “in the know” about keyboard shortcuts and keyboard usage in general, I stumbled upon a whole new world of keyboard shortcut enthusiasts.  This is part 1 of my exploration of this brave new (sources tell me keyboard shortcuts have been around a long time) world.

In this first installment I start out with an easy way to increase your productivity by using keyboard shortcuts in gmail.

Using Keyboard shortcuts in Gmail to impress women

Many people I know leave Gmail open all the time and are constantly checking, reading, and archiving/replying to emails.  Are you one of them  (not people I know, but people that leave Gmail open all the time)? If so, fortunately Google provides keyboard shortcuts to make all these tasks even easier and faster.

Figure 1 - Visual guide to the complicated process of enabling keyboard shortcuts in Gmail

Enable keyboard shortcuts by going to Settings (top right) -> General -> Keyboard shortcuts.  Bam you’re done.  Now when you check your email you have some features that other, uncool people (whom I refer to as the gmail prolitarians), don’t have!

Notice the little arrow next to the first conversation in your inbox.  This indicates the current conversation on which your newly activated keyboard shortcuts will act.  Pressing j and k will move that arrow up and down the conversations, and pressing o will open them.  That’s about 60% of the functionality right there isn’t it?

So, you’ve read the email and now you want to reply to it.  Easy.  Just press the r key (left of t and right of e)  and Gmail pops open it’s reply dialog ready for your input.

Oh, while you’re inside a conversation, you can also press n and p to move up and down the messages in this current conversation.  Is the message you’re on closed?  Simply press o to open it.  And finally, to get out of the conversation and back to your inbox, press u.

What is that, 90% of the functionality you normally use while checking mail?  You want to write a new email?  Press c.  There.  That’s got to cover at least 98% of the normal user’s functionality, right?

For the other 2% check out this handy guide by google, cryptically titled Keyboard Shortcuts.

That’s it for this installment!  Next up in reverse lexicological order, Google Reader for news, Wordpress for writing, Quicksilver for everything, Ubiquity for everything in the browser, VIM for coding, and many more.  Stay tuned!