You've Got Mail: G-Mail and Google Shortcuts
Before starting this lesson, please ensure you are signed into your g-mail or Google profile in Google Chrome.
To know if you are signed into your g-mail or Google profile, visit gmail.com and determine if you are logged in or if it is asking you to enter log in credentials.
Step 1
Once signed into your g-mail account, turn off virtual cursor, browse mode, quick nav, or sticky mode.
Ensure you have heard your screen reader say "off".
Step 2
Press shift and forward slash, otherwise known as a question mark.
A dialog box will open containing the option to enable or disable keyboard shortcuts.
Press tab until you hear the word "enable". Press enter. Tab to the "close" button. Press enter.
If you hear "disable" instead of "enable," this means that you have already enabled keyboard shortcuts for that specific Google application. You can escape to close.
Tips
- Several Google keyboard shortcuts require pressing a sequence of two keys. When pressing keys, think about clapping your hands twice. We clap our hands with only a half a second or less between claps. This is how you should think about pressing the keys in a command with two keys. Too much time between keys will cause the first press to time out. Too little time between presses may cause the keys to be interpreted as being pressed at the same time.
- When navigating through your inbox with your respective screen reader's virtual view turned off, you will use up and down arrows to move through the conversations. You can use your left and right arrows to hear specific information in small chunks, such as sender, date and time, and a message preview.
- Here are a couple of shortcuts to get you started, but you will find a comprehensive list linked below.
- Press c - compose a new message
- Press g then i - go to top of inbox
- Press o or enter - open a message
- Press r - to reply to the currently open message
- You can visit the comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts for G-mail, or while in g-mail, press "control /" to bring up the available keyboard shortcuts.
- If you would like more comprehensive help understanding how to navigate g-mail with a screen reader, please visit this Google Workspace help article
- Ensure virtual cursor, browse mode, quick nav, or sticky mode is OFF
- Refresh the page
- You should only need to turn on keyboard shortcuts once for an individual g-mail account, but if your shortcuts suddenly stop working, check if they have been disabled.
- Check if your browser needs an update.
Please check out this Youtube video for help in understanding your screen reader's navigation of G-Mail with virtual view on or off.