Change Focus In Mail?

Questions & Suggestions
1

In Apple Mail, is there a way to change focus from the list of messages to the single, selected message without opening the message to a new window?

2

It probably depends on how you have Mail set up, and what your Accessibility Preferences are. I don’t know of any method that can be reliably applied to any installation (but there may be several).

If you specify why you want to move the focus to the previewed message, someone is likely to be able to provide a slick solution to the task of which this problem is only a part.

Have you tried {tab}? Works on my installation (Mail 8.2 on OS 10.10.5).

⌥{arrow-[up|down]} moves up and down the messages previewed in a thread.

Note that with the thread selected in the messages list (middle column for me), {right-arrow} and {left-arrow} expand and collapse the conversation, showing/hiding the messages that comprise it. You can {up-arrow} and {down-arrow} between messages listed.

3

Hey Bruce,

This can be done with a series of keystrokes like:

Cmd-Opt-F
tab
tab

Or it’s possible to do with AppleScript and System Events, but you’d need to tell me how you’re using Mail – in classic layout or the new and “improved” layout.

-Chris

4

Here are all Mail (Yosemite) shortcuts I use frequently:

cmd+1 : Inbox
cmd+2 : Sent
cmd+3 : Drafts
cmd+4 : Flagged

If you add other inboxes to the favourites menu, these can be selected by this combination “cmd+1,2,3…”

option+up/down arrow : select conversations

cmd+option+up/down arrow : first/last message
control+option+up/down arrow : first/last message (same thing as above)