Someone asks "are you free Thursday?" and you want the answer in a second, not after a hunt for the calendar icon. Jumping between Mail and Calendar from the keyboard makes you the person who replies first.
Ctrl+2
Step by step
- From anywhere in Outlook, press Ctrl+2 to open Calendar.
- In the new Outlook, press Alt+Shift+Y to jump to today.
- Press Ctrl+1 to return to Mail.
Tips & troubleshooting
- Ctrl+N creates a new event while you're in Calendar, or a new email in Mail.
- In the new Outlook, press ? to see the full list of shortcuts.
The full set of module shortcuts
- Ctrl+1: Mail.
- Ctrl+2: Calendar.
- Ctrl+3: People in classic Outlook.
- Ctrl+4: Tasks in classic Outlook, People in the new Outlook.
- Ctrl+Shift+I: back to the Inbox from any folder.
- Ctrl+Y: go to a different folder by name, in classic Outlook.
Create things without switching at all
Often you don't need to visit the calendar, only to add to it. In classic Outlook these work from any module.
- Ctrl+Shift+A: new appointment.
- Ctrl+Shift+Q: new meeting request.
- Ctrl+Shift+M: new email.
- Ctrl+Shift+K: new task.
- Ctrl+Alt+R on a selected email: reply with a meeting invitation to everyone on it.
Move around the calendar
- Change the view: in classic Outlook Ctrl+Alt+1, 2, 3 and 4 give Day, Work week, Week and Month. In the new Outlook use Shift+Alt+1 to 4.
- Ctrl+G opens Go to Date in classic Outlook. Type a date or a phrase such as next Friday.
- Alt+Down Arrow and Alt+Up Arrow move to the next and previous week in classic Outlook.
- Arrow keys move between time slots; Enter opens the selected appointment.
See mail and calendar together
- Hover over the calendar icon in classic Outlook for a quick look at today's appointments.
- Right-click the calendar icon and choose Open in New Window to keep it on a second monitor.
- In the new Outlook, the My Day pane shows your agenda beside your inbox.
- In Outlook for Mac the shortcuts are Cmd+1 for Mail and Cmd+2 for Calendar.