Tips & tricks

Slack: Ctrl+K jumps to any channel or teammate

Ctrl+K

The quick switcher finds a channel, a message, or a person in a few keystrokes. Slack's single most important shortcut.

Color categories: an email's status at a glance

A category like “Waiting on reply” or “Client A” colors emails across folders — and you find them with one click.

The two-minute rule for your inbox

Anything that takes less than two minutes, do right when you read it. Longer things go to your task list — and archive the email.

Email three times a day in blocks, not sixty times in drips

Constantly checking your inbox shreds your focus into pieces. Three fixed blocks a day are enough for 95% of jobs.

Delayed delivery in Outlook

Even in Outlook, an email can wait until Monday morning. The new version has Schedule Send right next to the Send button.

Essential Outlook shortcuts: reply, send, switch modules

Ctrl+R

Ctrl+R replies, Ctrl+Enter sends, Ctrl+1/2/3 switches between mail, calendar, and people.

Quick Steps in Outlook: three actions in one click

A Quick Step can move a message, mark it read, and forward it all at once. Turn a repeated sequence into a single button.

Outlook rules: let your inbox sort itself

Automatic rules move system notifications, reports, and CCs into folders — your inbox stays reserved for messages that actually need you.

Drag an email onto your calendar and it becomes a meeting

In Outlook, drag a message onto the calendar icon — it creates an event with the email's text inside. No more retyping.

30 seconds to undo a sent email

Gmail can “hold” sending for up to 30 seconds. A typo in the recipient or a forgotten attachment stops being a disaster.

Search Gmail like a pro: from:, has:attachment, older_than:

Search operators find in seconds an email you'd otherwise spend fifteen minutes hunting for by hand.

Inbox sections: to-do, awaiting reply, to read

Multiple Inboxes splits Gmail into sections by label — turning your inbox into a clear working desk.

Mute the conversation that's no longer about you

M

An endless “reply all” thread? The M key mutes the conversation — new replies go straight to the archive.

Filters: keep newsletters out of your inbox for good

An automatic rule moves newsletters under a label and marks them as read. You read them when you want to.

Templates in Gmail: never write the same reply twice

Answering similar questions over and over? Save the reply as a template and drop it in with two clicks.

Snooze an email until you can actually do something about it

The Snooze feature hides an email from your inbox and brings it back at a time you choose. Your inbox stays clean and nothing gets lost.

Schedule your email to send at the right time

An email written Saturday evening can go out Monday at 8 AM. Scheduled sending respects the recipient's time — and your reputation.

Gmail from the keyboard: E archives, R replies

E

Turn on keyboard shortcuts in Gmail and clear your inbox several times faster — without a single click.

Zoom the page: Ctrl+plus, minus, and zero

Ctrl++

Tiny text on the web isn't something you have to live with. Ctrl and your scroll wheel (or +/−) zoom the page in, Ctrl+0 resets it.

The middle mouse button: opens and closes tabs too

Middle-clicking a link opens it in a new background tab. Middle-clicking a tab closes it — no need to hit the tiny X.

Browser profiles: work and personal, kept apart

Two profiles means two sets of bookmarks, logins, history, and extensions. No more signing out and mixing work with personal.

A floating video window over everything else

Picture-in-picture keeps a video (a call, a tutorial) in the corner of your screen while you work elsewhere.

Space scrolls one screen at a time

Shift+Space

Space moves the page down by one screen, Shift+Space moves it back up. The most comfortable way to read long text without a mouse.

Ctrl+J: your list of downloaded files

Ctrl+J

Where's that downloaded file? Ctrl+J opens your downloads with a “Show in folder” button.

Custom search shortcuts: “w query” searches Wikipedia

Teach your address bar to search specific sites directly — Wikipedia, Maps, your internal wiki. One letter, a space, your query.

Tab groups: a cleanup for chronic tab hoarders

Tabs can be grouped under a colored label and the group collapsed. Research for a project takes one click instead of twelve open tabs.

Incognito window: a clean browser for testing and logins

Ctrl+Shift+N

Incognito mode is useful well beyond privacy — a second account, testing a site without cache, lending your computer to a coworker.

Ctrl+F: don't read the page, search it

Ctrl+F

Looking for a specific piece of information on a long page? Ctrl+F and a few letters get you there in two seconds.

Search tabs, history, and bookmarks with @

Type @tabs, @history, or @bookmarks into Chrome's address bar — and you're searching only open tabs, history, or bookmarks.

Pinned tabs: mail and calendar always in the same spot

A pinned tab shrinks to an icon, stays on the left, and can't be closed by accident. The foundation for a stable browser setup.