Introduction

Below you will learn about composing and reading email messages and the useful SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader hotkeys that can help you perform these tasks.

Reading time: 10 minutes approx.

Video

The following video introduces this topic. The video content and more are discussed in detail below.

Composing an email message

By default, you compose email messages in HTML format. If you prefer to compose your emails in Rich Text or Plain Text, then you can make this adjustment in the "Mail" category of the "Outlook Options" dialog box (ALT + F, T).

These help pages assume you are using HTML format.

To compose a new email message:

1. If focus is on a folder containing mail, press CONTROL + N, otherwise, press CONTROL + SHIFT + M. A message window opens with the cursor in the "To" field.
2. Type the email address of the recipients. Separate each email address with a semi colon. As you begin to type, Outlook will present a list of possible contacts, which you can navigate using the UP and DOWN ARROW keys and select by pressing ENTER. If required, you can use the Speak focus hotkey to speak, spell, etc. the selected contact. Press NUMPAD 0 or, if you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press CAPS LOCK + UP ARROW. Alternatively, press ALT + T to select a person from your contact list.
3. TAB to and repeat the same steps for the CC field and, if showing, the BCC field. You can press ALT + C and ALT + B respectively to add people from your contact list to these fields. Note that you can show and hide the BCC field through the "Options" tab of the Ribbon (ALT + P, B).
4. TAB to the "Subject" field and type in a description for the email.
5. TAB to the message body and type your message.
6. If you want to add an attachment to the message, from the "Insert" tab of the Ribbon, select "Attach a file”, and then select "Browse this PC" (ALT + N, A, F, B). The "Open" dialog box appears enabling you to navigate to and select the file to be attached.
7. If you want to change the email properties before sending, press ALT + ENTER. This will open the "Properties" dialog box. In this dialog box you can change settings including the priority level and if you want to request a read receipt.
8. Do one of the following:
   • If the message is incomplete, press CONTROL + S to save your message and then press ESCAPE to close the message. The message will be available for you to edit in the future from the "Drafts" folder.
   • If you are ready to send the email. Press ALT + S. Outlook closes the message window and sends the email. If you are working offline, then the message will go to the "Outbox". It is then sent the next time you go online.

Formatting text in a message

You can apply a variety of format changes when creating Rich Text and HTML messages. The format options are not available when composing messages in Plain Text.

You can apply basic format changes through the "Message" tab of the Ribbon (ALT + H). You can apply more advanced changes through the "Format text" tab of the Ribbon (ALT + O). You can also make changes through the "Font" dialog box (CONTROL + D).

The following popular keyboard commands are also available:

• SHIFT + Arrow Keys to select text.
• F8 + Arrow Keys to select text using Selection Mode.
• CONTROL + C to copy text.
• CONTROL + X to cut text.
• CONTROL + V to paste text.
• CONTROL + B to make text bold
• CONTROL + I to italicize text.
• CONTROL + U to underline text.
• CONTROL + L to left align a paragraph.
• CONTROL + E to centre align a paragraph.
• CONTROL + J to justify a paragraph.
• CONTROL + R to right align a paragraph.
• CONTROL + SHIFT + N to set paragraph to Normal style.
• CONTROL + SHIFT + L to set paragraph to bullet list style.
• CONTROL + T to create a hanging indent. Repeat to increase indentation.
• CONTROL + SHIFT + T to reduce hanging indent. Note that this keyboard command conflicts with launching Dolphin remote Support (Team Viewer). As an alternative, you can press CONTROL + Z to undo your last action or press CONTROL + SHIFT + N to restore the paragraph to normal style.
• CONTROL + SHIFT + GREATER THAN to grow selected font.
• CONTROL + SHIFT + LESS THAN to shrink selected font.
• CONTROL + EQUALS to make text subscript.
• CONTROL + SHIFT + EQUALS to make text superscript.
• SHIFT + F3 to change the case of text.
• CONTROL + SPACEBAR to reset character style to defaults.

Tip: You may encounter a hotkey conflict when using some of the stated keyboard commands. You can resolve the conflict by using the Pass next key to application command. Press LEFT CONTROL + 7 or, if you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press CAPS LOCK + 3.

When working with formatted text, you may find the following SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader Speak keys helpful.

Adding emoji

You can liven up your email messages with emojis. An emoji is a small icon used to express emotions such as a smiling face, thinking face, winking face, man dancing, woman dancing, thumbs up, thumbs down, etc.

To insert an emoji in the body of an email:

1. Go to the place where you want to insert the emoji.
2. Press WINDOWS KEY + FULL STOP. The Emoji Selection Panel opens.
3. Use the Arrow Keys to review popular emojis or type in a search term such as "smile" and use the Arrow Keys to explore the results. Your search results update as you type so you don’t have to press ENTER to begin the search.
4. Press ENTER on an emoji to insert it into your text.
5. Press ESCAPE to close the Emoji Selection Panel.

The search results will also include images from GIFs and Kaomojis. Kaomojis are Japanese style icons. They are presented vertically.

Reading a received email message

Generally, emails you receive appear in your Inbox folder. Some emails may be filtered out and appear in your Junk folder. Typically, these are emails your service provider consider as unsafe.

To read a received email:

1. Go to the folder containing the message you want to read. If this is the Inbox folder, you can jump to the Inbox folder by pressing CONTROL + SHIFT + I.
2. Select the message you want to open, and press ENTER. Note that SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader will indicate if a message is unread, has high priority, is flagged, etc. as you navigate the list of messages. When the message window opens, the Dolphin cursor is turned on to enable you to read the message in a structured way.
3. Use the Arrow Keys to read the message. Alternatively, press the Read from here hotkey to read the message automatically. You can start Read from here by pressing NUMPAD PLUS or, if you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press CAPS LOCK + DOWN ARROW. To exit Read from here, press ESCAPE.
4. If the message contains an attachment you want to open, press CONTROL + HOME to move the Dolphin Cursor to the start of the message, then press SHIFT + TAB to move focus to the attachment area and select the attachment. Next open the context menu (SHIFT + F10) and choose what action you want to perform, for example, Open, Save, Copy, or Remove.
5. When done, press ESCAPE or ALT + F4 to close the message window.

Here are some useful keyboard commands when reading a message:

• To review the message header including the recipients who have received the message and any notifications, press CAPS LOCK + H.
• To review the message date, press CAPS LOCK + D.
• To move the Dolphin Cursor to the notification area, press NUMPAD SLASH or, if you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press LEFT CONTROL + CAPS LOCK + Z. You may need to repeat this keypress a few times depending on the number of restricted areas present in the window. Once the notification area has focus, you can interact using INSERT to simulate a Left Click and DELETE to simulate a Right Click.
• To reply to the sender, press CONTROL + R.
• To reply to all recipients of the mail, press CONTROL + SHIFT + R or ALT + L.
• To forward the mail to a contact, press CONTROL + F.
• To delete the message, press CONTROL + D.
• To activate a link in the message, press ENTER.

Tip: Outlook defaults to opening links in Microsoft Edge. If you prefer to open links in your default browser, go to "Outlook Options" (ALT + F, T), select the "Advanced" category, and set "Open hyperlinks from Outlook in" setting to "Default browser".

Finding text in a message

As mentioned above, when you open a message you typically use the Dolphin cursor as the message will be in HTML format. Using the Dolphin cursor enables you to use its Find feature to search for text in the message, for example, you may want to search for "From:" to find the start of the next thread in the message.

To search using the Dolphin Cursor in an HTML message:

1. Open the message. The Dolphin cursor should automatically turn on. If it does not turn on, then ensure "Use Dolphin cursor automatically" is selected in the "Speech Advanced Options" dialog box.
2. Press F3 or, if you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press LEFT CONTROL + CAPS LOCK + F. Speech will say "Find" and you will be positioned in an invisible edit box.
3. Type your search term and press ENTER. The Dolphin Cursor will move to the first match below its current position in the message.
4. Press F4 to find the next occurrence or F2 to find the previous occurrence. If you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press CAPS LOCK + F3 or LEFT SHIFT + CAPS LOCK + F3 respectively.

When the Dolphin cursor is not turned on, for example, if you are viewing a plain text email or wishing to search the content of the message you are composing, then you can perform a find by pressing F4, entering your search string, and pressing ENTER. Next, press ESCAPE to close the "Find" dialog box and use SHIFT + F4 to continue your search.

Summary

Here, you discovered how to compose a new email message and read a received message. You also learnt about the Speak keys you may find useful when composing an email and keyboard commands you may find useful when reading messages.

Quiz

1. You can compose a new email message by pressing CONTROL + SHIFT + M. Is this statement true?
2. When using the Desktop NumPad Hotkey Set, you can review the header information of a received message you are reading by pressing LEFT SHIFT + NUMPAD 7. Is this statement true?
3. You can reply to all recipients of a message by pressing CONTROL + F. Is this statement true?

End of section

Select the link below to continue to the next section.

To revisit a previous section, please scroll to the top of this page and choose the section from the Available Content menu.

But before you move on, here are the answers to the quiz questions:

1. True.
2. True.
3. False.