Ribbon Key Tips
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 offers an easy way to access all of the commands in the Ribbon using Key Tips. To try it out, open a new mail message and press the Alt key to see the Key Tip bubbles pop up for each tab:
Pressing the key shown in the Key Tip bubble switches the Ribbon to that tab. For example, press N to switch to the Insert tab:
Once on the tab, Key Tips appear on their respective commands, as shown above. Pressing a Key Tip shown next to a command executes that command – just as if you clicked the button with the mouse!
For example, pressing T inserts a table; P inserts a picture; A then F opens the attach file dialog. Unlike shortcuts, Key Tips are sequences of keyboard letters preceded by the Alt key. You press the keys one at a time instead of holding each one down as you would in a shortcut. So next time you want to insert a picture in an e-mail, just press Alt-N-T.
Once you learn a command, you won’t need to look at the ribbon or switch to the mouse – saving a second or two each time you use a Key Tip!
Combine these with the keyboard shortcuts available in Outlook and you many never need to use the mouse again!
Tom O’Neill
Outlook Program Manager
