margin-mail/docs/keyboard.md

Keyboard

One unmodified key per verb, no two-key chords, nothing modal. Where Gmail and Superhuman agree, we use their key so a refugee's hands keep working. Where HEY has a verb they do not, we use HEY's letter. The three conflicts that result are settled below and explained. The key is printed on every button, the palette lists every command with its key, and ? shows this table in the app. Bindings live in a keymap file the user can edit; the defaults are what follows.

Navigation

Key	Action
j / k	Next / previous thread (or card in the Feed and Screener)
Enter	Open the focused thread; with several selected, Read together
Esc	Close what is open: a popover, then the palette, then the compose card, then the pane in one-column mode, then the selection
n / p	Next / previous message inside a thread
o / Shift+O	Expand or collapse the focused message / expand all
Space / Shift+Space	Scroll the pane down / up
1 2 3	Inbox, Feed, Paper Trail
4 5	Reply later, Set aside
6 7	Screener, Snoozed
0	Everything
/	Search
Cmd+K	Palette: places, commands, people, settings
Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+9, Ctrl+0	Switch account, All accounts
Cmd+\	Show or hide the reading pane
Cmd+,	Settings
?	This table

Triage

Key	Action	Provider
e	Archive	yes
u	Toggle seen	yes
Shift+S	Toggle star	yes
#	Trash, and put back in Trash (toggle)	yes
!	Spam, and not spam in Spam (toggle)	yes
l	Reply later (toggle)	no
s	Set aside (toggle)	no
b	Snooze…	no
y	Note	no
m	Ignore (toggle)	no
Shift+N	Notify me on this thread (toggle)	no
g	Merge the selected threads	no
i	Contact card for the sender	no
Shift+L	Label…	yes
v	Move to Inbox, Feed or Paper Trail (sets the sender's rule); in a label list, move to a label	rule: no, label: yes
Cmd+U	Unsubscribe…	sends or opens
x	Select the focused thread
Shift+J / Shift+K	Extend the selection down / up
Cmd+A	Select all from here
z	Undo the last action, including a send within its delay
.	More actions for the thread

Screener

Key	Action
y	Yes, to the suggested place
v	Elsewhere: pick the place, optionally for the whole domain
n	No, screen out
Enter	Expand the card to read the message
r	Screen in to Inbox and reply

Writing

Key	Action
c	New message
r / a / f	Reply / reply all / forward
Cmd+Enter	Send (held for the undo delay)
Cmd+Shift+Enter	Send now, no undo
Cmd+Shift+P	Expand the compose card to the window, or back
Cmd+Shift+A	Attach
Cmd+Shift+I	Instant intro: move the introducer to Bcc and thank them
Cmd+Shift+H	Remind me if no reply…
Cmd+Shift+C	Save the selected text as a clip (also outside compose)
Cmd+B / Cmd+I / Cmd+K	Bold / italic / link inside the editor
Cmd+Shift+7 / 8 / 9	Numbered list / bulleted list / quote
Cmd+Shift+,	Discard the draft
Esc	Leave the editor, keeping the draft

Focus & Reply

Key	Action
Shift+F	Open Focus & Reply from anywhere
Tab / Shift+Tab	Next / previous item
Cmd+Enter	Send this reply and move on
Esc	Back to Reply later

Calendar invites

Key	Action
y / m / n	Accept / maybe / decline, when an invite card is focused

The conflicts, and how they were settled

a is reply all in Gmail and Superhuman and Set aside in HEY. Reply all is used every day, so it keeps a; Set aside takes s, which is star in Gmail. Star is a vestige here (the piles do its job), so star moves to Shift+S and stays reachable.

l is label in Gmail and Superhuman and Reply later in HEY. Reply later is a primary verb in this app and labels are not, so l is Reply later and label is Shift+L.

z is undo in Gmail and Superhuman and Bubble Up in HEY. Undo is sacred; z stays undo. Snooze takes b, which is Gmail's own snooze key and also reads as Bubble Up for HEY hands.

m is mute in Gmail and Ignore in HEY, the same verb, so it is m. y is a sticky note in HEY and a rarely known "remove from view" in Gmail; it is a note here. g is HEY's merge; in Gmail it begins a chord we do not have, so on its own it merges a selection and does nothing otherwise.

Keys are never reused with a different meaning in a different context, with one exception: y, v and n on a Screener card and on an invite card, where the card is the only thing that can receive them and the buttons print the letters. HEY reuses o, r and i contextually and it is the one thing about its keyboard worth not copying.

Rules

• Single keys act on the focused thread, or on the selection when there is one.
• A key that would act on nothing does nothing and shows nothing.
• Every destructive or hidden action (archive, trash, spam, snooze, pile, screen out, merge, send) produces a toast with Undo, and z undoes it.
• On a phone there are no keys. The same verbs are buttons on the action bar and swipes on rows, and the printed letters disappear.
• The keymap is a file in the app's data directory; the shortcuts sheet is generated from it, so a remapped key is what the buttons print.