Forums / Gmail

dougal.phillips

Herro,

I want to be able to assign tasks to my emails from the inbox using
just the keyboard.

I want to do this because:
(1) in Gmail using the keyboard is faster than using the mouse;
(2) often I know enough about an email from just scanning the
subject and the sender to assign an action to it; I don't want to
have to open the email unnecessarily;
(3) I want to be able to assign tasks to multiple emails at the one
time (I want to be able to batch process emails); and
(4) the mouse is evil.

This is how I would assign a task to an email in an ideal world.
Note: This ssumes you have enabled Gmail keyboard shortcuts
under "Settings".
* In the Gmail inbox, I press "j" or "k" to move up or down
respectively until I'm at the email I want to create a task for.
* I press "." to select "More Actions".
* I use the downward arrow key to select "Add Task".
* I press "Enter" to create the task.
* Because I am in inbox view, I can see the task being created in
the RTM sidebar to my right. This is my security blanket - I have
visual confirmation that the email has been tracked.
* I then press "e" to archive the email and remove it from my
inbox.
* This would be 7 seconds work max.

Also, by selecting multiple emails using "x", I could batch process
multiple emails at the one time.

To enable this feature, there would need to be at least two changes
to the RTM Firefox add-on.
(1) The "Add Task" option would need to be available from the inbox
view of "More Actions". Currently it's only appears once you've
opened an email.
(2) It would need to be possible to select "Add Task" using
the "Enter" key. Currently this is not possible. While you can
highlight "Add Task" with the arrow keys, pressing "Enter"
does nothing. Presently I can only create a task by clicking on
"Add Task" with my mouse.

I hope Bob T. Monkey gives this idea some thought.

Cheers,

Dougal

Posted at 1:08am on August 17, 2008