Heartland

A friend of mine - who happens to be blind - is having trouble opening attachments in Outlook Express. The folks who sell his screen reader software are basically telling him a bunch of dirty fibs about what the correct keyboard shortcut is.

He has regular full Outlook figured OK, but really needs this as well for his home PC. He's cool with stuff like Alt- and Ctrl- keystrokes, and also cool with F keys, so I don't think anything complicated is going to cause him difficulties. Does anyone know of a keyboard shortcut to allow opening attachments directly from OE without having to save them first, or an alternate email client that will be well supported by screen reader software?

Outlook Express Hotkeys


Open Help topicsF1
Select all messagesControl + A


Main window and view message window

Print the selected messageControl + P
Send and receive mailControl + M
Delete a mail messageDelete or Control + D
Open or post a new messageControl + N
Open the Address BookControl + Shift + B
Reply to the message authorControl + R
Forward a messageControl + F
Reply to allControl + Shift + R or Control + G (news only)
Open the InboxControl + I
Go to the next message in the listControl + > (greater than)
or Control + Shift + > (greater than)
Go to the previous message in the listControl + < (less than)
or Control + Shift + < (less than)
View properties of a selected messageAlt + Enter
Refresh news messages and headersF5
Go to next unread mail messageControl + U
Go to next unread news threadControl + Shift + U
Go to folderControl + Y


Main window
Open the selected messageControl + O or Enter
Mark a message as readControl + Enter or Control + Q
Move between the Folders list (if on), message list, preview pane, and
Contacts list (if on).Tab
Mark all news messages as readControl + Shift + A
Go to a newsgroupControl + W
Expand a news thread (show all responses)Left Arrow or Plus Sign
Collapse a news thread (hide messages)Right Arrow or Minus Sign
Go to next unread newsgroup or folderControl + J
Download news for offline readingControl + Shift + M


Message window—viewing or sending

Close a messageEscape
Find text F3
Find a message Control + Shift + F
Switch among Edit, Source, and Preview tabsControl + Tab


Message window - sending only

Check names Control + K or Alt + K
Check spellingF7
Insert signatureControl + Shift + S
Send (post) a messageControl + Enter or Alt + S

Never ever open email attachments. Most of them are viruses.

Dan wrote:Never ever open email attachments. Most of them are viruses.

Amen to that brother

worst thing you can ever do is open an attachment on Outlook...i have the evidence...one hardfried hard drive

Also, I'm having some problems with OE. It's not letting me read alt.gothic

I can click on it, but it detects no new messages at all. It detects new groups and everything, but NO new messages in alt.gothic

I know it sometimes has its slow weeks, but not for this many months..

Any ideas what's up with it?

I just had a look in alt.gothic. Plenty of posts, dozens even today. Maybe something wrong with your news server.