Transcript: QuickMail settings, episode 5: Keyboard Shortcuts

Times are positions in QuickMail-settings-05-keyboard-shortcuts-v1.mp3; a demo's time is where its audio starts, after the chime.

Demo lines are the text the screen reader sent to its voice, from its own log. A following key can cut an utterance short, so a line here may be longer than what is heard.

Welcome (0:00)

Michael: Welcome back to our tour of QuickMail's settings. I'm Michael.

Maya: And I'm Maya. Episode five, the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. This is where you can change the key for almost any command in QuickMail, or give a key to a command that doesn't have one.

Michael: Why would you want to? Maybe a QuickMail key clashes with something your screen reader or another program uses. Maybe you're coming from another email program and your fingers already know different keys. Or there's a command you use all day that has no key at all.

Maya: As always, we're AI voices, the demo is a real recording of QuickMail with NVDA on an offline test machine, the keys were pressed by a script, and we added clicks and chimes and shortened pauses afterwards.

The list of commands (0:47)

Michael: The tab is mostly one list, with a line of instructions above it: Arrow to a command, then press Enter to assign a shortcut, or Delete to restore the default. Below the list are two buttons, Set Shortcut and Restore Default.

Maya: Each row reads the command's name, its category, and its current key, or no shortcut. There were a hundred and thirty-nine commands on our test machine, grouped by category: Account, then Help, Mail, and so on.

Michael: To find one, type the first letter of its name. The same letter again moves to the next command starting with that letter. Typing several letters quickly matches more of the name. Typing here never sets off the window's access keys, so you can't save or switch tabs by accident.

Maya: In this demo, we give the Report a Bug command a key of its own, control alt R, and then take it away again.

[Demo, 1:41, logged] Settings dialog tab control General settings tab selected 1 of 6 Message list settings grouping Preview lines: combo box 3 lines collapsed L Advanced settings tab selected 2 of 6 Update settings grouping Download and install updates automatically check box checked W Keyboard shortcuts tab selected 3 of 6 Keyboard shortcuts list data grid Manage Accounts, Account, no shortcut data item 1 of 139 Move Account Down, Account, Alt+Down data item selected 2 of 139 Move Account to End, Account, Alt+End data item selected 3 of 139 Reconnect Account, Account, no shortcut data item selected 6 of 139 Report a Bug, Help, no shortcut data item selected 37 of 139 Assign keyboard shortcut dialog dialog Captured shortcut Captured key combination Accept this shortcut button O Ctrl+Alt+R tab control Keyboard shortcuts tab selected 3 of 6 Keyboard shortcuts list data grid Report a Bug, Help, Ctrl+Alt+R data item selected 37 of 139 Ctrl+Alt+R assigned to Report a Bug Set shortcut for selected command button Restore default shortcut for selected command button Set shortcut for selected command button Keyboard shortcuts list data grid Report a Bug, Help, Ctrl+Alt+R data item selected 37 of 139 Report a Bug, Help, no shortcut Accept Invitation, Mail, no shortcut data item selected 38 of 139 Report a Bug, Help, no shortcut data item selected 37 of 139 Messages data grid unread. Dana Okafor. Project Falcon kickoff. Welcome to the Project Falcon team.. 1:36P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 1 of 12

Michael: Control tab twice reached the tab, and NVDA said Keyboard shortcuts list, and the first command: Manage Accounts, Account, no shortcut, one of a hundred and thirty-nine. Down arrow went to Move Account Down, alt down arrow, and Move Account to End.

Maya: Then we typed R, which went to Reconnect Account, and R again, which went to Report a Bug, Help, no shortcut.

Michael: Enter opened a small window called Assign keyboard shortcut. You just press the key combination you want. We pressed control alt R, and it was captured. Enter, on the OK button, accepted it.

Maya: Back in the list, the row now said Report a Bug, Help, control alt R, and QuickMail confirmed: control alt R assigned to Report a Bug.

Michael: Tab went to the two buttons, Set shortcut for selected command, and Restore default shortcut for selected command. The Restore button is only available when a command has a key you've changed.

Maya: Then shift tab back to the list, and the Delete key restored the default. The row went back to Report a Bug, Help, no shortcut. QuickMail didn't say anything about that, which is on the developer's list. Escape closed Settings without saving, so nothing we did there was kept.

When a key is already taken (4:17)

Michael: What if you choose a key that another command already uses? The Assign window warns you, with the name of the command that has it. Then you have three choices. OK takes the key away from the other command and gives it to this one. Change lets you press a different combination. And Cancel keeps things as they were.

Maya: That's worth knowing, because QuickMail never quietly gives two commands the same key.

When your keys take effect (4:43)

Michael: Like everything in Settings, your new keys take effect when you save. Then they work everywhere at once: in the main window, and in any message you have open in its own window.

Maya: They also show up wherever QuickMail lists keys: next to the command in the menus, and in the command palette. Your screen reader is told the new key too, so menus read the key you chose rather than the old one.

Michael: And a few keys can't be changed here, because they aren't commands. They're the ones that move you around: control 1, 2 and 3 for the panes, F6, and control shift P, which opens the command palette itself.

Maya: The address book's own keys aren't in this list either. They live inside the address book, and you can find them in its own command palette, with control shift P while it's open.

Coming up (5:32)

Michael: That's Keyboard Shortcuts. Next episode: the Startup tab, where QuickMail opens, how much it checks when it starts, and starting with Windows.

Maya: QuickMail is free, at github dot com slash kelly l ford slash QuickMail. Thanks for listening. I'm Maya.

Michael: And I'm Michael.