Navigate Slack with your keyboard

If you use your keyboard to get around, we have shortcuts to help you navigate quickly from one area in Slack to another.

Tip: Learn more about using Slack with a screen reader.

Keyboard shortcuts overview

To view a list of all available keyboard shortcuts, press ⌘/ (Mac) or Ctrl/ (Windows/Linux) from Slack on your desktop, or visit Slack keyboard shortcuts and commands.

Keyboard navigation basics

Use the keyboard shortcuts below to navigate between elements from the Slack desktop app or Slack in a browser. You’ll know an element is in focus when it’s surrounded by a blue outline, or when a text cursor is blinking in a message field.

Action	Desktop app shortcut	Browser shortcut
Move focus to the next section	F6 or ⌘Ctrl→ (Mac only)	Mac: ⌘F6  Windows/Linux: CtrlF6
Move focus to the previous section	ShiftF6 or ⌘Ctrl←  (Mac only)	Mac: ⌘ShiftF6 Windows/Linux: CtrlShiftF6
Move focus within the current section	Tab or ShiftTab	Tab or ShiftTab
Move focus between items in a list, e.g. messages, channels, etc.	↑ or ↓*	↑ or ↓*
Move focus to first unread message	Mac: ⌘J Windows/Linux: CtrlJ	Mac: ⌘J Windows/Linux: CtrlJ
Move to the oldest message	Home	Home
Move to the most recent message	End	End

*If using a screen reader on Windows, you may need to toggle the virtual cursor off so that shortcuts provided by your screen reader don’t collide with Slack shortcuts.

Note: If you’re not typing a message and there aren't any menus open, pressing Esc will mark messages as read. 

Open a conversation

Follow the steps below to open a channel or direct message (DM):

1. Press ⌘K (Mac) or CtrlK (Windows/Linux).
2. Type the name of a channel or person in the search field.
3. Press Enter to open the conversation.

Tip: To open a conversation in a new window, focus on the name of a channel or DM in your sidebar, then press ⌘+Enter (Mac) or Ctrl+Enter (Windows/Linux).

Read messages in a conversation

Move focus to the empty message field and press ↑ to start navigating between individual messages. Then, use any of these keys:

• Page up or Page down to jump up or down.
• Home to go to the oldest message.
• End to go to the most recent message.
• ⌘J (Mac) or CtrlJ (Windows/Linux) to move focus to the first unread message.
  
• FnShift↑ (Mac) or ShiftPage Up (Windows/Linux) to scroll to the start of the previous day’s messages.
• FnShift↓ (Mac) or ShiftPage down (Windows/Linux) to scroll to the start of the next day’s messages.
• Space bar to scroll through messages.
• → to enter the thread associated with a message. Within the thread, all of the above keys will function the same way. Press ← from anywhere in the thread to navigate back to the main conversation.

Interact with messages in a conversation

1. When focused on the empty message input field, press ↑ to start navigating between individual messages.
2. When focused on a message, press Tab to scroll through links, attachments, etc. or use contextual one-key shortcuts to quickly take actions (such as editing, replying or sharing). 

Tip: To open the message actions menu, you can press TabM (on Mac, with full keyboard access enabled) or the Menu key (on Windows).

Navigate unread messages

Press ⌘ShiftA (Mac) or CtrlShiftA (Windows/Linux) to open the Unreads view, then use these keys to review your unread messages:

• ↑ or ↓ to move between individual messages.
• OptionClick on (Mac) or AltClick on (Windows/Linux) to mark messages as unread.
• ← or → to expand or collapse a group of messages.
• Esc to mark a group of messages as read.