Getting back to normal messages table from search in Mail.

By Khomus, 9 December, 2024

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi all.

Suppose I do a search for messages in Mail. So I hit cmd-opt-f and type keyboard and hit enter. I get a scroll area/table with all kinds of messages containing the word keyboard,awesome! I find what I'm looking for.

Now, I want to get out of that and back to the normal table of messages in all mailboxes. How do I do that? Right now I'm hitting cmd-w, which closes that, but now Mail has no windows. So I hit cmd-opt-n, I think, to bring back the normal window. I'll bet there's a better way to get rid of the search results though.

Options

Comments

By PaulMartz on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 07:09

I go back to the search box and clear the search term, but there has to be a better way, and I hope someone here has a suggestion.

Normally, I have the toolbar disabled to improve VO+J behavior. So, when I actually need to do a search, I have to first show the toolbar, then do the search, then find the email, then clear the search box, and finally turn off the toolbar to restore normal VO+J behavior. It's really quite painful.

By PaulMartz on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 07:09

Yes, from edit->Find. But it doesn't work unless the toolbar is open. The keyboard shortcuts (Command+F and Command+Option+F) do nothing if the toolbar is hidden.

But you got me thinking, and I played around, and I have a solution that's primarily keyboard shortcuts and doesn't involve menus. Here it is:

  • Press Command+Option+T to show the toolbar.
  • Press Command+Option+F to perform a mailbox search.
  • Enter search terms, jump to my mailbox of interest using Command+1, Command+2, whatever, to review search results.
  • To return to normal view. Press Command+Option+F to jump to the search box and Escape to clear it.
  • Press Command+Option+T to close the toolbar.

If I do that enough times, it'll seem normal.

By Brian on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 07:09

I mean, that works. Ashamed that when the menu bar is hidden, hot keys do not work. Although I think it's been like that since forever.