Menu letter shortcuts (press the underlined letter)

What it is

Open any menu — a right-click menu, a ⋯ menu, a dropdown — and one letter in each item is underlined: Rename, Pin, Archive. Press that letter and the item runs, exactly as if you had clicked it. It works the way menus work in Windows programs.

It works in every menu in the app, including menus added later — nobody has to set it up menu by menu.

Where to find it

There is nothing to turn on: open any menu and look for the underlined letters. To switch it off, go to Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts → "Underline menu letters" (or search Settings for menu letters). Switching it off removes the underlines and stops the letter keys straight away.

How it behaves

• Each item gets its own letter. No two items in the same menu share one. The first letter of the item is used when it is free; otherwise the first letter of another word ("Pop out"), then any other letter or number in the item.
• The letters stay the same. The same menu gets the same letters every time you open it, so you can learn them.
• Greyed-out items get no letter, and pressing a letter never runs a greyed-out item.
• Submenus get their own letters. While a submenu is open, its letters are the ones that work.
• Hover shows the letter. Hovering an item shows its letter as a key in the tooltip — unless the item already has its own keyboard shortcut, which it keeps showing.
• Typing stays typing. In a menu with a search box, letters you type go into the box. Holding Ctrl, Alt or Cmd never triggers a menu letter, and holding a key down never runs a second item.
• Other keyboard layouts. On a keyboard set to another script (for example Russian), pressing the key where the underlined Latin letter sits still works. On a French, German or Dvorak keyboard, the letter you actually type is what counts.
• Some items have no letter. An item written only in a script that one key cannot type (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Thai, Arabic) shows no underline.
• Phones and tablets show no underlines — there is no keyboard to press them with.

Not covered

• Menus inside plugins, which run in their own windows.
• Windows' own title-bar and tray menus.

Related

• keyboard-shortcuts.md — every other keyboard shortcut, and where to rebind them
• hotkey-training-mode.md — learn shortcuts by blocking the mouse