---
title: 'Supermail — Reading View: Focus Mode & Auto-Hiding Toolbar'
---
# Supermail — Reading View: Focus Mode & Auto-Hiding Toolbar

## What it is

### What it does

When you open an email in Supermail, the reading view keeps its chrome minimal so the message itself is the focus:

- **The top action toolbar** (Reply, Filter, Focus, Pin) and the **bottom action bar** (done / snooze / label / trash …) are **hidden by default** and **peek back when you move your mouse to them** (or tab into them with the keyboard).
- A **Pin** toggle locks both bars open if you'd rather keep them visible all the time.
- On a **touch device** (no hover), the bars stay shown, since there is no mouse to peek with.

## Where to find it

Inside Supermail's reading view — the action bars hide and peek back, and the **Pin** toggle locks them open.

## How it behaves

### Focus mode (distraction-free reading)

**Focus mode** goes a step further: it hides the reading-view chrome entirely for keyboard-first reading. Toggle it with the **Focus** button in the toolbar, or press **Z**.

- The toolbar and the bottom action bar disappear for a clean, distraction-free read.
- **You can always get out.** While focus mode is on, an **"Exit focus mode" button stays visible** in the top-right of the email header — so you are never stuck. Click it, press **Z**, or **move your mouse to the top of the email** to bring the full toolbar back (without leaving focus mode).
- The exit works everywhere: mouse, keyboard, and **touch / no-hover devices**, which rely on the always-visible button.

### The "Start a session" button

The **"Start a session"** button in an email's header — which spawns an Omniscio session seeded with the whole thread (Omniscio desktop only) — is **icon-only**: just its chat-plus icon, with the full description shown as a hover tooltip.

### Notes

- These are **automatic reading-view behaviors** — there is no setting to configure.
- They are **device-local UI preferences** kept in the Supermail plugin's own storage (not Omniscio's synced AppSettings), so they do not carry across devices.
- **Not the same as Omniscio's other "Focus Mode."** The app-level toolbar **bell / batch-alerts** Focus Mode (which quiets inbox notifications) is a completely separate feature; this page is only about Supermail's reading-view focus mode.

### What changed (2026-08-07)

- **Focus mode is no longer a trap.** Previously, turning it on hid the toolbar that held the focus toggle itself — leaving no visible way out (only the undocumented **Z** key). Now an always-visible **"Exit focus mode"** button shows while focus mode is on, and hovering the top of the email brings the full toolbar back.
- **The "Start a session" button is now icon-only** — the text label was removed; the icon and its hover tooltip stay.

## Related

- [supermail.md](supermail.md) — the full Supermail email client reference (layout, filters, split inbox, sidebar modes).
- [supermail-send-shortcuts.md](supermail-send-shortcuts.md) — the composer's reply-focus + send behaviors (the writing-side twin of these reading behaviors).