This took me awhile to figure out for some reason but once I did I felt pretty on top of my game, not. So after playing around with some of the Google Labs additions to Gmail I figured that it might be cool to check out the Google Labs Custom Keyboard Shortcuts addition to Gmail specifically for the “gl” shortcut that pops open a new window for easy access to your labels. More on the gl shortcut later after I explain the complex fix to my problem (wink wink). After enabling the Keyboard Shortcuts I refreshed Gmail and proceeded to attempt to use the gl shortcut with no luck. I then started to wonder if it was possibly a browser issue or something else. I tried about ten other shortcuts but none of them were working in FireFox or Internet Explorer.
Under the Keyboard Shortcuts settings tab as shown below in the image there was not an enable or disable radio button so I figured they must just be on by default.
After looking around some more I saw the answer starring me in the face. The third option down in Gmail General Settings was “Keyboard Shortcuts” as shown below in the image. There are two options which are “Keyboard shortcuts on” and “Keyboard shortcuts off”.
So Custom Keyboard Shortcuts from Google Labs requires the shortcuts to be enabled in general. I had never used the Keyboard Shortcuts before so it didn’t occur to me right away that there may be a top level configuration item. Anyhow I had done a couple searches on Google and was unable to find the answer quickly so even though its embarrassing it took my awhile to figure it out I figured that I can save somebody else some time if this post ranks high on Google.
So back to the “gl” custom keyboard shortcut that started this mess for me. When you type g followed by l with the Gmail interface open you will get a pop up like the one shown below in the image that allows you to easily navigate to any Gmail label.
Google Hacking for Penetration Testers (Paperback)
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Google Apps Hacks: Tips & Tools for Unlocking the Power of Google Applications (Paperback)
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Thanks a ton man !
I was also stuck in the same thing; hadn’t enabled them in General settings :(
Cheers !
No problem man. Glad it helped! :)
hahaha I find it funny theat somone else had the same problem! Thanks you helps me lots! =)
Heh. No problem. The page has been viewed a bunch so the even funnier part is we aren’t the only two. :)
Thank you! I wish they added a note to the Labs page that instructed us to turn this on. I also assumed it turned on automatically.
Hello Neil H.,
No problem. Glad it helped out.
Thanks.
alex
saved me from wasting my morning trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. thanks
Hello rick,
Always happy to hear when we saved someone a couple hours! Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
Thank you so much. I knew it worked because I’ve been using them on my personal account for years, but I was setting up a new account and couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. Thanks!
Hello Elle,
No problem at all. Thanks for taking the time to post feedback.
Thanks.
alex
Thank you!!! This was driving me nuts and you solved exactly the problem i was having. How silly of gmail to have two places that need to say enabled
Hello Rhoen,
No problem. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
“Thank You, Captain Obvious!” equates to kudos Alex! Your article, three years-old and solved my problem quickly.
Hello Antonio,
Heh! No problem… glad it helped out. Thanks for posting feedback.
Thanks.
alex