It is a pain to switch between the key board and the mouse to navigate your web mail account. Of late I am using Key Board short cuts to maneuver my Gmail account. I am mentioning here those few keyboard short cuts that I use quite often.
Compose C – Just hitting c would open the compose box. It doesn’t matter if it is lower case or a capital C. As long as you hit c, it is OK.
Tab then Enter – Sends the message you compose
g then i – Takes you to your Inbox
g then c – Opens the Contacts
g then t – Takes you to your Sent folder
j – You are taken to the older conversation i.e., the previous mail
k – Takes you to the next mail in your inbox.
o or Enter – Opens the mail for you.
r – While you are reading your mail hitting the r activates the Reply mode.
ra – This activates Reply All mode.
/ – Puts the cursor point in the search box in your Gmail inbox.
You also have the option of hitting the Shift + ? key simultaneously to open the key board short cuts when your Gmail account is open on your screen. But before that you need to go to your Settings and enable Keyboard Shortcuts. For the full list of the short cuts look here . Hit the Esc button to get back to your Gmail page.
BTW you will not able to access Keyboard shortcuts if you are using the html version of the G mail account.
To enable your Keyboard shortcuts:
1 - Go to your Settings. You will find it on the top right hand corner of your G mail page.
2 – Clicking on it will open your Settings page.
3 – Under the General Tab you will find the Keyboard Shortcuts option. By default it would be disabled.
4 – Enable it by clicking on the Keyboard Shortcuts on button.
Now you are ready to go. It would take a few attempts, but once you get the hang of it I am sure you will like to use them more often than reach out to that mouse.
Happy Gmailing! 
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