New email message with a global keyboard shortcut

Question

I got, for the first time in my life, a Mac this Christmas and I was wondering if it is possible to create system-wide keyboard shortcut.

No matter what app I is using, is there a way to configure a combination of keys so that the new email screen in Mail.app opens? Or, to have the Compose message screen from Gmail?

I understand that I can use command + N in Mail.app, and C in Gmail web interface, but I would like a global shortcut.

Answer 1

I once found a solution for this over at macrumors.com, that works for me. I will quote the important parts (original post from swiftaw):

Step 1: Create a service in Automator a) Open Automator b) Select Service template c) On the right hand side, use the pull down menus to make it say "Services receives no input in any application. d) From the left hand panel select Mail, then drag "New Mail Message" to the right hand panel. e) Save, give it a name like "New Mail Message"

Step 2: Create a keyboard shortcut a) Open System Preferences b) Select Keyboard c) Select Keyboard Shortcut d) Select Services e) Find "New Mail Message" in the list, add keyboard shortcut (I used Shift+Apple+M) by clicking to the right of the name.

Step 3: Check that it works. (You can also launch it by clicking on AppName->Services->New Mail Message in the menu bar of any App. Note, if Mail isn't running, Mail will launch and then create a New Message.

But there is also a built-in solution for composing a new e-mail from anywhere, although it is not a keyboard shortcut: ctrl+click or right click on the Mail.app icon in the doc to get the menu and select Compose New Message.

Also, there are some individual application shortcuts from within the applications like CMD+i from within Safari.

Answer 2

There's a bug on 10.7 and 10.8 where shortcuts for Automator services don't always work until the services menu has been shown once from the menu bar. You could also assign a shortcut to a script like this:

tell application "Mail"
    make new outgoing message with properties {visible:true}
    activate
end tell

I have used Alfred to assign F10 to opening Mail, so I can create a new message with three key presses (F10, cmd, and n).