CRM Keyboard Shortcuts

Nathan Eccles, 14 May 2010

A few months back I stumbled across a rather useful trick for navigating Dynamics CRM 4.0. I’m sure many of you already use keyboard shortcuts like CTRL + S and ALT + F4 in programs such as Word and Excel, but are you aware that there are actually keyboard shortcuts for the Dynamics CRM web client?

Below is a list of what I believe to be the 10 most helpful and under-used keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 as shown on the Microsoft Website.

Keys What They Do
CTRL + S or SHIFT + F12  Saves the record
ALT + S Saves and closes the record
CTRL + SHIFT + S Saves the record and opens a new one
ALT + F4 Closes the active record
CTRL + D Deletes the record
ESC (Escape) Cancels the edit and closes the record
CTRL + SHIFT + F Expand / Collapse the Form Assistant
TAB Moves forward through the record’s fields
SHIFT + TAB Moves backward through the record’s fields
CTRL + A Selects all text within a current field or list

All of these shortcuts can be used in the CRM for Outlook client when opening and editing records.

However there are also shortcuts for Outlook which may prove valuable to you. I have put the top 10 most applicable for use with the CRM for Outlook client.

Keys What They Do
CTRL + SHIFT + I  Switches to Inbox
CTRL + 1 Switches to Mail
CTRL + 2 Switches to Outlook Calendar
CTRL + 3 Switches to Outlook Contacts
CTRL + 4 Switches to Outlook Tasks
CTRL + SHIFT + A Creates a new Appointment
CTRL + SHIFT + B Displays the Address Book
CTRL + SHIFT + C Creates a new Contact
CTRL + SHIFT + K Creates a new Task
F7 Checks Spelling

There are also some navigation shortcut keys for the CRM web client, although they are much less helpful than those for Outlook. These shortcut keys are simply used to expand drop down menus within CRM’s default top navigation pane.

Keys What They Do
ALT + N Expands the New Activity menu
ALT + C Expands the New Record menu
ALT + G Expands the Go To menu
ALT + T Expands the Tools menu
ALT + I Opens the Advanced Find window
ALT + H Expands the Help menu

The use of these keyboard shortcuts should considerably increase your productivity with CRM as time taken for navigation within Outlook, and editing of records within CRM should have decreased.

I hope you enjoy your new efficiency!

If you know of any other useful keyboard shortcuts for either the CRM web client or CRM for Outlook please post here and let us know!

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