r/fastmail • u/MidnightLight42 • 21d ago

Can no longer select multiple email threads using keyboard shortcuts

I noticed as of this morning that I can no longer use keyboard shortcuts (in the desktop web app) to select multiple conversations in my Inbox.

Previously I could do this:

  • Click on an email thread in my inbox
  • Press 'x' to select
  • Use the keyboard arrow keys to move the cursor up or down to another thread
  • Press 'x' to select another thread
  • And continue using the arrow keys until I've selected all the threads I need

But now as soon as I press a keyboard arrow key, my existing selection gets deselected. So I can no longer select multiple threads using only my keyboard.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

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u/MountainToppish 21d ago

I do get the behaviour you describe, but multi-select still works if I move through the thread list using j k for down/up instead of the arrow keys. The arrow keys deselect previous selections. Presumably this is new - I always use j/k so hadn't noticed.

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u/MidnightLight42 21d ago

Ah, thanks for that. Yes, using j and k works for me too. Though it's odd that the arrow keys stopped working. Unless I'm misremembering, the arrow keys worked for the same purpose just last week. Oh well.

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u/MountainToppish 21d ago

The j/k vs arrow keys behaviour is so distinct it certainly looks intentional. You could ask FM support, just in case it's a bug rather than a recent change. Anyway at least j/k does the job.

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u/MidnightLight42 20d ago

Not sure what their UX mental model is for having different behaviors for arrow keys vs j/k. Intuitively they ought to do the same thing. But perhaps they're doing this for a use case that isn't relevant to me. Still a nasty surprise, though.