Skip to main content

Reading Email

Gaivota makes it easy to browse and read your emails with a clean interface and keyboard shortcuts.

Browsing Your Inbox

When you open Gaivota, you'll see your inbox with the most recent emails at the top.

Each email in the list shows:

  • Subject: The email subject line
  • Sender: Who sent the email (name or email address)
  • Preview: The first line of the email body
  • Date: When the email was received
  • Indicators: Unread status, flags, attachments

Use these shortcuts to navigate:

ShortcutAction
jMove to next email
kMove to previous email
o or EnterOpen/focus on email
uGo back to list
Ctrl+BPage up (older emails)
Ctrl+FPage down (newer emails)

Reading an Email

Click on an email or press Enter to view its full content in the detail pane.

The email view shows:

  • From: Sender name and email address
  • To/Cc: Recipients
  • Date: Full timestamp
  • Subject: Email subject
  • Body: Full formatted content

Thread View

If an email is part of a conversation, Gaivota automatically groups related messages:

  • All emails in the thread appear together
  • The newest message is at the bottom
  • Click any message to expand it
  • Collapsed messages show a preview

Threads are grouped using email headers (References, In-Reply-To) for accurate conversation tracking.

Marking as Read/Unread

Emails are automatically marked as read when you view them.

To manually toggle read status:

  • Press Shift+U to mark as unread
  • Or right-click and select "Mark as Unread"

Flagging Messages

Flag important emails to find them later:

ShortcutAction
sToggle flag/star

Flagged emails appear with a star icon in the email list.

Viewing Attachments

When an email has attachments, they appear at the bottom of the message.

Supported Previews

Gaivota can preview certain file types inline:

  • Images: JPG, PNG, GIF display directly
  • PDFs: Preview with page navigation

Downloading Attachments

Click the download button on any attachment to save it to your computer.

Inline Images

Images embedded in the email body display automatically. These are common in newsletters and HTML emails.

When emails contain URLs, Gaivota may show a preview of the linked content with:

  • Page title
  • Description
  • Thumbnail image

This helps you understand what a link points to before clicking.

Copying Content

To copy text from an email:

  1. Select the text you want to copy
  2. Press ⌘+C (Ctrl+C on Windows/Linux)
  3. Paste anywhere with ⌘+V

Opening in Browser

If you need to view an email in your web browser (for complex formatting):

  1. Right-click on the email
  2. Select "Open in Browser"

This opens the email in your default web browser.