In Microsoft Outlook there is an opportunity to choose to view only unread e-mail, but there is not a direct shortcut to it in Gmail.

It is possible to search for unread e-mail by writing; label: unread in the search box and do a search in the e-mail. Then you will bring up all unread e-mail. This is a straightforward but not easy way to do it.

To do this a little easier, you can use one of the new features in the "labs" project to Gmail. This can be found by going to Settings and sample projects. Find a component called "Quick Links" and click Activate. "Quick Links" will then be showed on the left side of Gmail.

Then do a search for unread mail in Gmail by typing: label: unread in the search box. Now you can create a link to this search result in the "Quick Links". Click on the "Add to Quick Links" and give it a name that describes your search. You now have a shortcut to unread mail in Gmail.