Mac 101: Use the tab key in more dialog boxes

TUAW reader Cody Rogers wrote in to say: "I'm fairly new to my iMac and Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard. One of my biggest annoyances from switching over from PC to Mac is when a dialogue box comes up and says 'cancel' or 'okay' I can't find the keyboard shortcut to go from cancel to okay. In Windows, I could just hit 'tab' to go to the other option. Is this possible on a Mac? I've been doing some searching on it and can't find anything!"

I happened to have found the same thing when doing a clean reinstall of Snow Leopard over the weekend. The good news is that there is a way to do it, but it is not turned on by default and it does require a bit of hunting around. I didn't remember where it was either.

Launch System Preferences, either by choosing it from the "Apple" menu or by going to your /Applications/ folder.
In System Preferences, select the "Keyboard" preference pane (middle of the 2nd row)
Then click "Keyboard Shortcuts" at the top of that window (see image above)
At the bottom of that panel there is an option to use Tab to move between either "Text boxes and lists only" (default) or "All controls".

Select the radio control next to "All controls" and you will now be able to use the tab to go between "Save" and "Cancel" or any other dialog boxes which appear.

Also note that for most dialog boxes, the Enter/Return key will select "OK" and command+period (or the Escape key) will cancel.

If you'd like to learn more about using keyboard shortcuts with Mac OS X, Apple has a really useful page which will come in handy, especially for those switching from Windows.

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Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343

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Mac 101

TUAW reader Cody Rogers wrote in to say: "I'm fairly new to my iMac and Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard. One of my biggest annoyances...

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K Taylor

I should read the links more closely next time... found it! :)

Command-` (the Grave accent key--above Tab key on a US English keyboard layout)

May 08 2010 at 4:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

K Taylor

Does anyone have any links to details of "mouseless" navigation in the finder? I've always been curious how to change windows, etc.. without having to use the mouse..

Cheers

May 08 2010 at 4:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Chris Kz

Kewl!

May 03 2010 at 4:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

John

Thanks!

April 19 2010 at 10:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Heinz

The deeper one diggs, the better it gets! Thank you!

April 15 2010 at 5:08 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

dorian

Anyone know how to similate a right click on a highlighted object using only the keyboard? that would make me completely excited,

March 09 2010 at 4:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Andrew

omg this has bothered me for the longest time, the genius bar couldn't help me on this either

March 09 2010 at 11:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rhino Lith

Wow. I have been using Macs since, like, forever and I always wondered how to do this. Again: wow.

March 09 2010 at 2:56 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Cody Rogers

Glad to know that I wasn't the only one with this problem. And glad to see that they replied to this question I sent in! You all are the best!!

-Cody

March 09 2010 at 12:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

cycomachead

I cannot use a mac without this turned on. (I've done it to friends macs, :)) Seriously, if you use the keyboard this is a lifesaver. Enter for default command, space for highlighted button. The exceptions are Safari whose tab behavior is a special option, and some X11 apps which aren't the same mac apps.

BTW, this is way more than just dialogue boxes, hundreds of app controls, etc. I can install an app with in seconds using this method.

March 08 2010 at 7:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply