Setting the tab order

Users can press the TAB key to move between components on a form. Tab order is the sequence in which components receive focus as the user presses TAB. The sequence number is zero based.

Follow this procedure to set the tab order of all components on a form, beginning with the first (0) component.

To set the tab order:

  1. Open a form and go into Design Mode.
  2. Perform one of these actions:
    • On the Edit menu, point to Component, and then click Tab Order.
    • On the Design Mode toolbar, click the Tab Order icon.
  3. On the form, click components in the order in which you want users to move to them with the Tab key.

    A tag near the upper-left corner of each component shows the sequence number of the component in the tab order. Tags are color coded to show the state of components in the tab-order session:

    • Blue text on white indicates that the component has been clicked.
    • White text on red indicates that the component is the last component clicked.
    • White text on blue indicates that the component has not yet been clicked.
    • (On extended forms only) Dark blue text on a light blue background indicates that the component belongs to the base form and that you cannot change the tab order.
  4. Be sure to select:
    • Every component that you want to include in the tab order.
    • A static component used as a label for a component immediately before you select its companion component.
    • A container before you select the components contained within it.
  5. To exit tab-order mode, do one of the following:
    • On the Edit menu, point to Component, and then click Tab Order.
    • On the toolbar, click the Tab Order icon.
    Note: You can set the tab order on only one form at a time. You should exit tab-order mode for the current form before you attempt to set the tab order on another form.