How to tab between buttons on an Mac OS X dialog box

Question

I know that there has been a similar question asked here very recently, but I was wondering if it was possible to tab between buttons on default Mac OS X dialog boxes?

I already have the All controls option enabled in System Preferences → Keyboard & Mouse → Keyboard Shortcuts, but no joy.

It's not the answer to the question but I feel it's relevant. You can tab backwards through the controls and boxes using shift+tab. — Teifion, Aug 05 '08 at 14:43
See also: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/254136/tab-key-not-working-properly-in-dialogue-boxes-in-macos — TheDudeAbides, Apr 25 '23 at 15:51

score 201 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 06 '13 at 15:19

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If you enable Full Keyboard Access by setting it to all controls, you should be able to tab between options and select by hitting spacebar, at least for OS X 10.5:

Full Keyboard Access: All Controls (Control+F7)

edited Feb 06 '13 at 15:19

Marius Butuc

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answered Aug 05 '08 at 14:38

ruddzw

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Thanks. At least in Lion, this setting can also be switched on or off quickly using Ctrl+F7. – c089 Sep 13 '11 at 12:46
Not much use though is it, since the OS doesn't always focus the dialog... :/ – Henrik Erlandsson Jan 17 '14 at 11:00
El Capitan, not working anymore. – atilkan Oct 19 '15 at 21:23
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The Keyboard shortcut still works on El Capitan Fn+Ctr+F7 toggles it on/off. – Eduardo Romero Nov 13 '15 at 05:41
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Thanks - took me a while to find out even when I already knew that months ago - wonder why spacebar - why not just enter key - its not intuitive and you could always switch back to the highlighted button in 1-2 strokes if you make an error. Sometimes I feel like there is some evil manager behind the guys who do this in Apple and hes pushing his stupid ideas into releases. And yep confirming it still works on El Captain for me too. – Srneczek Jun 19 '16 at 14:58
I am somehow new to mac, I now can toggle between different bottoms but how can I press on don't save with the keyboard. I press return (or enter) but it was just saving. Can you help, please? – Anonymous Sep 14 '18 at 18:20
Switching focus works now but cannot select – Honsa Stunna Sep 07 '21 at 11:53
In Monterey 12.3.1 it is `use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls` in Sys.pref. -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts on window bottom. Toggle with `Ctrl+f7`. – Timo Apr 03 '22 at 17:34
Nice! this is very helpful – Michel Dec 07 '22 at 19:09

score 84 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

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While @ruddzw's (chosen) answer works, it can slow you down in other areas simply from the sheer number of controls there are to tab through.

@NReilingh presents a different approach, and the semantics behind it:

The right way to go about keyboard shortcuts for alternate dialog buttons is not tab, but command key combos. For example, Command-period is almost universally "cancel." [...]
It's often not documented, but the command shortcut for different buttons that aren't the default button or cancel is usually the first letter of that button.

So in the example:

Save prompt

enter/return will Save,
⌘+. or esc will Cancel, and
⌘+D will map to Don't Save.
As @Kevin Reid points out, ⌘+delete works here as well.

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

Community

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answered Feb 06 '13 at 17:16

Marius Butuc

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In the new combined save/do-you-want-to-save dialog boxes, "Don't Save"'s shortcut is ⌘-Delete. – Kevin Reid Feb 09 '13 at 23:06
Both `⌘+D` and `⌘+delete` seem to map to _Don't Save_. – Marius Butuc Oct 02 '13 at 16:49
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didn't work for me (brand new osx with latest os whatever it is), so enabled all controls, but thanks, I'd have preferred your answer if it had worked. I did test all the keys on the keyboard, with FN, CTRL, Option as well. – PatrickT Nov 29 '13 at 11:12
You can also press "Tab" key to select focus on button and then press "Space" instead of "Enter" to apply the selection. – kholis Nov 29 '17 at 08:36
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This is good info beyond the accepted answer, still in the scope of the question asked. – Nirav Zaveri Apr 28 '18 at 05:11
Works for mac OS Mojave – jdhao Oct 12 '18 at 17:26

score 15 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 17 '16 at 01:39

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In Keyboard preferences under Keyboard Shortcuts

Full Keyboard Access: Switch to All Controls instead of Text Boxes and Lists Only

edited Feb 17 '16 at 01:39

clhy

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answered Oct 07 '10 at 07:05

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 06 '16 at 07:24

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To enable navigation using Tabs from the command line type:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleKeyboardUIMode -int 3

answered Sep 06 '16 at 07:24

Amit Kotlovski

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What is the difference between int 2 and 3? In macOS Monterey, 2 is sufficient. – Hrishikesh Kadam Oct 27 '22 at 17:14

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 08 '22 at 14:31

In macOS Monterey (12.4) this option changed a little bit and looks like this:

I had the option "Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls" enabled but I wasn't able to tab between OK and Cancel in the Finder's delete dialog. I had to disable and reenable that option, so it was working again as expected.

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 11 '23 at 10:39

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In Ventura (MacOS 13) this has moved again, to a Keyboard navigation toggle in System Settings > Keyboard.

answered Jan 11 '23 at 10:39

mmldrm

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score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 14:36

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Is there a specific dialog you're having trouble with? With "All controls" enabled I can tab around every control of every Mac OS X dialog I've tested just now.

answered Aug 05 '08 at 14:36

Rufo Sanchez

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score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 30 '20 at 14:26

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In macOS Catalina, do the following.

In Settings Preferences, navigate to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts. Select Keyboard in the left pane. Tick the Use Keyboard navigation and untick Change the way Tab moves focus options.

Here's the image for reference:
Keyboard Shortcuts preferences window

answered Oct 30 '20 at 14:26

Chintan

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In your screenshot at the bottom there's a checkbox for `Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls`. I think *that's* the one that changes the tab behaviour. The one you've given disables the `Ctrl-F7` shortcut, which actually allows you to toggle that without going into Settings. – mwfearnley Dec 05 '20 at 10:37
@mwfearnley yes what you said worked for me. Not the other setting mentioned in this answer. – adarshr Sep 17 '21 at 09:10

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered May 02 '23 at 07:31

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Visit System Settings
Find or search for Keyboard
Under Keyboard Navigation ensure the switch is on

answered May 02 '23 at 07:31

ksav

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This is exactly what I needed to know about macOS Ventura. – mph May 25 '23 at 19:18

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 26 '08 at 09:10

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When browsing with Safari, you can also tab between all HTML elements on the page using Option+Tab (otherwise Tab would only stop on the browser toolbar controls and quick bookmarks)

answered Aug 26 '08 at 09:10

Sergio Acosta

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How to tab between buttons on an Mac OS X dialog box

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