Tab Skips Select Form Fields in Mac Browsers
Switching to Mac May 2nd, 2006This has been one of those super annoying things about switching to the Mac OS X. When filling in a form on a web page I like to use the tab key to advance to the next form field. This allows me to avoid picking up the mouse and making my carpal tunnel any worse than it currently is. Unfortunately when tabbing in a form, it always skips over select lists such as a drop down list of states therefore I have to pickup the mouse. Ugg. This is the case in both the Safari and Firefox (Deer Park) browser.
Here is the solution: Open up System Preferences, click ‘Keyboard and Mouse’, and select the option “All Controls” at the bottom of the window next to “In Windows and Dialogs press Tab to move the keyboard focus between”.
It even works for dialog boxes such as javascript popup confirmations.
Oh happy day! I’m starting to truly feel like this Mac really can do everything that I could do on my PC. Its just a matter of learning all the tricks.
Pssst– Hey Apple. Make this one default.
May 16th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
wow, i always thought macs couldn’t do this, props for pointing this out
August 29th, 2006 at 5:48 am
wow. you just made my day.
December 5th, 2006 at 10:58 am
First, thanks for posting this.
I cannot believe how difficult it was to find this page! To hopefully help other searchers:
I searched google for select, tab, focus, firefox, mac, html, listbox, options but found nothing. It wasn’t until I searched for macintosh select focus tab page 3 that I found your page title ‘tab skips select form fields in mac browsers’ like firefox and safari.
Thanks!
January 4th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Yeah - many thanks. I hadn’t realised this option existed and no tab on dialogue buttons has always been a pet hate of mine.
January 21st, 2007 at 11:30 am
This is a good tip; thanks for posting.
I just realized the other day that I couldn’t hit the tab key on my keyboard to easily navigate around a page in firefox. Like you say, being able to hit the tab key to submit forms, highlight different text areas and drop down menus, etc., is a very useful feature.
Maybe if we get enough comments in here, google will start listing this page in a more prominent position.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Great tip, thanks!
I am also an old PC user who finally had enough and decided to convert to Mac. This tabbing thing was nearly making me regret it. We should all write to Apple and ask them to make that the default as you said.
February 16th, 2007 at 3:36 am
Yessssss! You just doubled my productivity.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
thanks for posting this trick. for heavy keyboard users, this is a god-send!
March 3rd, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Thanks!
March 10th, 2007 at 1:51 am
“It even works for dialog boxes such as javascript popup confirmations.”
Thanks for the tip but whilst this works on form fields, I haven’t been able to get it to work on dialog boxes.
March 10th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Thanks so much! I just switched to a new Macbook Pro yesterday, and it took some digging to find how to make this work! Here’s to advanced productivity in OSX.
March 12th, 2007 at 10:54 am
ZOMG! Thanks so much.
March 13th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Gotta say, I found this article in trying to find a way to turn it off! It forces extra tabs when going from the subject line to the body text in Mail (quite a nuisance) and the same problem in many other applications, so it’s likely that they don’t have it on as the default for a reason.
March 31st, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Wow, thanks for this! I’ve always missed that feature.
To Sarah, and anyone else having trouble with the dialogue boxes: after you tab to the button you want, hit “space.” That did it for me; I thought “enter” would, but it doesn’t.
April 1st, 2007 at 2:03 am
God that was annoying! Thanks for posting this and getting a good rank on Google!
April 15th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
This is one of those things I just forgot to google for months, but once I did… One search, 2 seconds, found my answer. Props to google for placement!
April 16th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Oh my god!! Believe it or not this was the MAIN REASON I didn’t use my Mac more often. (I have Linux, Mac, Windows equally.)
You just made my Mac much more valuable to me. Thank you SO much for posting this.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I was looking for how to turn this off. In Firefox hitting tab would go to every link on the page when I just wanted to get to the form (especially on the Google results page when you want to do a new search). Personally, I’ll take the trade off of not being to tab to drop down menus if I can avoid all the links, but to each his own. Thanks, if for a different reason.
April 29th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Wow, thanks- that’s always annoyed me but for some reason I never thought about the fact that there might be a way to fix it. Yay for stumbleupon!
May 4th, 2007 at 8:13 am
It doesn’t work when i’m logged on to an external server. Does anyone now how to make it work?
June 10th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I’ve been using my brother’s mac, and this has been the single biggest complaint I have with the mac (also the lack of a forward delete button). Knowing how to tab like in windows means I can get a mac now. THANKS!
June 10th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
FYI, shift-tab will allow you to go backwards in the sequence (it takes you to the previous field, instead of the next one like tab will do), and my absolute favorite shortcut is cmd-tab (ctrl-tab on windows), which puts www. and .com on either side of what you typed in the address bar of firefox or IE. For example, if you type google in the address bar, then press cmd-tab, the browser will fill in www.google.com and go to that site. Thanks again.
June 13th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
June 25th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I wonder if there is a similar option in Gnome. From what I last saw it was not available thus preventing Tabbing to drop downs.
June 27th, 2007 at 7:50 am
Thanks for pointing that out! While in there i realized that the OS has shortcuts for screenshots too! I thought you had to buy 2nd party add-ons to accomplish this. Thanks for saving me some money!
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:09 pm
This is the first time that a blog post has ever been useful to me. Thanks a lot. They certainly didn’t do a good job of explaining exactly what that option did.
July 5th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
forward backspace = fn + delete button. This is a good one.
July 6th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I had not even associated this to switching to a Mac, which I’m slightly embarrassed about. I switched about six months ago. And all this time I thought I was just crazy - that I had somehow imagined being able to tab to drop-down lists in the past.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:16 pm
THANK YOU. This had worked in Safari for me for some reason, but the inability to tab through forms was the last thing stopping me from switching to Firefox. Now, I’ve seen the light….turns out it was my system prefs all along.
July 25th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Truly amazing! Thank you for this tip; it really saved my day.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:39 am
This has been driving me crazy for months! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
August 14th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Thank you. You’re right, Apple should make this one a default setting.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Thanks! And also to Julian for forward backspace.
No if I could just figure out how to page down with one hand, I’d be all set
August 16th, 2007 at 12:54 am
this is one of the first google hits for “tabbing web fields mac” (tho I didn’t put the terms in quotes). Maybe people need better google-fu?
Thanks for the tip, btw. Totally going to save me a lot of hassle
August 17th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Awesome, you just made my day. Thanks so much!
August 27th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
I LOVE YOU!!!
August 30th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Wow, I’m surprised this is something that needed pointing out!
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I’m so happy I just shed a tear.
September 10th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
THANK YOU!
September 11th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
It took me months to find this solution. Google’s search engine wasn’t very helpful and Firefox help was useless. Thanks so very much!!!
September 14th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
+1 happy mac user thanks to your post
September 20th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Thanks a million!!!! I had given up using FireFox for a while due to this frustration.
Now I’m happy!!!!!!!!!!
September 24th, 2007 at 12:17 am
THanks a bunch for this tip!!
September 27th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Thanks, this was driving me nuts. You are wise.
September 27th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
THANK YOU! I have been trying to make this work for months and I finally found you and this post via a cleverly-worded Google search. THANK YOU! (again)
October 24th, 2007 at 11:12 am
YES! the fix to the mac keyboard form fields tab bug issue.
November 1st, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Yes!!!! Thank you for pointing that out. I’ve been using an Apple long enough to know that there was a way to do it. I just hadn’t figured it out till now.
And I completely agree about making it default!
November 6th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
You can have my first child for showing me this!!!
November 10th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Thanks for posting this! After re-installing OSX, I had forgotten how to change this setting, and your blog entry got it head-on very concisely. Thank you.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Thank you!! I just recently made the switch to a Mac and it’s the little things like this that can really make things frustrating!
November 21st, 2007 at 10:49 am
Thank you! I have been annoyed by this for nearly a year. Finally got frustrated enough to do a search and found your post at the top of my Google search. Very helpful!
November 21st, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Thanks for being one of the best answers to a vexing problem! my google search was: apple forms tab select
November 26th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
So simple, yet so awesome..:)
November 28th, 2007 at 11:17 am
You just made my day. Seriously.
I knew there was the option I just didn’t know where and you have shown me the light!
November 30th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
In firefox, you must also correctly set the tabFocus option.
Basically, go to about:config and set/add accessibility.tabfocus
See details on mozillas knowledgebase: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Accessibility.tabfocus
December 4th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Thank you SO MUCH!
December 8th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Thank you Thank you Thank you! Oh, so many thanks!!!
December 21st, 2007 at 10:31 am
Holy CRAP this is awesome. I’m such a command user and just switched to mac - this has been such a pain in the but for me. YOU MADE MY DAY! Thanks.
(heck yeah, mac - MAKE THIS DEFAULT!)
December 28th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Thank you, Nick - it wasn’t working for me in Firefox until I read your clarification. Now it is perfect!
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I LORRRVE YOU!!!!
January 14th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
This was SOOOO frustrating. You are my hero. Thanks a million.
January 17th, 2008 at 4:03 am
THANK YOU!!!!!! Why wouldn’t they set that as default? THANK YOU THANK YOU!
January 29th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Just continuing the love fest, I can’t thank you enough, that’s been driving me nuts….
February 12th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Two years later and you’re still making people happy. Thanks so much!
February 24th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Thank you! I’ve been searching for a “fix” for this problem and it was so easy thanks to you! You’re right, this should be the default setting.
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Manuel [comment no 3] I did a search for “osx+how to tab to submit button when entering forms” and found this as the second result.
Thanks for posting this - I brought a MBP and this is one of the things that was annoying me a little bit - I work as 3rd line support to XP users so I can fly around that system [as well as Linux].
Now all I need is to have some surgery on my fatty fingers as my typo rate has gone through the roof using my MBP!!!
March 30th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Thanks a lot! Solved my long standing annoyance with mac.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
“This allows me to avoid picking up the mouse and making my carpal tunnel any worse than it currently is.” … I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend getting yourself a WACOM tablet if this is a problem for you. As a web developer for the past 7 years, I’ve found it indispensable for all computer related activity. The Graphite is a good model.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Thankyou thankyou!! Its been a pet hate since day one!
April 24th, 2008 at 7:22 am
thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou
I have been looking for this for over a year!
April 27th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I found on my macbook I had to manually click to the password field on the yahoo mail login screen. I changed this option, and still the same result. I can tab to the field on any windows PC. Any idea what is special about the yahoo mail login screen that in safari on os x 10.5 I can’t tab?
May 9th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Apple always prides themselves on how user friendly they are … WTF they have tabbing skip buttons by default is ANNOYING. I, too, use my keyboard as much as possible b/c of tendinitis in my hand. Thanks for posting how to fix this.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I’m confused by a lot of the comments on here. My system preferences for the keyboard is set to the default of ‘Text boxes and lists only’ - *not* ‘All controls’ as listed above, and I’ve never come across the issue of being unable to tab to a drop down list (in Safari, Omniweb) - Firefox seems like it may rely on the second option (though, it is not really listening to it, as it is a list)… I don’t really use firefox, unless testing something though, which is why I’ve not come across this myself, I guess.
I see it as a possible issue in Firefox, if Safari and Omniweb can both work without setting that option to select drop down lists.
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Good lord. You have been sent from heaven. I have been searching for this for 7 months since getting the Mac. Today I learn this and how to stop Safari becoming the default browser too. Deep joy. Another PC Convert sees a big light!
All power to you Sir!
May 29th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I routinely use a CMS on Firefox with many tabulated links - so you made my day too! Only a week since I made the switch from PC.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Bloody freaking hell, I thank you!
June 11th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
You freaking RULE. I’m a new mac user and this was making me INSANE. Thank you so much!!
June 17th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Thanks a ton! This has been driving me nuts for the last 6 weeks after switching over, can’t believe I put up with it for this long.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Note: You have to restart your browser for the changes to take effect
June 29th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Thanks for pointing this out!! Almost gone crazy while configuring MySQL using phpMyAdmin WITHOUT tabbing.
Thank you very, very much!
July 4th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I just “upgraded” to Leopard a week ago, and I was seriously regretting it, and even more regretting ever having bought this Macbook, which in recent months had been gathering dust as I reaquainted myself with Windows (don’t flame me, I hate MS as much as the next person, but in many ways the interface is better thought out than with Os X) and explored various desktop environments in Linux. What was nearly the straw that broke the camel’s back for me was the fact that in Safari , if I wanted to change the folder a bookmark was going into, I had to use the touchpad, I couldn’t just hit tab to get to that option. Infuriating.
Your tip may have saved some innocent person walking past my building from getting beaned by a flying Macbook. God bless you!
July 4th, 2008 at 7:21 am
@bc
Heh. I’m just glad that Macbook didn’t hit the floor after hitting someone in the head.
July 12th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Awesome, thank you!
It was working normally but I guess I pressed ^F7 a week ago and it was driving me nuts!