How can I activate buttons with just the keyboard?

Question

Many user interface (UI) elements or dialog boxes have buttons. I would like to be able to activate a button with just the keyboard, without the mouse. How can I do this?

score 145 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 27 '16 at 13:44

145

Enable Keyboard Control of the UI

System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts

Then select "All Controls" radio button at the bottom, rather than just "Text boxes and lists only".

enter image description here

Keyboard Shortcuts

⇥ (TAB) will move between buttons.
esc (ESC) is cancel.
space (SPACE) selects the active button (blue, outline).
↩ (RETURN) is OK or the default button (blue, pulsing, filled).
For some dialog boxes, ⌘+first_letter will select the button with a certain first letter in the text (as pointed out by @Griffo).

edited Jun 27 '16 at 13:44

Eric Leschinski

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answered Jan 29 '11 at 21:09

Is this still applicable to Mavericks? – Jayden Lawson May 13 '14 at 07:09
@JaydenLawson Yes, can confirm it's working on Mavericks. I don't know about Yosemite – Mohsen Jun 28 '14 at 02:25
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It is actually under the "Shortcuts" tab. System Perfs > Keyboard > Shortcuts – Chris Watts Aug 27 '14 at 17:22
As @ChrisWatts said... these instructions are a little outdated, but still work as of El Capitan. these instructions ARE the most reliable way to achieve what OP said. The accepted answer isn't reliable. – Cyprus106 Oct 19 '15 at 15:30
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This is definitely the correct answer. – Wesley Smith Jul 21 '16 at 06:08
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This is the correct answer. It works perfectly on macOS High Sierra. – alezvic Apr 26 '18 at 00:05
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This works on the latest macOS Mojave. Thanks~ – jdhao Oct 12 '18 at 17:05
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In macOS Catalina, the checkbox is now labeled "Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls" and was unchecked by default (which seems to be against the spirit of accessibility). – user110857 Oct 01 '20 at 16:32

conorgriffin · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-04T01:23:47.127

89

For many dialog boxes you can select the option you want by pressing ⌘+firstletter where firstletter is the first letter of the option you want to select

edited Feb 04 '11 at 01:23

answered Jan 29 '11 at 20:42

conorgriffin

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Cooool!!! +1! I had no idea. – Harv Jan 29 '11 at 22:33
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I haven't been able to get this to work once. What dialog boxes support this? What percentage of the time does this work for you given all the apps you use? – Feb 13 '11 at 20:38
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@mankoff Try it while carrying out what the original question asked and it works – conorgriffin Feb 13 '11 at 20:49
I have "warn when changing" unselected so I never come across that dialog. In testing, CMD+K (keep) doesn't seem to work for me, only CMD+U (use). This answer, while useful when it works, seems to be only partially and occasionally valid. – Feb 13 '11 at 20:59
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This doesn't work more often than not in my experience. – fredley Oct 31 '11 at 10:59
As @fredley mentioned, this is not often the case. actually AFAICT it is rarely the case. Really really too bad. – WestCoastProjects Aug 16 '13 at 22:20
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Yup, unfortunately when I answered the question I tested it in the specific scenario the question described and it worked but it's not universal I'm afraid. Pity... – conorgriffin Aug 27 '13 at 23:55
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This works in Sequel Pro. I found it very non-intuitive, which is how I ended up here. Thank you! – Jonathan Nesbitt Jan 22 '15 at 19:49
I've found this to work in Office, but actually, you don't need to use command there. – Louis Waweru May 22 '15 at 04:32

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 18 '12 at 08:22

To elaborate on the answers above, many (most?) dialogue boxes will have the default option in blue. Hitting ⇥ will cycle between options, with a blue outline around the other button, but the default will remain blue. Hitting ↩ will always select the default, space will select whichever button is highlighted.

In this example, pressing ↩ will 'Keep .txt' and pressing space will 'Use .bak.'

Dialogue Box

m_drinks_coffee · Answer 4 · 2021-05-27T14:26:27.067

4

In macOS Big Sur (version 11.3+), System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts

Select Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls

@Eric Leschinski's answer gives an overview of keyboard shortcuts

edited May 27 '21 at 14:26

answered May 27 '21 at 08:58

m_drinks_coffee

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score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 18 '12 at 08:23

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⌘+. also works for Cancel. And in some applications just pressing the initial letters works. Photoshop is one, but it's pretty common for other cross-platform applications too.

Typing ⌘+W+D is a quick way to do something like Close and don't save.

edited Jan 18 '12 at 08:23

gentmatt

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answered Mar 03 '11 at 07:19

Lri

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conorgriffin · Answer 6 · 2011-02-04T01:24:38.407

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See full Keyboard Access at the bottom of the following screenshot:

Keyboard Preferences When a prompt window like the one you included appears, the selected button will be highlighted in blue.
Screenshot:

Copy dialog

Then you press the space to action that button.

edited Feb 04 '11 at 01:24

answered Jan 31 '11 at 22:53

conorgriffin

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Thanks @Am1rr3zA for the previous edit but I discovered my answer didn't work so I amended it. ;o) – conorgriffin Jan 31 '11 at 23:49

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 29 '11 at 21:09

-1

Tab to move to the next dialog box. Space to select

answered Jan 29 '11 at 21:09

Frederiko

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As stated by the answers above, this doesn't just work out of the box. You have to enable it in System Preferences. – daviesgeek Aug 18 '12 at 06:19
@daviesgeek — And Tab does not switch dialog box ! Fortunately. – Nicolas Barbulesco Jan 31 '15 at 17:41

How can I activate buttons with just the keyboard?

7 Answers7

Enable Keyboard Control of the UI

Keyboard Shortcuts

Linked

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