How to Use the Form Designer with the Keyboard
You can do most of the customizing of a call's Details page or a customer's Overview from the keyboard: select, rename, hide, group, reorder and resize items, send them to another tab, and add, rename, move and delete tabs. Moving a field into a different group, or beside a field in a different row, still needs a drag with the mouse or touchpad. Start customizing with Customize this layout… in the list beside Details or Overview in the sections sidebar; then every item on the open tab can be reached with the Tab key, and the keys below act on the item that has the focus.
How do I select and move items with the keyboard?
Press the Tab key to move from item to item on the form while customizing; the item with the focus is outlined. Press the Space bar to add it to (or take it out of) the selection, and hold Alt with an arrow key to move it.
- Tab and Shift+Tab (Shift and Tab together) — go to the next or previous item on the form. On a form with tabs, only the items on the open tab are reached.
- Space — add the focused item to the selection, or take it out. This is how you select several items for grouping or hiding.
- Escape — clear the selection.
- Alt+Left or Alt+Right — move the focused item one place left or right within its row.
- Alt+Up or Alt+Down — move the focused item up or down: out of a shared row into a row of its own, or past the row above or below.
After a move the item keeps the focus, so you can press Alt with an arrow key again to keep moving it.
Alt with an arrow key moves an item only within the group, or the tab, it is already in. It never takes the item into or out of a group, and it never puts it beside a field in another row: in the form designer, do those by dragging. To send an item to another tab from the keyboard, use Move to tab on its right-click menu (next section).
With a mouse, a click selects an item and Ctrl+click or Shift+click adds it to the selection; clicking an empty part of the form clears it.
Which keys rename, hide and group on the form?
With an item focused while customizing, press F2 (or Enter) to rename it, Delete to hide it, and Ctrl and G together (Ctrl+G) to group it with the other selected items. These keys act on every selected item when the focused one is part of the selection.
- F2 or Enter — rename the focused field, group or label. Type, then press Enter to keep the new caption or Escape to cancel. A field whose text is hidden cannot be renamed this way; use the Caption box in the properties panel instead.
- Delete or Backspace — hide the focused item, or every selected item. Fields that must stay on the form are refused, with a message saying so.
- Ctrl+G — group the selected items.
- Shift+F10 (Shift and F10 together), or the menu key on the keyboard — open the right-click menu for the focused item. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move through it and Enter or Space to choose. On an entry with a list of its own, Text position or Move to tab, press Right (or Enter) to open the list with the focus on its first choice, Up and Down to move through it, and Left to go back. Escape closes the menu.
Move to tab is the keyboard's way to send the focused item, or every selected item, to the end of another tab: Shift+F10, Down until Move to tab, Right, then Down to the tab and Enter.
In the Hidden items list on the right, Tab to a field or layout piece and press Enter to add it at the end of the form, or at the end of the open tab on a form with tabs, in a row of its own; from there Alt+Up moves it up.
Which keys work on the tabs?
The tab names across the top of the form behave like any set of tabs: press the Tab key until the open tab's name has the focus, then press the Left or Right arrow key to go to the previous or next tab, Home for the first and End for the last. Each tab opens as the focus reaches it, at any time, customizing or not; while customizing it is also selected, so the properties panel shows it.
While customizing, with a tab's name focused:
- F2 or Enter — rename the tab. Type, then Enter to keep the name or Escape to cancel.
- Delete — delete the tab; its fields go back to Hidden items. A tab holding a field that must stay on the form is refused, with a message saying so.
- Alt+Left or Alt+Right — move the tab one place along the strip.
- Shift+F10, or the menu key — open the tab's menu: Rename…, Move left, Move right, Add tab after and Delete tab.
+ Add tab is a button after the tab names: Tab to it and press Enter, type the new tab's name and press Enter.
There is no Ctrl+Page Down or Ctrl+Page Up for changing tab, because browsers keep those keys for their own tabs.
How do I undo, resize and finish with the keyboard?
Press Ctrl and Z together (Ctrl+Z) to undo and Ctrl and Y together (Ctrl+Y) to redo while customizing; Ctrl, Shift and Z together (Ctrl+Shift+Z) also redoes. These keys do nothing while you are typing in a text box, such as a caption or tab name you are renaming or the Find a field… box, where they undo your typing instead, and they also do nothing while a field or group on the form has the keyboard focus, for example just after moving it with Alt and an arrow key. Then use the Undo and Redo buttons at the top: Tab to one and press Enter.
- Resize a width. Tab to the Resize handle between two items in a row and press Left or Right. Each press moves the boundary a little.
- Move a splitter. When you are not customizing, Tab to a splitter and use Left and Right (for an upright splitter) or Up and Down (for a flat one).
- Cancel a drag. If you started dragging with the mouse, press Escape to drop nothing and leave everything as it was.
- Finish. Tab to Done at the top of the screen and press Enter.
The Undo and Redo buttons at the top of the screen show their shortcuts when you point at them: "Undo (Ctrl+Z)" and "Redo (Ctrl+Y)".