key combination to switch between buttons

Hi,

Back in Linux or in Windows, I used to use the keyboard to select one button of the other alternatively, in one of those popup menus that shows up when confirmation is needed. For example, you install something and this window shows up with a button saying "Agree" and the other saying "Cancel".

My problem is that now in Mac/Tiger I can't find any shortcut or key combination to do that. I can only hit enter if I am happy with the button which is already selected (in blue) or use the mouse to click on any of the other buttons.

Do you know how I can avoid using the mouse for that?

Thank you very much!

xinelo

tab or the arrows work well for me

skye23412 said:

tab or the arrows work well for me

Click to expand...

well, not for me.

i've just tried again. changing a file's extension in finder, and hitting enter, brings up a popup asking to keep or change the extension. if I hit tab I can see a blue shade around the non-selected button, but the other button is the one that remains selected / blue. if I hit enter, it's always like clicking on the selected button

weird.

well, thanks a lot anyway, skye23415

After you Tab between buttons, don't hit Return when the highlight is surrounding a button. Hit the Spacebar instead.

D3v1L80Y said:

After you Tab between buttons, don't hit Return when the highlight is surrounding a button. Hit the Spacebar instead.

Click to expand...

What he said.

If it's a text document you can hit Command+D if you DON'T want to save the changes. This may also work in other apps but I'm not aware of any at this stage.

Good information - I've subscribed to this thread looking to see if the OP's question was answered. What I'm wondering now is this - lets say you have the Applications window opened in Finder and you're scrolling through items using the cursor or tab keys. When you find the one you want, hit Enter and it prompts you to change the name. Hit Space and it goes to the first item in the list. Aside from Command-O, is there an easy way to open the highlighted item?

thanks for the information. yes, it seems to be the spacebar and not return what I must hit. thanks a lot )

I've also found that if one of the buttons is Cancel (as when asked to agree / not agree, or accept / cancel) you can also hit ESC to hit Cancel.

cwa107 said:

Good information - I've subscribed to this thread looking to see if the OP's question was answered. What I'm wondering now is this - lets say you have the Applications window opened in Finder and you're scrolling through items using the cursor or tab keys. When you find the one you want, hit Enter and it prompts you to change the name. Hit Space and it goes to the first item in the list. Aside from Command-O, is there an easy way to open the highlighted item?

Click to expand...

hey I know this one! hit [Command]+[down arrow]

xinelo said:

thanks for the information. yes, it seems to be the spacebar and not return what I must hit. thanks a lot )

I've also found that if one of the buttons is Cancel (as when asked to agree / not agree, or accept / cancel) you can also hit ESC to hit Cancel.



hey I know this one! hit [Command]+[down arrow]

Click to expand...

Great - thanks a lot.

3 buttons

However, still a doubt remains.

It's ok for me now when there are only 2 buttons, but in some cases there are more than 2 buttons. For example, I'm using the debugger Komodo now. When I want to close a file which I haven't saved and which I don't want to save, I hit Command+W and then I'm asked "Save changes to file?" and 3 buttons: NO, Cancel, YES.

If I hit Enter -> hit Yes
If I hit ESC -> hit Cancel
If I hit TAB -> nothing happens

I can only hit No with the mouse. Any ideas how to do it with a key combination?

thanks, xinelo

Ok Xinelo I found out:

When changing the extension for instance, You get a box with options "Keep .foo" and "Use .fee" , right?

Now the "Keep" Option is blue and slowly dimming and brightening. If you press TAB, this very button will get a blue outline. Hit TAB again, and the blue outline jumps to the other button (but the first button keeps dimming).

Now you can switch back and forth with TAB (just watch the OUTLIN, not the FILL color of the button) and then choose your option with SPACE.

Ok?

thanks yogi!

that's what D3v1L80Y was saying today at 4.17, but thanks a lot anyway )

xinelo