Setting the tab order for data entry
When you press Tab in Browse mode or Find mode, the default FileMaker Pro behavior is to move left to right and top to bottom. You can change this default tab order, and even omit fields if you want.
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Button objects, tab controls, slide controls, web viewers, and charts can be included in the tab order.
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To set the tab order for a layout:
1.
In Layout mode, choose Layouts menu > Set Tab Order.
FileMaker Pro displays numbered arrows pointing to each of the fields, tab controls, popover buttons and regular buttons on your layout, along with the Set Tab Order dialog box. For fields and tab controls, the numbered arrows appear on the left side of the objects; for buttons, the numbered arrows appear on the right side of the objects. A field that is also a button has two arrows. The left arrow is for the field, the right arrow is for the button. A blank arrow indicates an object that is omitted from the tab order.
2.
 
From the Add remaining drop-down list, select Objects and click Add.
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Click Clear All, and from the Add remaining drop-down list, select Objects and click Add.
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Or, click Clear All and click arrows in the order you want. FileMaker Pro inserts numbers in that order in the arrows.
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Click Clear All, and from the Add remaining drop-down list, select Fields only or Buttons only and click Add.
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Or, click Clear All and click arrows in the order you want. FileMaker Pro inserts numbers in that order in the arrows.
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From the Remove drop-down list, select All fields or All buttons and click Remove.
3.
To set the tab order for repeating fields:
When you arrange multiple repeating fields next to each other to form a table-like grid on a layout, the default tab order (shown below) moves left-to-right across each row instead of down each column, regardless of whether each repeating field is displayed horizontally or vertically.
Example of how the default tab order moves across rows instead of down columns in repeating fields
For multiple repeating fields arranged like this, you can quickly specify whether to tab through the first repetition of each different field first, or within the same field first.
1.
Start setting the tab order as described above, and click Create new tab order to define a new tab order for all fields.
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Click OK in the Set Tab Order dialog box.
Notes
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If you have added a popover to the layout, you can tab between fields in the popover, but you must open the popover first (by clicking the popover button or by tabbing to the popover button, then pressing the Space bar). You cannot tab into or tab out of a popover. See Selecting and working with objects on popovers.
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