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Without boring you with the details as to why I need this...

In Windows XP, if you have a settings/options dialogue box open that has several tabs, each containing its own controls, is there a keyboard shortcut to move the focus up to the tab itself i.e. so there's a dotted line around it?

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I am not aware of a standard keyboard shortcut that will accomplish this with a single press all the time.

However, it is possible to cycle through the different property sheets (tabs) at any time even though none of the tabs have the focus (dotted outline):

  • Cycle to text tab: Ctrl + Tab

  • Cycle to previous tab: Ctrl + Shift + Tab

If you really need the tabs to have that dotted outline (focus), the tabs are included in the Tab-order, so they will eventually have the focus by cycling through the Tab-order of all the UI elements on the property sheet:

  • Cycle to next dialog element: Tab

  • Cycle to previous dialog element: Shift + Tab

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Thanks for your response but I was aware of those two things but they don't do what I need. I need this for a macro recorder/player I'm using so wouldn't be doing it 'live' and therefore not able to spot when the focus cycles round to the tab. – andygrunt Aug 3 '10 at 18:43
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