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| <title>Navigating the user interface using the keyboard</title> |
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| <h1>Navigating the user interface using the keyboard</h1> |
| <p>The user interface is navigable using the keyboard. The Tab key is used to iterate through the controls in a |
| window (for example, a dialog, or the current perspective's views and editors and the main controls for the Workbench |
| window). To tab out of views that use the Tab key (such as editors) use Ctrl+Tab. When the focus is on an editor or |
| view tab, pressing the left/right arrow key moves to the previous/next tab and pressing Enter moves the focus to the |
| current selection in the editor or view.</p> |
| <h2>Menus</h2> |
| <p>Most menus are assigned mnemonics for each entry which allow you to select them by typing the underlined letter |
| instead of the mouse. You can also select an item by moving through the menus and sub-menus with the arrow keys.</p> |
| <p>The various menus available can be accessed using the keyboard in the following ways:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>F10 accesses the menus on the main menu bar.</li> |
| <li>Shift+F10 pops up the context menu for the current view. (Note: this shortcut is actually dependent on your |
| window manager, but for most people it should be Shift+F10.)</li> |
| <li>Ctrl+F10 will open the pull down menu for the current view if there is one. For editors, Ctrl+F10 will open the |
| menu for the marker bar on the left of the editor area.</li> |
| <li>Alt+mnemonic will activate the Workbench menu for a particular entry (e.g., Alt+W will bring down the Window |
| menu).</li> |
| <li>Microsoft Windows only: Pressing Alt will give focus to the menu bar.</li> |
| </ul> |
| <h2>Controls</h2> |
| <p>Mnemonics are assigned to most control labels (e.g., buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons, etc.) in dialog boxes, |
| preference pages, and property pages. To access the control associated with a label, use the Alt key along with the |
| letter that is underlined in the label.</p> |
| <h2>Navigation Context</h2> |
| <p>Navigation context is saved for the packages, navigator views, Workbench preferences and properties dialogs. The |
| selected page for the preferences and properties dialog is saved between invocations of the dialog but are not saved |
| between workbench invocations.</p> |
| <h2>Cycling Editors, Views and Perspectives</h2> |
| <p>To switch between editors, views and perspectives, the workbench provides a cycling function that is invoked by |
| Ctrl and a function key. All of these cycling functions recall the last thing selected to allow for rapid cycling |
| back and forth between two items. The cycling functions are</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Ctrl+F6 - Cycle to Editor</li> |
| <li>Ctrl+F7 - Cycle to View</li> |
| <li>Ctrl+F8 - Cycle to Perspective</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>If you use the "StickyKeys" input, you might need to enable the "Keep next/previous editor, view and perspectives |
| dialog open" option on the <a class="command-link" href= |
| 'javascript:executeCommand("org.eclipse.ui.window.preferences(preferencePageId=org.eclipse.ui.preferencePages.Workbench)")'> |
| <img src="PLUGINS_ROOT/org.eclipse.help/command_link.svg" alt="command link"> <strong>General</strong></a> preference |
| page.</p> |
| <p>Also, Ctrl+E can be used to activate the editor drop-down, and Ctrl+PageUp and Ctrl+PageDown can be used for |
| switching between open editors, or between views within the same context.</p> |
| <h2>Accelerators</h2> |
| <p>Many of the actions in Eclipse have an accelerator assigned to them. For additional information on accelerators, |
| see <a href="keyboardshortcuts.htm">Keys</a>.</p> |
| <h2>Find Actions</h2> |
| <p>To quickly access UI elements such as views, commands, preference pages, and others, you can use the Find Actions |
| dialog, available under <a class="command-link" href= |
| 'javascript:executeCommand("org.eclipse.ui.window.quickAccess")'><img src= |
| "PLUGINS_ROOT/org.eclipse.help/command_link.svg" alt="command link"> <b>Window > Navigation > Find |
| Actions</b></a> and bound to <b>Ctrl+3</b> by default. Start typing in the filter field to see matches. For example, |
| to open the help view, type <b>Ctrl+3</b> followed by "help". One of the first matches will be to open the help view; |
| other matches show commands and preference pages related to help. You can use the arrow keys to select a different |
| match for a given filter string. Press Enter to select the highlighted entry. This will execute the command, or open |
| the view, perspective, or wizard etc.</p> |
| <h2>Following Embedded Links</h2> |
| <p>For links embedded in dialogs, such as the links between preference pages, or hyper-links in the About dialog, |
| press "Space" key to activate the currently selected link.</p> |
| <h2>Changing Size of Views and Editors</h2> |
| <p>You can adjust size of most views and editors using commands in the "Size" system menu. By default the system menu |
| for the active part is bound to <b>Alt+"-"</b>. After a "Size" submenu (Left, Right, Top, or Bottom) is selected, the |
| selected part's side will be highlighted and can be moved using the arrow keys.</p> |
| <h2>Help system</h2> |
| <p>You can navigate the help system by keyboard using the following key combinations:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Pressing Tab inside a frame (page) takes you to the next link, button or topic node.</li> |
| <li>To expand/collapse a tree node, press Right/Left arrows.</li> |
| <li>To move to the next topic node, press Down arrow or Tab</li> |
| <li>To move to the previous topic node, press Up arrow or Shift+Tab</li> |
| <li>To display selected topic, press Enter.</li> |
| <li>To scroll all the way up or down press Home or End.</li> |
| <li>To go back press Alt+Left arrow; to go forward press Alt+Right arrow.</li> |
| <li>To go to the next frame, or toolbar press Ctrl+Tab (Ctrl+F6, if using Mozilla, or Mozilla based browser).</li> |
| <li>To move to previous frame, press Shift+Ctrl+Tab. (Shift-Ctrl+F6, if using Mozilla, or Mozilla based |
| browser).</li> |
| <li>To move to the frame displaying topic content press Alt+K (when using embedded help browser on Windows, or |
| Internet Explorer).</li> |
| <li>To move to Contents tab, press Alt+C</li> |
| <li>To move to Search Results tab, press Alt+R</li> |
| <li>To move between tabs, press Right/Left arrows.</li> |
| <li>To switch view, select a tab and press Enter.</li> |
| <li>To switch and move to a view, select a tab and press Up arrow.</li> |
| <li>To move to the search entry field, press Alt+S</li> |
| <li>To print the current page or active frame, press Ctrl+P.</li> |
| <li>To find a string in the current page or active frame, press Ctrl+F (when using embedded help browser on |
| Windows, or Internet Explorer).</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>Most labels of controls on help system pop-up dialogs have mnemonics are assigned to them. To access the control |
| associated with a label, use the Alt key along with the letter that is underlined.</p> |
| <h3 class="related">Related concepts</h3><a href="accessmain.htm">Accessibility features in Eclipse</a><br> |
| <a href="text_editor.htm">Accessibility features in textual editors</a><br> |
| <a href="../../tasks/tkeybindings.htm">Changing the key bindings</a><br> |
| <a href="keyboardshortcuts.htm">Keys</a><br> |
| <a href="../help.htm">Help</a> |
| <h3 class="related">Related reference</h3><a href="fontsandcolors.htm">Font and color settings in Eclipse</a> |
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