Activation Order

Opens the Tab Order dialogue box so you can modify the order in which control fields get the focus when the user presses the tab key.

To access this command...

On Form Design bar, click

Activation Order

If form elements are inserted into a document, Office automatically determines in which order to move from one control to the next when using the Tab key. Every new control added is automatically placed at the end of this series. In the Tab Order dialogue box, you can adapt the order of this series to your individual needs.

You can also define the index of a control through its specific properties by entering the desired value under Order in the Properties dialogue box of the control.

A radio button inside a group can only be accessed by the Tab key when one of the radio buttons is set to "selected". If you have designed a group of radio buttons where none are set to "selected", then the user will not be able to access the group or any of the radio buttons by keyboard.

Controls

Lists all controls in the form. These controls can be selected with the tab key in the given order from top to bottom. Select a control from the Controls list to assign the desired position in the tab order.

Move Up

Click the Move Up button to shift the selected control one position higher in the tab order.

Move Down

Click the Move Down button to shift the selected control one position lower in the tab order.

Automatic Sort

Click the Automatic Sort button to automatically sort the controls according to their position in the document.