Selecting Items by Access Key or by Name

Most dialog box controls, menu titles, and menu items have underlined access keys. You can press ALT along with the access key to activate the control or menu anywhere within the active window. If an item doesn't have an underlined character, its access key is the first character in its name.

Access keys can sometimes be used without the ALT key for choosing controls or menu items. Use access keys without ALT to select items from an open menu. You can choose a dialog box control by typing its access key alone, except when the focus is on an edit box, a list box, or another control that expects typed characters. Therefore, using the ALT is a more reliable method.

Choosing controls in this way normally activates them, except when more than one item has the same access key. In that case, it will navigate to the next item assigned that key, but will not activate it. You must then press ENTER to activate it.

Within a list box, list view, tree view, or on the desktop, you can select an item by typing the first one or more characters in its name. You can begin typing a new name by pausing, and in some cases by pressing BACKSPACE. Pressing the same character more than once at the beginning of a name will select the next item beginning with that character.