TabStop Property

Applies To

ActiveX control, Bound Object Frame control, Chart control, Check Box control, Combo Box control, Command Button control, List Box control, Option Button control, Option Group control, Subform/Subreport control, Tab control, Text Box control, Toggle Button control, Unbound Object Frame control.

Description

You can use the TabStop property to specify whether you can use the TAB key to move the focus to a control in Form view.

Note The TabStop property applies only to controls on a form, not controls on a report.

This property doesn't apply to check box, option button, or toggle button controls when they appear in an option group. It applies only to the option group itself.

Setting

The TabStop property uses the following settings.

Setting	Description	Visual Basic

Yes	(Default) You can move the focus to the control by pressing the TAB key.	True (–1)
No	You can't move the focus to the control by pressing the TAB key.	False (0)

You can set this property by using the control's property sheet, a macro, or Visual Basic.

Remarks

When you create a control on a form, Microsoft Access automatically assigns the control a position in the form's tab order. Each new control is placed last in the tab order. If you want to prevent a control from being available when you tab through the controls in a form, set the control's TabStop property to No.

In Form view, hidden or disabled controls remain in the tab order but are skipped when you move through the controls by pressing TAB, even if their TabStop properties are set to Yes.

As long as a control's Enabled property is set to Yes, you can click the control or use an access key to select it, regardless of its TabStop property setting. For example, you can set the TabStop property of a command button to No to prevent users from selecting the button by pressing TAB. However, they can still click the command button to choose it.