Introduction to Keyboard Navigation

This section describes the essential keyboard shortcuts to enable you to navigate the desktop from the keyboard.

You can customize some of the keyboard shortcuts that are described in this chapter. The text indicates the shortcuts that you can customize. See Customizing Your Keyboard Shortcuts for information about how to customize keyboard shortcuts.

Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

The following table lists the essential keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate the desktop. The keyboard shortcuts that you use to navigate specific elements and controls are described in the appropriate sections of this chapter.

Keys	Function
Ctrl+Esc	Grants access to the Applications, Places and System menubar items.
Alt+F2 and Meta+R	Displays the Run Application dialog, where you can type terminal commands with or without parameters. If a file needs to be passed as one of these parameters, use the Run With File button to locate the necessary file.
Tab	Gives focus to the next element or control.
Shift+Tab	Reverses the navigation direction and gives focus to the previous element or control. In general, the Shift key reverses the navigation direction.
Ctrl+Tab	Gives focus to the next element or control, if the Tab key has a specific purpose in a control. For example, if you press Tab in a text box, the system inserts a tab space. To give focus to the previous element or control, press Shift+Ctrl+Tab.
Alt+Tab and Shift+Alt+Tab	Switches between currently running applications. If you have multiple programs running, use Alt+Tab to cycle forward through the applications and Shift+Alt+Tab to cycle backwards.
Arrow keys	Navigates within an element or control.
Spacebar	Activates the element or control that has focus. For example, if the current control is a button, this action is the equivalent of clicking the button with a mouse.
Esc	Closes a window, menu, or drawer.
F7	Switches to caret navigation mode. Caret navigation mode enables you to use the keyboard to select text. For more information about caret navigation mode, see Navigating HTML Content in Caret Navigation Mode.

Global Keyboard Shortcuts

The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use from any part of the Oracle Solaris Desktop.

Keys	Function
Alt+F1	Opens the Main Applications Menu. You can customize this keyboard shortcut.
Alt+F2 and Meta+R	Opens the Run Applications dialog. You can customize this keyboard shortcut.
Print Screen	Starts the screenshot application and takes a screenshot of the entire screen. You can customize this keyboard shortcut.
Alt+Print Screen	Starts the screenshot application and takes a screenshot of the window that currently has focus. You can customize this keyboard shortcut.
F1	If the focused element is an application window or dialog, this keyboard shortcut opens the Help for the application.
Ctrl+F1	If the focused element is a panel or application window, this keyboard shortcut switches the display of tooltips for the window or panel objects on and off.
Shift+F10	Opens a pop-up menu for the element that has focus, if a pop-up menu exists.

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