"Don't Save" keyboard stroke

If you choose "all controls" in the Full Keyboard Access system preference, then when the dialog appears asking if you want to save, cancel, or don't save...
Save is preselected/highlighted
cancel is blank
don't save has a blue "frame" around it

Somehow I learned by accident, that the blue frame (half-selected?) means that hitting the space bar will choose that option.

So the "don't save keystroke" could also be simply hitting the space bar when the dialog appears

If I remember those days well enough, the ⌘ D shortcut for "Don't Save" has been around since System 7 (or maybe System 8?), although back then not all applications responded to it & fewer still changed the buttons to show the shortcut. I think as a shortcut, it started off as an enhancement that a few applications offered & then became a de facto standard that was moved from the application to the OS level.

In OS X 10.4 or 10.5, it works for every application I've tested it with, although the change in button text to show the shortcut when the ⌘ key is held down doesn't seem to have been preserved, except in a few old apps that run in Classic mode on Macs that still support that.

Hello

I never saw a shortcut for this button.
I always assumed that it's a design choice bringing safety.
With it, it's difficult to "Don't Save" accidentally.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 12 août 2008 16:24:55)

Thanks Peggy

I learnt something.
On the normal French keyboard it works when we press on cmd + the key \[D]

Where is it described ?

This remind me that under GSOS, every dialog's button had a shortcut build on cmd + the 1st letter of the button's title.
This example make me think that it would be interesting to test this kind of tip in other dialogs(Alas it doesn't work in Find & Replace).

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 12 août 2008 18:08:14)

I'm not sure if it's described somewhere, but, I discovered years ago if I held down the ⌘ key the buttons in a dialog box would show the keyboard shortcut. I think of ⌘ D as the "D" in "Don't Save." ⌘ R usually works for the Replace button.

I remember reading this somewhere, too, but a quick Google search turns up nothing. Though, I did find the "Full Keyboard Access" option that allows you to tab between dialog boxes.

Ashka wrote:
Just a 'heads up'
command d is also the quick-key for disconnecting from a WiFi network.
Could cause an unexpected result..

Not sure Ashka.

As far as I remember, when a standard dialog is at front, it grabs the keypress before all other potential recipients.

Pressing Return or Escape for instance is meaningful for many recipients.
When we press one of these keys with a dialog at front, it's this dialog which "eat" the keypress.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mercredi 13 août 2008 15:17:47)

On a US keyboard layout, the cancel command in most dialog boxes is ⌘ d.

Thanks, that's the interaction I THOUGHT I remembered (showing the command key IN the dialog box).

Just a 'heads up'
command d is also the quick-key for disconnecting from a WiFi network.
Could cause an unexpected result..
Best.