In macOS Tahoe, the tab button no longer functions propertly in pop up menus

Question

Level 1

77 points

In macOS Tahoe, the tab button no longer functions propertly in pop up menus

Ever since upgrading to macOS Tahoe, the TAB button no longer properly works to navigate fields in pop up menus.

When in Preview, I press Print. The Print dialog box opens. In all other macOS versions ever, pressing TAB would navigate through all options and fields in the Print dialog box. Now, the TAB button navigates only between 3 fields in the Copies section. Utterly bizarre. How do I restore functionality for users with Accessibility needs such that pressing TAB navigates all the options in the Print dialog box, rather than just 3 random options?

Here is a link to a video showing the issue.

Video showing issue

UPDATE:

Clicking full keyboard access to ON has fixed the issue.

[Edited by Moderator]

Posted on Oct 12, 2025 11:00 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,626 points

Oct 13, 2025 4:50 PM in response to AZsport115

Sorry, forgot about the blue boxes. Try

Accessibility > Keyboard > Keyboard Settings > Keyboard Navigation > On

Reply

Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,626 points

Oct 13, 2025 5:31 AM in response to AZsport115

AZsport115 wrote:

Clicking full keyboard access to ON has fixed the issue.

You may find that having that on causes the space bar to not work in certain apps, in which case you may have to modify the settings for that key.

Reply

Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

136,823 points

Oct 12, 2025 11:39 PM in response to AZsport115

AZsport115 wrote:

Clicking full keyboard access to ON has fixed the issue.

Good work. 👍

Reply

Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,626 points

Oct 13, 2025 4:17 PM in response to AZsport115

Try clicking on the ⓘ in the full keyboard access settings, scroll down to Activate, and change it from Space to none . That may give you your space bar back.

Reply

Answer 5

AZsport115 Author

Level 1

77 points

Oct 13, 2025 1:02 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Hi Tom, you're 100% right. I was in a google sheet typing a first and last name in a cell. I typed the first name, then hit spacebar before typing the last name, and pressing spacebar moved the cursor to the middle of the first name! I would love to have been in the UI meeting where they settled on that functionality! haha

In any event, do you have a better way to solve my original problem besides turning full keyboard access on? I just wanted to be able to navigate the Print dialog box with the TAB button, but you are correct that my solution has wreaked havoc with the spacebar!

Reply

Answer 6

AZsport115 Author

Level 1

77 points

Oct 13, 2025 4:31 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thanks, that appears to be working at least within the Google document. As far as you know, is turning on full keyboard access the only way to regain navigability via the TAB button in various macOS dialog boxes? I ask because with this setting on, I'm constantly seeing blue boxes outlining things all over macOS which is a bit distracting!

Reply

Answer 7

AZsport115 Author

Level 1

77 points

Oct 13, 2025 5:37 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

No need to apologize Tom. You've been very helpful! Thank you so much!

Reply