How to navigate in System Preferences with keyboard only?

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How to navigate in System Preferences with keyboard only?

Hi,

Since the mouse click of my Mac BookAir trackpad became faulty I am trying to use existing keyboard shortcuts to navigate through my mac. However I cannot find any way to navigate and change options in the System Preferences, e.g. "Turn Wi-fi Off"

I am able to:
- open System Preferences, via Finder then 'Cmd O'
- access the "Network" configuration page, by typing the 3 first letters "net" in text field then press <Return>

- select Wi-Fi in the left hand side pane, with 'Alt Tab'

but then cannot find any way to select "Turn Wi-Fi Off".

As shown on picture - http://snag.gy/eFyRx.jpg - I can navigate between the left pane and text field (blue arrow) but am unable to select "Turn Wi-Fi Off" (green arrow).

Would anyone know a combination of keys or keyboard shortcut to select that 'Turn Wi-fi Off', or make other changes like tick "Ask to join new networks" etc.?

Thanks

MacBook Air (11-INCH, MID 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on May 11, 2013 6:23 AM

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Answer 1

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thierrydt Author

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May 13, 2013 11:54 AM in response to captfred

Thanks captfred!

On my Mac it was FN Control F7 (instead of F8) that worked to move the focus. Then by simply pressing the Tab key I could move focus to 'Turn Wi-fi Off'.

I am unsure what makes pressing the Tab key work now (which was not working before) but hey it works :-)

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Answer 2

mario49

Community Specialist

May 13, 2013 8:10 AM in response to thierrydt

Morning thierrydt,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

For more information on this, take a look at this article:

OS X keyboard shortcuts

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343

Hope this helps,

Mario

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Answer 3

captfred

Level 7

26,446 points

May 13, 2013 10:40 AM in response to thierrydt

Use FN Control F8 to move focus to the right of the toolbar, then use the arrow keys to move to the "fan" icon and the down arrow to expand. Down arrow to "turn wifi off" and press return.

Or,

You can Add the Function key (FN) to any of the keyboard shortcuts that reference a F1-F12 key. Your current options are set to use special functions rather than F keys.

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Answer 4

thierrydt Author

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May 13, 2013 8:43 AM in response to mario49

Thanks a lot Mario,

I have checked the list in that KB article and tested a couple of relevant keyboard shortcuts but none of them move the focus on that "Turn Wi-Fi Off" button. I have tried in particular:

Control-F6	Move focus to the first (or next) panel
Shift-Control-F6	Move focus to the previous panel

which behaves as if I was only pressing F6.

Would you mind trying those 2 shortcuts on your Mac and let me know if that works for you?

Thanks again

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Answer 5

captfred

Level 7

26,446 points

May 13, 2013 12:05 PM in response to thierrydt

Glad to help. 🙂

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