--- title: About the Tab Order on a Form slug: neurons-for-itsm/admin-user-help/enu/latest/about-the-tab-order-on-a-form createdAt: 2026-07-14T19:16:52.988Z --- - [Setting the Tab Order on a Form](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) - [Using Control Properties](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) - [Clicking the Fields](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) - [Automatic Setting](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) - [Clearing the Tab Order](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) - [Using the Tab Order](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) ## Setting the Tab Order on a Form When you press the tab key, you can navigate from field to field within a form. By default, the tab order is from left to right and top to bottom. This could cause a user to tab into fields in an illogical order. You can set the order in which users can access the fields. 1. From the Configuration Console, click **Build > Business Objects** to open the **Business Object** workspace. 2. Open a business object. 3. Select the **Forms** tab. 4. Open a form in **New Form View**. :::Paragraph{indent="1"} *Sample Change Form* ::: ::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/A_o99UckHSZcWtZeHqwov_change-form-edit.jpg" position="flex-start" size="40" initialPath="../../Resources/Images/help-images/change form edit.jpg" githubPath="Content/Resources/Images/help-images/change form edit.jpg" showCaption="false" width="624" height="360" darkWidth="624" darkHeight="360" indent="1"} 5. Click the pop-out menu icon :inlineImage[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/gk9aqoGv-eVvKdqExTBHA_pop-up-menu.png" alt caption size="10" width="16" height="11"} in the upper right corner. The **Form Editor Commands** window appears. 6. Click **Show Tab Indexes**. The tab order icons appear. :::Paragraph{indent="1"} *Tab Order Icons* ::: ::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/Vk6mhhOd3KGr_rM0kjk-z_tab-order-icon.png" position="flex-start" size="40" initialPath="../../Resources/Images/help-images/tab order icon.png" githubPath="Content/Resources/Images/help-images/tab order icon.png" showCaption="false" width="553" height="191" darkWidth="553" darkHeight="191" indent="1"} :::Paragraph{indent="1"} A zero (0) in the icon means the tab order has not been set and the field can't be entered by a user pressing the tab key. There are multiple methods for setting the tab order: ::: :::Paragraph{listStyleType="disc" indent="3"} [Using Control Properties](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) ::: :::Paragraph{listStyleType="disc" indent="3"} [Clicking the Fields](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) ::: :::Paragraph{listStyleType="disc" indent="3"} [Automatic Setting](docId:2RpYe0_YsfOcNb79zq8mA) ::: ## Using Control Properties Select the field on the form, then in the **Control Properties** area, enter a number in the **Tab Index** parameter. The tab number in the field changes to reflect the number you entered. :::Paragraph{indent="1"} *Tab Index* ::: ::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/hP9SqifsbKx5XXHE_HjFm_tab-index.png" position="flex-start" size="40" initialPath="../../Resources/Images/help-images/tab index.png" githubPath="Content/Resources/Images/help-images/tab index.png" showCaption="false" width="559" height="481" darkWidth="559" darkHeight="481" indent="1"} ## Clicking the Fields 1. Click the tab icon for each field in the order in which to tab them. - Click a tab icon twice to set that tab sequence to one (1). This field is entered first when the user presses the tab key. - A red icon means the tab order has been temporarily set. - A green icon means the tab order has been saved. 2. Press Escape (ESC) on your keyboard to set the tab order. You can click an icon at this time to set a new field to be first. The remaining set tabs are automatically renumbered. :::Paragraph{indent="1"} *Tab Order is Set* ::: ::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/jpKw_yvIU1RHjbQ5p4K5t_tab-set-order.png" position="flex-start" size="40" initialPath="../../Resources/Images/help-images/tab set order.png" githubPath="Content/Resources/Images/help-images/tab set order.png" showCaption="false" width="439" height="185" darkWidth="439" darkHeight="185" indent="1"} :::Paragraph{indent="1"} Be sure to set the tab order in the header form as well as each form tab containing user fields. ::: :::Paragraph{indent="1"} *Incident Tabs* ::: ::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/V8IQYrc5QFax8LS5HeT_j_incident-tabs.png" position="flex-start" size="40" initialPath="../../Resources/Images/help-images/incident tabs.png" githubPath="Content/Resources/Images/help-images/incident tabs.png" showCaption="false" width="624" height="410" darkWidth="624" darkHeight="410" indent="1"} :::Paragraph{indent="1"} Users can press the tab key to go from one field to the next in the final form. Press **Tab** to move from one tab to the next, then press **Enter** to enable the tab keys within a form tab. Press **Shift + Tab** to select a tab to the left. ::: :::Paragraph{indent="1"} *Incident Form with Tabs* ::: ::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/FpnqbsaMUWsNlt7Thjw79_incident-with-tabs.png" position="flex-start" size="40" initialPath="../../Resources/Images/help-images/incident with tabs.png" githubPath="Content/Resources/Images/help-images/incident with tabs.png" showCaption="false" width="624" height="292" darkWidth="624" darkHeight="292" indent="1"} ## Automatic Setting From the pop-out menu, select one of these options: - **Apply left-to-right tab order**. The tab order is automatically set for each field going across the page from left to right. Fields that are higher on the page take precedence. :::Paragraph{indent="1"} *Left-to-Right Tab Order* ::: ::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/yZVos6s09DLxmW3aZKmFK_tab-order-left-to-right.png" position="flex-start" size="40" initialPath="../../Resources/Images/help-images/tab order left to right.png" githubPath="Content/Resources/Images/help-images/tab order left to right.png" showCaption="false" width="624" height="313" darkWidth="624" darkHeight="313" indent="1"} - **Apply top-to-bottom tab order**. The tab order is automatically set for each field going from top to bottom for each column. :::Paragraph{indent="1"} *Top-to-Bottom Tab Order* ::: ::Image[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/zm3xa8txa0-hfAUpujjMQ_tab-order-top-to-bottom.png" position="flex-start" size="40" initialPath="../../Resources/Images/help-images/tab order top to bottom.png" githubPath="Content/Resources/Images/help-images/tab order top to bottom.png" showCaption="false" width="624" height="327" darkWidth="624" darkHeight="327" indent="1"} 3. From the pop-out menu, click **Complete index assignments** or press **Escape** to save the tab order. ## Clearing the Tab Order :::Paragraph{indent="1"} From the pop-out menu, click **Clear**. The tab order is reset and the tab numbers become zero (0). ::: ## Using the Tab Order - Users press the tab key on their keyboard to tab from one field to the next. - The header form is entered first by the tab key, then the open tab within the workspace is tabbed. - When the user reaches the last tabbed field in the form, the next workspace tab is highlighted. Press enter to open. - To reverse tab direction, use **Shift+tab**.