[NuMystic]

Once upon a time, (OS 7? 8? 9? Don't recall now) you could use the keyboard to select a choice when a dialog window popped up...

For example currently I get those annoying "you are opening an application downloaded from the internet, are you sure blah blah" and you have the options "show web page", "cancel", and "open".

Some dialogs pre-highlight the most common choice and you can hit return for that selection.

Back in the day the first letter of each choice was underlined and you could just hit that key to make any choice without going to the mouse.

Is there any way to make different choices from the keyboard under OS X???

Thanks in advance for any insight!

[NuMystic]

Nevermind... just found the answer: (via Google... duh, sorry)

To enable keyboard control in dialog boxes:

Keyboard > Full Keyboard Access=All Controls

Full keyboard access will allow you to use Tab,Shift-Tab,Enter, Esc and the Space bar to navigate a dialogue box.

The tab and shift-tab scroll through the options, esc automatically cancels, and space bar selects the current highlighted choice.

I can't believe I've gone years annoyed by the lack of this being available by default without researching the answer.

[reader50]

In some dialogs, you can press Command - (first letter of desired button). Some even change button text when Command is pressed to show the shortcut. But it doesn't work on every dialog.

The blue button (or other default color) is selected on Return. The highlight-around button is selected by Space. Tab moves the highlight around.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by NuMystic 

Back in the day the first letter of each choice was underlined and you could just hit that key to make any choice without going to the mouse.

Back in your Windows days, you mean... AFAICR (1989), this has never been stock functionality on Macintosh.

[NuMystic]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Back in your Windows days, you mean... AFAICR (1989), this has never been stock functionality on Macintosh.

I have never owned or worked for any significant time on a Windows box in my life.

As reader50 mentions above at the very least there are a number of apps that respond (and even display) cmd+(first key) shortcuts on Mac. It may just be that the apps I used most that far back did, which led me to believe it was an OS (rather than app specific) feature.

[Chuckit]

It was never standard or common in Mac programs. The only hint about keyboard shortcuts standard dialogs gave was the prominent border on the default button.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by reader50 

In some dialogs, you can press Command - (first letter of desired button). Some even change button text when Command is pressed to show the shortcut. But it doesn't work on every dialog.

The blue button (or other default color) is selected on Return. The highlight-around button is selected by Space. Tab moves the highlight around.

I miss the old days of just pressing "D" for Don't, "S" for Save, etc... call me crazy, but I think this new fangled method is silly.

[Spheric Harlot]

That never worked in ANY application except Word - where it still worked as of 2004.

[64stang06]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

That never worked in ANY application except Word - where it still worked as of 2004.

Photoshop CS4 still does that. I can hit D for Don't Save, C for Cancel or S for save.

[reader50]

I've run across the key-for-button functionality in assorted dialogs. Not in Word, since I don't use M$ products. Seemed like it was available under OS9 a good percentage of the time.

[osiris]

Yes, it appears generally inconsistent.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by 64stang06 

Photoshop CS4 still does that. I can hit D for Don't Save, C for Cancel or S for save.

The idiotic thing is that it's almost 100% likely to be "D" for "Nicht speichern", "C" for "Abbrechen", and "S" for "Speichern", as well.