PracticeMaster Q&A: Setting Tab Order

June 2020    Tags: Clients, Form Designer, PracticeMaster

We recently added a new field to the Client file. Although the field is placed toward the top of the form, it is the last field accessed when we tab through the fields. Is there any way to change the tab order?

PracticeMaster’s Form Designer provides the ability to customize the placement of fields shown in each file, as well as to modify the tab order of these fields.

To set the tab order in a file

1. From the File menu, point to Open and select Client.
2. From the Edit menu, select Form Designer.
3. Click the (Set Tab Order) button.
4. A number in a colored box will be shown next to each field. These numbers represent the current tab order.
5. Once the numbers are displayed, you have two options: you can reset the tab order for all fields or you can reset the tab order for selected fields.To reset all fields: Click the field you want to come first in the new tab order. Click the field you want to come second in the new tab order. Click the field you want to come third in the new tab order, etc., until all fields are in the desired order. The tab order will update automatically as you click on each field.To reset selected fields: Set the counter by holding the Ctrl key and then clicking on a field. Although nothing will have appeared to happen, the counter will have been set to that number. The next field you click will increment the counter by one and adjust subsequent fields. For example, let’s say you want to switch fields 8 and 9. First set the counter to 7 by holding the Ctrl key and then clicking on field 7. Next click on field 9 to change it to field 8. The old field number 8 will automatically be changed to 9 since there cannot be two fields with the same tab order.
6. Click the  (Run Form) button.

For more information on changing field tab order, open the PracticeMaster Help by pressing F1 and enter “Set Tab Order” on the Index tab.