The administration can be used with the keyboard alone. Besides the usual keys of every web page (Tab and Shift+Tab to move between links, buttons and fields, Enter to follow a link or press a button, Space to tick a checkbox), it answers to the keys below. They work in the Admin 4 design; the other designs have most of them.
On a Mac, Alt is the Option key.
Everywhere in the administration
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
/ | Jumps to the Search... field in the header (not while you type in another field). |
Ctrl + / (Cmd + / on a Mac) | Jumps to the Search... field in the header, also from inside another field. |
↓ / ↑, Enter (in the search field) | Move through the suggestions under the field and open the chosen one (Searching). |
Esc | Closes the open menu, list or pop-up, and returns the focus to its button. |
Tab (first press on a page) | Shows Skip to main content; press Enter to jump past the header and the left column. |
Menus and lists of choices
This covers the tab menus of the header, the user menu, the More list, the search scope, and the menu of an item.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
↓ on the button | Opens the menu and moves to its first entry. |
↓ / ↑ | Next / previous entry. |
Home / End | First / last entry. |
Enter or Space | Chooses the entry. |
Esc | Closes the menu. |
The content tree
Move into the tree with Tab; then:
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
↓ / ↑ | Next / previous item. |
→ | Opens a closed folder; on an open one, moves to its first item. |
← | Closes an open folder; on a closed one or an item, moves to its parent. |
Home / End | First / last item of the tree. |
| Letters | Jump to the next item whose name starts with what you type. |
Enter | Opens the item. |
Shift+F10 or the menu key | Opens the item's menu (edit, copy, move, create here ...). The same works on a row of a Sub items list. |
Tabs of an item's page
With the focus on a tab (View, Details, Translations ...):
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
→ / ← | Opens the next / previous tab. |
Home / End | Opens the first / last tab. |
Lists of sub items
When a Sub items list is sorted by priority, the grip at the start of each row changes the order:
| Key on the grip | What it does |
|---|---|
Space or Enter | Picks the row up. |
↑ / ↓ | Moves the picked-up row. |
Home / End | Moves it to the top / bottom of the page. |
Space or Enter | Drops it there; the new order is saved. |
Esc | Puts it back where it was. |
Alt+↑ / Alt+↓ | Moves the row by one place at once, without picking it up. |
The width of the left column
Focus the handle with three dots on the edge of the left column:
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
→ or ↑ | Wider (in a right-to-left language: ← or ↑). |
← or ↓ | Narrower. |
Shift with an arrow | A bigger step. |
Home / End | Narrowest / widest. |
The edit form
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
Enter in a one-line field | Same as Send for publishing. |
| Keys of the rich text editor | The usual ones: Ctrl+B bold, Ctrl+I italic, Ctrl+Z undo and more (Cmd on a Mac). The Help button of TinyMCE lists them all. |
Lists you choose from
In a list box, such as Interface language, type the first letters of an entry to jump to it; the arrow keys,
Home, End, Page Up and Page Down move through it. Nothing changes until you press Apply.
In the help pages
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
/ | Jumps to the help's search field. |
↓ / ↑ | Moves through the search results as you type. |
Enter | Opens the chosen result. |
Esc | Clears the results; a second Esc leaves the field. |
j / k | Next / previous heading of the page you read. |
] / [ | Next / previous help page. |
These keys are ignored while you type in a field.
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