You can specify the sequence in which controls on the form receive focus when the user presses the Tab key.
Note: Most controls have both an AcceptsFocus property and a TabStop property, both of which must be set to True (as is generally the case by default) to make the control part of the tab sequence. If either of these properties is set to False, the control is skipped in the sequence. Toolbars and menu strips items have a default TabStop property setting of False; the buttons, menu items, and other controls contained in a toolbar or menu strip control have no TabStop property.

To set the tab order:

  1. Select Format > Tab Order to activate tab order mode. An index number appears in the top left corner of each control that has a TabStop property. In this mode, you cannot add, select, or move objects.
    Note: The index number for a control parented to the form is an integer from 0 to n, where n is one less than the total number of such child controls the form. Controls parented to container controls have a decimal index number that begins with the index of the parent control. The default index numbers correspond to the order in which the controls were added to the design.
  2. To change the tab order, change index numbers by clicking on the controls. Each click increments the rightmost decimal place of the control's index by 1, or resets it to 0 when the end of the sequence is reached.
    The system does not validate against duplicate index numbers. In the case of duplicates, precedence is determined by the relative top-to-bottom or left-to-right positions of the controls.

You may want to run the control (click Run on the Workbench toolbar) to test the assigned tab order.

To deactivate tab order mode, press Esc or select Format > Tab Order again.