Keyboard shortcuts

MetaShare features keyboard shortcuts for productivity and accessibility. Generally, you navigate between elements on the screen using the tab key, and use the enter key to activate buttons, as you would with any other web page.

Some sections use arrow keys for navigation between interavtive elements (i.e. buttons and links) inside the section and use tab to move focus in or out of it. This is to reduce the number of tab key presses required to navigate between sections. We refer to these sections as widgets.

General conventions

[tab]: move focus to the next interactive element or widget

[shift] + [tab]: move focus to the previous interactive element or widget

[right arrow]: move focus to the next item in a horizontal widget

[left arrow]: move focus to the previous item in a horizontal widget

[down arrow]: move focus to the next item in a vertical widget

[up arrow]: move focus to the previous item in a vertical widget

[end]: move focus to the last item in a widget ([fn] + [right arrow] on Apple devices)

[home]: move focus to the first item in a widget ([fn] + [left arrow] on Apple devices)

Where can I use arrow keys?

Arrow keys can be used in the top bar, the filters/left navigation, toolbar, selected filters and tables.

Search results

In MetaShare you will see many lists of documents and workspaces with their properties in a tabular format.

[arrow keys]: move focus vertically or horizontally between cells

[shift] + [space]: select the current row

[ctrl] + [end]: move focus to the last cell or link in the last row ([ctrl] + [fn] + [right arrow] on Apple devices)

[ctrl] + [home]: move focus to the first cell or link in the first row ([ctrl] + [fn] + [left arrow] on Apple devices)

Tip: do something with your selection

Use [shift] + [tab] to quickly go back to the toolbar to perform some action on the selected document, e.g. send for approval.

Dialogs

[esc]: close the dialog without saving changes

Tip: view another item, without closing dialog

When viewing properties for a document:

  1. Use [shift] + [tab] to go back to the results table.
  2. Press up or down to move to a different row.
  3. Select a row with [shift] + [space] quickly view properties for another document.

Forms

[ctrl] + [enter]: submit the form or save changes ([command] + [enter] on Apple devices)

Going directly to the search box is the quickest way to find for keyboard users.

[ctrl] + f: move focus to the search box from anywhere ([command] + f on Apple devices)

[arrow keys]: move focus between autocomplete suggestions, if any

[enter]: submit your search query or selected autocomplete selection, if any

Single select widget

After activating the edit button for a single select field, you can use the same shortcuts as for the search box. When you press enter, the option that has focus when will be automatically applied to the field and the dialog will close.

Multi select widget

After activating the edit button for a single select field, you can use the same shortcuts as for the search box. When you press enter, the option that has focus will be selected or deselected. To apply your selection to the field, tab to the Apply button and press enter.