Change window in Overlapping Windows by keystroke?

[twgonder]

Isn't there an easy keystroke way to move to another open window when using overlapping Windows?
I've searched all over, and tried everything I can think of.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Not sure, but some of the Fx keys may do this. Totally could be wrong as I have not tried that particular combination. (I don't use overlapping windows for anything.)

 

[plog]

Alt tab is a way to select a window from all open ones

 

[arnelgp]

you can create a "custom" openForm to open your form and save it to a public variable.
then you can add a function that is called from "key" in autokeys macro to switch between
open windows.

 

[isladogs]

No need for a custom function as there are built in shortcuts.
To switch to the next open database window, use Ctrl+F6
Or for the previous open window use Ctrl+Shift+F6

For a complete list of shortcuts, see

Keyboard shortcuts for Access - Microsoft Support

Learn about the keyboard shortcuts for Access desktop databases on Windows including shortcuts for navigating records, selecting data, and working with panes.

support.microsoft.com

 

[arnelgp]

No need for a custom function as there are built in shortcuts.

i tried it and it never happened?
(MSA 2021 x64).
obviously it does not apply to pop-up form?
it is for "database window" (what is that specifically?)
your the MVP, i guess you have the answer?

 

[twgonder]

Alt tab is a way to select a window from all open ones

I'm referring to the windows in the design pane of Access, not other running applications.

 

[twgonder]

No need for a custom function as there are built in shortcuts.
To switch to the next open database window, use Ctrl+F6
Or for the previous open window use Ctrl+Shi+F6

For a complete list of shortcuts, see

Keyboard shortcuts for Access - Microsoft Support

Learn about the keyboard shortcuts for Access desktop databases on Windows including shortcuts for navigating records, selecting data, and working with panes.

support.microsoft.com

Hallelujah, It works and as a bonus, I now have a decent keyboard cheat sheet that's worth the paper it's not written on.
Now, if I could just find one written for Latin keyboards in English...

 

[arnelgp]

ooh, so the Ctrl-F6 will work on design view on overlapping window
but not on open forms.

 

[arnelgp]

I'm referring to the windows in the design pane of Access, not other running applications.

if you have been more "specific"..

 

[isladogs]

i tried it and it never happened?
(MSA 2021 x64).
obviously it does not apply to pop-up form?
it is for "database window" (what is that specifically?)

It works for ANY database object that is part of the Access application window.
That is true for all versions both 32-bit & 64-bit

It doesn't work for popup forms in form view as those are displayed independently of the Access application window

In tabbed documents view, it cycles through each tab in turn
For overlapping windows, it brings the focus to each object in turn so bring each object to the top of the z-order in turn

@twgonder
Glad you found the link & shortcuts useful

Is this what you mean by Latin keyboard shortcuts in English?

abc - Latin alphabet: Key-Shortcut

Unicode table of all latin characters: a à á â ã ä å æ ā ă ą ǎ ǟ ǡ ǻ ⱥ b ƀ ḃ ƃ ḅ ḇ c ç ¢ ć ĉ č (HTML Charset UTF-8)

www.key-shortcut.com

or this from my own website:

ASCII Character Set

This is a quick reference database giving all the ASCII character codes (0-255). ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. An ASCII code is the numerical representation of a character such as 'a' or '@' or an action of some sort.

www.isladogs.co.uk

 

[twgonder]

@twgonder
Glad you found the link & shortcuts useful

Is this what you mean by Latin keyboard shortcuts in English?

abc - Latin alphabet: Key-Shortcut

Unicode table of all latin characters: a à á â ã ä å æ ā ă ą ǎ ǟ ǡ ǻ ⱥ b ƀ ḃ ƃ ḅ ḇ c ç ¢ ć ĉ č (HTML Charset UTF-8)

www.key-shortcut.com

or this from my own website:

ASCII Character Set

This is a quick reference database giving all the ASCII character codes (0-255). ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. An ASCII code is the numerical representation of a character such as 'a' or '@' or an action of some sort.

www.isladogs.co.uk

What I mean is in, my keyboard, if I'm using Spanish, save isn't ctrl+s, it's ctrl+g (for guardar). Things like that. I will have to test each item on the cheat sheet to know if it maintains in Spanish the same function. But I'll check the new links too. Thanks!

How's this for old-school, still in my design folder after 40 years of use (sorry about the camera rotation, but you get the idea):

The little hand written svm, vm, am, sm are the system delimiters that allowed the PICK db to have variable length and multi-valued fields in a record and fields. That's what kinda busted E.F. Cobbs design for a db. You had four-dimensional tables, kinda like a four-dimensional array. Now, nobody ever uses those, right?

 

[twgonder]

if you have been more "specific"..

I'm still learning how to ask the question properly for Access stuff. Most of my time is in the design view, not the "open" view (as it's called with a right click).
In any case, I just opened a form and report in "view", and ctrl+f6 works there too, at least on my Windows 10 laptop with Access 2021.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Isn't there an easy keystroke way to move to another open window when using overlapping Windows?
I've searched all over, and tried everything I can think of.

You should strongly consider never having more than a single window open at one time. Having multiple windows open just confuses the user. Also, when the windows are dependent, if the user changes the current record on the calling form, that won't refresh the dependent form. This could lead to major errors. Very dangerous.

Also, an open report will not be refreshed unless you close it first.


If I want to open a dependent form but leave the calling form open for reference, I open the dependent form as a dialog. That way, the user can move the dialog around to see the underlying form but he can't click on any form but the dialog form. That means he needs to close the dialog before focus can return to the main form. This has two advantages.
1. It is safer
2. The code in the calling form stops when the dialog form opens. That means that the code continues when the dialog form closes. This allows you to refresh the calling form if the popup might have made changes that affect it.

 

[twgonder]

You should strongly consider never having more than a single window open at one time. Having multiple windows open just confuses the user. Also, when the windows are dependent, if the user changes the current record on the calling form, that won't refresh the dependent form. This could lead to major errors. Very dangerous.

I was referring to the object tabs when developing.
As to the users, after how many years of Windows, they get confused? I think I have about forty open at the moment if you want to count Edge tabs.

At the very least, in an Access App, I expect to see the main form, perhaps it's sub form, a search form, and the foreign key form open all at once. Not to mention the menu form (maybe hidden, not sure yet) sitting behind all those.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

And NOW I will have to chime in. Requiring that many things open independently at once is an invitation to disaster, based on a variant of Murphy's Law. This new variant is "Anything the user CAN screw up, he WILL screw up."

The sub-form and search option should be on the main form in some way, and that "foreign key" form - since it is related to the main form by a foreign key - should ALSO be a sub-form. At worst, you could use a TAB CONTROL to have the extra form on a different tab than the main's sub-form and search controls.

Just one guy's opinion, tempered by years of design and implementation experience.

 

[Pat Hartman]

You can have 20 forms open if you want to. What do we care. If the user makes a mistake, you'll just blame it on Access anyway

 

[NauticalGent]

If the user makes a mistake, you'll just blame it on Access anyway

 

[KitaYama]

I think I have about forty open at the moment if you want to count Edge tabs.

Forgive my rudeness. But did you understand Pat and Doc's warnings?
Are you comparing Edge tabs with the number of forms or tabs in an application like Access?


Edit : And another warning here. Somewhere you told you have limited bandwidth. If so, leaving 40 tabs open in your browser may dry out your bandwidth. Because edge or other browsers auto refresh opened tabs in background. To help not wasting your bandwidth, you have to close un-used tabs or disable auto refresh.

How to disable Auto Refresh in Microsoft Edge on Windows 11/10

Learn how to disable Edge Auto Refresh. You can stop auto-refreshing & prevent the Edge browser from going in for unwanted data downloads.

www.thewindowsclub.com