I'm using Visual Studio Code as my code editor. I did a search on google but wasn't able to find anything about my issue.
The issue is simple, pressing ⇥ Tab in the editor does nothing. I'm expecting it to insert 4 spaces.
Anyone know what I can do to get ⇥ Tab working like expected?
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asked Feb 20, 2016 at 5:28
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I had accidentally enabled a different mode for the tab key. Fixed it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+M (for Mac), or Ctrl+M (for Windows and Linux).
From the Visual Studio Code Keybinding docs:
Command Key Command id Toggle Use of Tab Key for Setting Focus Ctrl+Meditor.action.toggleTabFocusMode
The current tab control mode should also show up in the status bar. It should say Tab Moves Focus:
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answered Feb 25, 2017 at 15:56
pypmannetjiespypmannetjies
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Click "Tab Moves Focus" at the bottom right in the status bar. That's it.
I believe I had pressed ctrl+M. When doing this, the "Tab Moves Focus" tab/button showed up at the bottom right. Clicking on that makes it go away and starts working again.
You can type ctrl+M again to toggle it off as other answers have pointed out, but that's not as easy to remember as just clicking on it.
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To fix the issue
Pressing ctrl+M causes the ⇥ Tab key to move focus instead of inserting a ⇥ Tab character.
Turn it off by pressing the shortcut again.
To disable the shortcut
- Open "Keyboard Shortcuts" with ctrl+K, then ctrl+S.
Or go to File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts. - Search for
toggle tab key moves focus. - Right Click,
Remove Keybinding.
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Click on the explorer or any other window that is not the editor then press Ctrl + Shift (for Mac only) + M, this is the command to "Toggle Tab Key Moves Focus" on the Keyboard Shortcuts.
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answered Aug 21, 2019 at 17:42
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In, my case I followed this advice and changed this emmet setting in vscode to false:
"emmet.triggerExpansionOnTab": false
I was receinving the error Cannot read property 'value' of null. It solved the problem immediatelly.
answered Feb 19, 2018 at 19:01
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As of December 2018 on macOS Mojave 10.14.2 using VSCode 1.29.1 the default keybinding for 'Toggle Tab Key Moves Focus' is set to Command+Shift+M. If you got stuck with this, using that key combo should fix the issue.
Do Command+K Command+S to pull up the Hotkeys Settings and then search for Toggle Tab Key Moves Focus or editor.action.toggleTabFocusMode if you want to change the key combo.
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[Edit] This answer is for MSVS (the IDE, as opposed to VS Code). It seems Microsoft and Google go out of their way to choose confusing names for new products. I'll leave this answer here for now, while I (continue to) look for the equivalent stackoverflow question about MSVS. Let me know in the comments if you think I should delete it. Or better, point me to the MSVS version of this question.
I installed MSVS 2017 recently. None of the suggestions I've seen fixed the problem. The solution I figured out works for MSVS 2015 and 2017. Add a comment below if you find that it works for other versions.
Under Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> C/C++ -> Formatting -> General, try unchecking the "Automatically indent when I type a tab" box. It seems counter intuitive, but it fixed the problem for me.
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All the above failed for me. But I noticed shift + ⇥ Tab worked as expected (outdenting the line).
So I looked for the "Indent Line" shortcut (which was assigned to alt + ctrl + cmd + 0 ), assigned it to tab, and now I'm happy again.
Next morning edit...
I also use tab to accept snippet suggestions, so I've set the "when" of "Indent Line" to editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && !inSnippetMode && !suggestWidgetVisible.
answered Mar 26, 2019 at 19:38
Félix ParadisFélix Paradis
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I am using code on xfce - did the following to fix the Tab key behavior:
File -> Preferences -> Settings
search for "keyboard.dispatch"
copy to right panel and change value from "code" to "keyCode"
Reload code
For those of you not about that space bar life (- _ - )( - _ -)
Keybinding for ⇥ Tab isn't set to anything so you have to do it manually
Navigate to Preferences/Environment/Keybindings and search for "tab"
Click on Edit Binding at the bottom and press the tab key.
Press "Apply" then "Ok"
Key bound!
answered Jun 25, 2019 at 22:20
For some reason, after an update, my tab key was unbinded of 'tab' default behaviour. So I have to open File>Preferences>Keyboad Shortcuts, search for the simple "tab" line, and bind to the tab key again. Pretty awkward, but worked.
answered May 7, 2021 at 14:40
None of the other answers worked for me.
If your tab is not inserting space but focusing button element then following solution will work for you :)
Just set a keybindings to tab command like following image.
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answered Mar 3, 2023 at 6:23
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Maybe another program is interfering? Closing Teamviewer fixed the problem for me.
answered Jun 26, 2018 at 7:25
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I've had this happen before as well, where there was TeamViewer client takes the control of the TAB key. You won't know this until you close the TV window that you have open in the background.
On Mac,
Preferences -> settings -> Search for "tab"
Uncheck Insert spaces when pressing tab
answered Oct 23, 2021 at 15:56
Just restart the vscode it will do the job.
answered Aug 4, 2024 at 6:36
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Check your key mapping (File > Preferences > Key Mapping) [Ctrl+K Ctrl+S]. In the input line at the top write 'tab' and bind tab command with tab key.
It works for me. Some extension overwrite it.
Make sure this is NOT checked :
[ ] Tools | Options | Text Editor | C/C++ | Formatting | Automatic Indentation On Tab
Let me know if this helped!
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In 2022, above not working any more, Microsoft changed the key binding
On Mac, Cmd + shift + M no longer working
Instead you should use : ctrl + shift + M
Here is evidence:
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Had the same issue on Mac.
The Ctrl + Shift + M solution was not the correct one in my case. The indentation of a code line when pressing the Tab key was not possible because the key binding for indentation was set to a 4-key combination.
I did reset it to the Tab key in the key bindings settings (Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts) and added && !config.emmet.triggerExpansionOnTab to the when expression, since I use the emmet plugin.
Not sure what operating system you're on, but there was a known issue with the tab key on one of the more recent releases of VS Code for Mac OS X. The bug has been fixed in the latest release (0.10.9).
On Mac OS X, you can check for the latest update by opening VS Code and then going to [Code > Check for Updates].
Sources and more information:
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None of the above worked for me. For me, the issue was that the file wasn't editable by VSCode. You'll see a small padlock on the file tab on top. Just close the tab and open the file again. Tab should be working as usual.
Problem could be caused by an Application on your computer
For me the problem got solved after closing Any Desk on my computer . I had it open to change some files on my remote server, and it's blocking the ability to tab
If you want to check , open your task manager and you will find it there. just right click it and select end task and tab will be back to normal.
answered Jul 13, 2023 at 13:19
Yasser CHENIKYasser CHENIK
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