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Specify a ScreenTip or accessible name for a control

1. Right-click the control for which you want to add a ScreenTip or accessible name, and then click Control Properties on the shortcut menu.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Do one of the following:
   • For a list box, combo box, multiple-selection list box, ink picture, or a drop-down list box, type the text that you want in the Accessible name box.
   • For all other controls, type the text that you want in the ScreenTip box.
4. To test your changes, click Preview on the Standard toolbar, or press CTRL+SHIFT+B.

Provide alternative text for a picture

1. Right-click the picture, and then click Format Picture on the shortcut menu.
2. Click the Text tab.
3. In the Alternative text box, type the text that you want. Tip The text can be as long as you want, but some Web browsers display only a limited number of characters. Therefore, we recommend that you keep the description brief.
   
4. To test your changes, click Preview on the Standard toolbar, or press CTRL+SHIFT+B.

Assign a keyboard shortcut to a control

1. Right-click the control for which you want to set a keyboard shortcut, and then click Control Properties on the shortcut menu.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. In the Access key box, type a character. An access key is a keyboard shortcut that uses the ALT key as part of the shortcut. For example, if you type N in the Access key box, the keyboard shortcut for this control will be ALT+N.
   Note Certain keyboard shortcuts are already in use by InfoPath and other Microsoft Office system programs. Although you are free to reassign existing keyboard shortcuts to the controls on your form template, doing so can confuse users who are accustomed to these Office shortcuts. To help ensure that you don't use an existing shortcut, review the list of keyboard shortcuts that is available when users fill out InfoPath forms.
4. To help ensure that your users know that the keyboard shortcut exists, type a label in front of the control on the form template that includes the shortcut. For example, you can type Name (ALT+N) for the label of a text box where users are supposed to type their name, so that users know there is a keyboard shortcut associated with the text box.
5. To test your changes, click Preview on the Standard toolbar, or press CTRL+SHIFT+B.

Specify a tab order for a control

1. Right-click the control for which you want to change the tab order, and then click Control Properties on the shortcut menu.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. In the Tab index box, specify something other than 0. For example, to specify that users navigate to this control the first time that they press the TAB key, enter 1 in the Tab index box.
4. To change the tab order for additional controls, repeat steps 1 through 3.
5. To test your changes, click Preview on the Standard toolbar, or press CTRL+SHIFT+B.

• The default tab index setting for all of the controls on a form template is 0, but the tab order starts with 1. That is, any control with 1 in the Tab index box will be visited first when users press the TAB key. Any control with 2 in the Tab index box will be visited second, and so on. Any control with 0 in the Tab index box will come last in the tab order. If you want to skip a control in the tab order, enter -1 in the Tab index box.
• Changing the tab index setting for controls in your form template does not change the order in which you move through the controls when designing the form template in design mode. It only changes the order in which users move through the controls when filling out forms that are based on your form template.
• When a form based on a browser-compatible form template (browser-compatible form template: A form template that is designed in InfoPath by using a specific compatibility mode. A browser-compatible form template can be browser-enabled when it is published to a server running InfoPath Forms Services.) is viewed in a browser, the tab order includes the toolbar buttons on the form, such as the Save button.

Additional considerations

• Working with layout tables

• Using form features appropriately

• Additional resources

Working with layout tables

This layout table has two rows.

There are three columns in the second row. The center column is used only for spacing purposes.

To create more effective layout tables, you can manually modify the XSL Transformation (XSLT) (XSL Transformation (XSLT): A language that is used to transform XML documents into other types of documents, such as HTML or XML. It is designed for use as part of XSL.) that InfoPath uses to generate a view in your form template. By doing this, you can add table header cells to your form template. Table header cells help users understand the structure of a table and improve the reading experience for people who use accessibility tools such as screen readers.

Adding table header cells to your layout tables is useful only if the controls in a particular column have a similar purpose. For example, if a column in a layout table contains controls to collect contact information, such as a person's address, telephone number, and e-mail address, you can create a table header cell for that column called Contact Information.

To manually modify the XSLT that InfoPath uses to generate the view of the form template that users see, you must extract the form template into its form files and then edit the .xsl file in an XML editor such as Microsoft Notepad.

Use the following procedure to add table header cells to a layout table.

1. On the File menu, click Save As Source Files.
2. In the Browse For Folder dialog box, select an existing folder in which to save the form files, or create a new folder, and then click OK.
   InfoPath saves a copy of your form template (.xsn) file as a set of form files in the folder that you select.
3. Open Windows Explorer, and then browse to the folder that contains the form files.
4. Right-click the .xsl file that you want to modify, point to Open With on the shortcut menu, and then click Choose Program.
5. Under Programs in the Open With dialog box, click Notepad, and then click OK.
   The .xsl file opens in Notepad.
6. In the .xsl file, locate the <tbody> element, and then place the cursor after it.
   Note The <tbody> element may have an attribute specified, such as <tbody vAlign="top">, so if you use the Find command to search for the element, search for tbody without the angle brackets.
7. Press ENTER to create a new line, and then type the following code to create a table header and table row.

   <thead>   <tr>
8. For each column in your layout table, type start and end tags for a table header cell. For example, if your layout table has three columns, type the following:

    <th></th>  <th></th>  <th></th>
9. Type a value for each table header cell that reflects the purpose of the controls that are stored in that column. For example, if the first column in your layout table contains controls to collect contact information, type Contact Information between the start and end tags for the first column, as in the following example.

   <th>Contact Information</th> 
10. After the final table header cell, type the end tags for the table row and the table header.

     </tr> </thead>

Find more information about using layout tables in the See Also section.

Notes

• The modifications described in the previous procedure are for layout tables. If you make revisions to the XSLT for a repeating table control, you must place those changes in an <xsl:template> element in the transform and use the xd:preserve mode to prevent InfoPath from overwriting the changes that you make. Find more information about modifying the XSLT and using the xd:preserve mode in the See Also section.
• Nesting layout tables in a form template is not recommended. Nested layout tables can be difficult for accessibility tools, such as screen readers, to interpret.

Find more information about manually editing a form template in the See Also section.

Using form features appropriately

Some InfoPath features allow you to specify dynamic formatting options that change depending on what a user types or selects in a control. For example, you can use conditional formatting (conditional formatting: The process of changing the appearance of a control, including its visibility and read-write state, based on values entered into the form.) to change the background color of a row in a repeating section (repeating section: A control on a form that contains other controls and that repeats as needed. Users can insert multiple sections when filling out the form.), depending on the data that the user enters into that row. This is useful if you want to show the status of an item that is in the repeating section. For example, in a status report form template, you can use conditional formatting to make the row for an item that is behind schedule red and the row for an item that is on schedule green.

Although this is a useful way to show the status for an item, it might not be appropriate for all audiences. People who are color blind, have low vision, or are using a black and white screen might not be able to use your form if color alone is used to convey information. You should consider designing your form template so that information is conveyed by using text in addition to color. If you use color to enhance, emphasize, or reiterate information that is shown by other means, you can help ensure that all users will be able to use your form template successfully.