I have written a couple of posts on the topic keyboard Shortcuts for different application and How to improve efficiency and experience by learning to use keyboard shortcuts. But whenever I login to any account, I use the tab button to move across field box to enter the userid and password and I use the mouse to select or deselect ‘Keep me signed in’ check box.
Only today I realized that I am not aware what’s the keyboard shortcut to select or deselect the check box. Did a bit of Googling and found out that Space bar is used for check box. You may come across check box in various places like ‘Remember Me’ or ‘I accept the policy’ and in all those places do remember to use the space bar to select or deselect a check box.
regarding the usage of spacebar for selecting/deselecting check box, it only works if the said check box is active. it was mentioned earlier on the issue that the tab button is being used to move across the field box; you can also use that method to activate the check box. once activated, then you can use the spacebar for selecting/deselecting the check box.
furthermore, sometimes we are prompted to agree or disagree on some certain tasks like “are you sure you want to delete item”. in this case, there are ok and cancel buttons and one of them is active (you will see a dotted line around the word [ok] or [cancel]). if you accidentally pressed the spacebar, the active option will be perfromed.
That’s correct, space bar can work as a click provided that particular button or item is active (has got that dotted line around it).
I use spacebar for options in check box and tab keys