MacOS – How to bring focus to Show Fonts dialog (eg. in TextEdit) on a MacBook Pro keyboard

fontkeyboardmacos

I'm a quick typist and I don't want to use the mouse/trackpad unless I absolutely have no way to do something on a keyboard. It slows me down by at least 5 times.

Now, for example, TextEdit is on. I'm typing. If I want to change the font size, I can select (SHIFT-arrows) and use CMD+ and CMD- keyboard shortcuts. Works fine.

However, if I want to change the font, I can hit CMD-T to bring up the Show Fonts dialog. And that's it, the end of keyboard. I must move my hand and aim with the cursor to select the font.

Is there a way to bring the focus to the Show Fonts dialog from the keyboard, without having to resort to the trackpad?

Please keep in mind that this is about the laptop keyboard (MBP Retina), so it's not the full keyboard.

Please avoid answers like:

  1. Why do you want to access the Show Fonts dialog from the keyboard?
  2. Apple's trackpad is magnificent, you should use it, believe me it's better.

Best Answer

After you open the Show Fonts window, you can press Ctrl+F6 to bring focus to the floating Fonts window. To return focus to the window you were in, you can press Ctrl+F4.

On a laptop, you'll also need to hold Fn when you press the above keyboard shortcuts unless you go to System Preferences > Keyboard and check "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys".

After you move focus to the Fonts window, you can press Tab and Shift+Tab to cycle focus through the different columns and the search field.