Tab Key doesn't indent in VS Code

Question

When programming in VS Code, I always use the Tab key for indenting. But, I was surprised that is stopped working all of a sudden. How do I fix this?

Aulis Ronkainen · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-03T12:50:15.650

83

You have enabled the Tab Moves Focus -mode.

Press Ctrl+M to disable the mode. After that your Tab-key indents your code again.

edited Feb 03 '21 at 12:50

answered Aug 08 '19 at 11:41

Aulis Ronkainen

3,072

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 11 '25 at 17:41

The others are correct - Ctrl+M should work in most cases, but some language plugins will also take over that keystroke. For example in Markdown pressing Ctrl+M will insert $$ and put the cursor between the $s.

The surefire way to fix it is to bring up the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and type tab key moves - that should get you to the right option.

Tab Key doesn't indent in VS Code

2 Answers2