Tabs in a tab control can be activated using the left mouse button. By clicking on a currently inactive tab, that tab will become the active tab. This takes place under program control. The application receives a Switching event. The Switching event allows an application to prevent the change to the new current tab. If a disabled tab is clicked, that tab will not become active and the SwitchingDisabled event occurs instead.

Tabs can also be made active using the keyboard. Just as regular Windows controls (such as buttons) respond to an Alt + key combination, the tab control responds to keyboard accelerators, if any one of the tab labels has been defined to support this. When defining tab text, the & character indicates that the following character is to be recognized by an Alt + key combination, e.g., the tab with the tab label "&First" will be made active when the user presses Alt-F. The & character will never be shown. The following character will be underlined instead. If a new tab becomes the new current tab, the application receives a Switching event. The Switching event allows an application to prevent the change to the new current tab.

Control + arrow key combinations can be used to scroll in a scrollable tab control. For Control + arrow key combinations to have an effect, the tab control must be the active control, i.e., the control which currently has the input focus.

If the tab control has the input focus, the arrow keys can be used to make the tab in the given direction the new current tab. The Home key will make the first tab the new current tab. The End key will make the last tab the new current  tab. Disabled or hidden tabs are skipped.

The Control + Tab combination can be used to switch to the next tab in sequence, when the tab control or a control on the current tab page has the input focus. The Control + Shift + Tab switches to the previous tab in sequence. Disabled or hidden tabs are skipped.