# Move a card with the keyboard alone

Nothing on the board needs a pointer. Move the change request *Repricing of
commercial property after the 2025 flood season* from **Triage** to **In
Progress** using only the keyboard, and a screen reader narrates every step of
it: pick-up, each move, the drop.

## Before you start

These steps are for the **Board** view. The **List** view reorders from the
keyboard as well, one row at a time through the whole list: Tab to the row,
**Space** to pick it up, **↑** and **↓** to move it, **Space** again to drop
it; see
[See everything the query returned, in one list](https://anykanban.com/docs/find-and-analyze/everything-the-query-returned/).
Like dragging, keyboard moving is unavailable in an **As of** snapshot. With a
filter on it works, and the card lands by the same rule as a pointer drop:
directly above the visible card below the slot, after any hidden cards between.

## Steps

1. Press **Tab** until the card itself has focus, meaning the whole card and not
   the title inside it.
2. Press **Space** (or **Enter**) to pick it up. Announced: *Picked up work
   item {id}.*, with the card's own work item ID in place of `{id}`.
3. Move with the arrow keys: **↑** and **↓** within the column, **←** and **→**
   toward the neighboring columns. Every move is announced as *Work item {id}
   is over {target}*, where the target is the column name while the card is
   over a column, and that column followed by the other card's title while it
   is over another card:
   *In Progress, Regulatory reporting: claims data extract*. The column is
   always the one the board shows, so on a board with
   [two columns over one state](https://anykanban.com/docs/shape-the-board/two-columns-over-one-state/) each of them is
   announced by its own name. On a board with swimlanes the target also names
   the row the card would move into, as in *In Progress, in row Sprint 42*.
4. Press **Space** or **Enter** to drop. Announced: *Work item {id} was dropped
   on {target}.*, naming the column the card lands in and, on a board with
   swimlanes, the row it moves into.
5. To abandon the move instead, press **Escape** at any point: *Dragging
   canceled. Work item {id} returned to its position.* Nothing is written.

## What you should see

The card lands where the announcements said it was, and the write is the same
one a pointer drag makes: moving to another column writes the state, moving
inside a column writes the order field. The column counts change immediately;
nothing about the result is a keyboard-only variant.

## Notes

Pick-up is armed only while the card itself has focus, which is what keeps the
controls inside a card usable: **Space** on a checklist checkbox ticks the task
and **Enter** on the card title opens the work item form, instead of starting a
drag. The short instruction a screen reader reads when a card takes focus
("To pick up a draggable item, press the space bar…") comes from the drag
library, so its wording is not ours.

A screen reader names each card as a *work item card, draggable*. In an **As
of** snapshot, where no card can be picked up, it names the card as a *work
item card* and leaves the pick-up instruction out. Tab still reaches the card,
and the title inside it still opens the work item form.

## Related

- [Move an item to the next state](https://anykanban.com/docs/move-work/move-to-the-next-state/)
- [Put a column in priority order](https://anykanban.com/docs/move-work/order-a-column-by-priority/)
- [Move a card without dragging](https://anykanban.com/docs/move-work/move-without-dragging/)
- [Put two columns over one state](https://anykanban.com/docs/shape-the-board/two-columns-over-one-state/)
- [One board across several projects](https://anykanban.com/docs/guide-cross-project-boards/)