Keyboard Navigation — Run the Counter Without a Mouse

Audience: Pharmacy cashiers and pharmacists working the counter.

Purpose: Operate the Smart Counter end-to-end using only the keyboard — faster lanes, fewer mis-clicks, and full accessibility.

Companion docs: Smart Counter (POS) and Smart Counsellor.

The Smart Counter is built to be run entirely from the keyboard. A cashier can add products, review the Smart Counsellor’s alternatives and cross-sells, apply a discount, attach a customer, and take payment without reaching for the mouse. As you move, a blue focus ring always shows where you are.

Press ? at any time to open the in-app keyboard shortcuts card.

The layout, as the keyboard sees it

The screen is three side-by-side zones. Arrow keys move within a zone; the edges hand off to the next zone:

┌───────────────────────────────┐   ┌──────────────────┐
│  CART (the hero)              │   │  SMART COUNSELLOR │
│                               │ → │  Counsellor /     │
│  Rate · Disc · Qty · ✕        │   │  Cross-sell /     │
│   (one row per line item)     │   │  Campaigns tabs   │
│   └ inline Upgrade ribbon     │ ← │  + tiles          │
│                               │   └──────────────────┘
│                               │   ┌──────────────────┐
│                               │ ↓ │  ORDER SUMMARY   │
└───────────────────────────────┘   │  customer · actions · checkout │
                                     └──────────────────┘

When the Smart Counsellor is minimized, its column disappears and the Order Summary docks as a footer under the cart — so from the cart you reach it by pressing ↓ off the bottom line instead of →.

Global shortcuts

These match the in-app shortcuts card (?).

Action	Keys
Command palette	`⌘` `K`
Open shortcuts help	`?`
Close / cancel / exit a dialog	`Esc`
Focus mode (full-screen cashier view)	`f` · `F11` · `Ctrl` `Shift` `F`
Checkout	`Ctrl` `⏎`
Apply discount	`Ctrl` `D`
Redeem coupon	`Ctrl` `C`
Hold sale	`Ctrl` `H`
Clear cart	`Ctrl` `⌫`
Missed sale	`M`
Focus the Add product search	`Ctrl` `F`
Show / hide the Smart Counsellor	`Ctrl` `S`
Switch cart tabs (Cart / Recent / Hold)	`Alt` `P / S / H`
Move the selected cart line	`↑` `↓`
Find a substitute for the line	`S`
Toggle Unit / Pack on the line	`U`

Note: plain letter keys (M, U, f, S)

only fire when you are not typing in a field — so they never interfere with searching for a product or typing a customer name.

Moving inside the cart

Each cart line exposes four stops, left to right: Rate → Disc → Qty → ✕ (remove).

← / → move across the fields on the current line. Pressing → off Qty steps onto the line’s ✕ button; pressing → again hands off to the Smart Counsellor (or the order summary when the Counsellor is minimized).
↑ / ↓ keep you in the same column and move between lines — e.g. from one line’s Qty to the next line’s Qty, or from one ✕ to the next ✕.
In a quantity field, ↑ / ↓ do not change the number (they move between lines). Type the quantity directly, or press U to toggle Unit / Pack.

Inline upgrade ribbon

When a line shows an upgrade ribbon (a higher-margin or better-value alternative), press ↓ from any field on that line to drop into it:

← / → cycle the ribbon’s buttons: Upgrade → flag → dismiss.
Enter acts on the focused button — Upgrade swaps the product in, flag reports a wrong suggestion, dismiss hides the ribbon.
→ off the last button continues to the Smart Counsellor; ↑ returns to the line; ↓ drops to the next line. The ribbon’s ✕ is part of the ✕ column, so ↓ from a line’s ✕ lands on it.

Moving into the Smart Counsellor

From the cart, press → off Qty (then → again from ✕) to enter the Counsellor. Focus lands on the primary action of the first tile:

Swap on the Counsellor (substitutes) tab,
Add on the Cross-sell tab,
Add on the Campaigns tab.

Then:

↑ / ↓ move between tile actions; Enter runs the focused one (swap / add).
↑ off the top tile jumps to the tab strip. On the tab strip, ← / → switch tabs (Counsellor / Cross-sell / Campaigns), ↓ drops back into the tiles, and ← off the first tab returns to the cart.
← from a tile returns to the cart.
↓ off the last tile hands focus to the Order Summary.

Campaign tiles already in the cart show an editable quantity field (not

+/− buttons). Land on it with the arrows, type the quantity, and press Enter — exactly like the cart.

Moving inside the Order Summary

You reach the Order Summary either by pressing ↓ past the last Counsellor tile, or — when the Counsellor is minimized — by pressing ↓ off the bottom cart line.

← / → move across a row; ↑ / ↓ move between rows (customer → action buttons → checkboxes → checkout). The layout is grid-aware, so ↓ lands on the next row rather than jumping straight to the wide Checkout button.
← off the left edge returns to the cart (the ✕ column). ↑ off the top returns to the bottom of the Smart Counsellor when it’s shown.
Enter activates the focused control — including the Auto print and Batch / expiry checkboxes, and Checkout. (Checkout shows a high-contrast ring so it’s obvious when it’s selected.)

The customer field

The customer search is part of the order-summary navigation:

Empty field → arrows simply navigate the order summary (move on to the action buttons, or back to the cart).
Once you start typing → the field takes over: ↑ / ↓ pick a search result (including the “Add … as new customer” row at the bottom), ← / → move the cursor, and Enter selects the highlighted customer (or starts creating one).

See Add a customer for how a selected customer’s group discount is applied automatically.

Focus mode (full-screen)

Press f (or F11 / Ctrl Shift F) to enter Focus mode: the app sidebar, top bar, and POS session header collapse to a slim dark strip (store · till · status · balance), leaving the cart, Counsellor, and order summary edge-to-edge and scaled up for readability. Press Esc to exit. All the keyboard navigation above works identically in focus mode.

Walkthrough: a sale without the mouse

Ctrl F — focus the Add product search; type a few letters, then arrow to the right product and press Enter to add it. (Pressing Enter on an empty search does not add anything.)
→ across Rate / Disc / Qty to adjust the line; press U to switch Unit / Pack if needed.
↓ into the upgrade ribbon to review a better-value alternative — press Enter on Upgrade to swap, or → to the Counsellor.
In the Counsellor, ↑ to the tab strip, → to Cross-sell, ↓ into the tiles, and Enter on Add to attach a companion product.
↓ to the Order Summary, type a customer name and Enter to attach them (group discounts apply automatically).
Ctrl D for a discount if needed, then Ctrl ⏎ to Checkout — or arrow to the Checkout button and press Enter.