Use Tab (or Shift-Tab) to navigate from component to component.
Control-Tab (or Control-Shift-Tab) allows you to break out of the JTable.
import java.awt.BorderLayout; import java.awt.Component; import java.awt.Container; import java.awt.FocusTraversalPolicy; import java.awt.GridLayout; import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; import java.awt.event.ActionListener; import java.util.Vector; import javax.swing.BorderFactory; import javax.swing.JCheckBox; import javax.swing.JComponent; import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.JLabel; import javax.swing.JPanel; import javax.swing.JTable; import javax.swing.JTextField; public class Main extends JPanel implements ActionListener { static JFrame frame; JCheckBox togglePolicy;/*w ww . ja v a 2 s . c om*/ static MyOwnFocusTraversalPolicy newPolicy; public Main() { super(new BorderLayout()); JTextField tf1 = new JTextField("Field 1"); JTextField tf2 = new JTextField("A Bigger Field 2"); JTextField tf3 = new JTextField("Field 3"); JTextField tf4 = new JTextField("A Bigger Field 4"); JTextField tf5 = new JTextField("Field 5"); JTextField tf6 = new JTextField("A Bigger Field 6"); JTable table = new JTable(4, 3); togglePolicy = new JCheckBox("Custom FocusTraversalPolicy"); togglePolicy.setActionCommand("toggle"); togglePolicy.addActionListener(this); togglePolicy.setFocusable(false); // Remove it from the focus cycle. JPanel leftTextPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(3, 2)); leftTextPanel.add(tf1, BorderLayout.PAGE_START); leftTextPanel.add(tf3, BorderLayout.CENTER); leftTextPanel.add(tf5, BorderLayout.PAGE_END); leftTextPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(0, 0, 5, 5)); JPanel rightTextPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(3, 2)); rightTextPanel.add(tf2, BorderLayout.PAGE_START); rightTextPanel.add(tf4, BorderLayout.CENTER); rightTextPanel.add(tf6, BorderLayout.PAGE_END); rightTextPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(0, 0, 5, 5)); JPanel tablePanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1)); tablePanel.add(table, BorderLayout.CENTER); tablePanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder()); JPanel bottomPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2, 1)); bottomPanel.add(togglePolicy, BorderLayout.PAGE_START); add(leftTextPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_START); add(rightTextPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER); add(tablePanel, BorderLayout.LINE_END); add(bottomPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_END); setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(20, 20, 20, 20)); Vector<Component> order = new Vector<Component>(7); order.add(tf1); order.add(tf2); order.add(tf3); order.add(tf4); order.add(tf5); order.add(tf6); order.add(table); newPolicy = new MyOwnFocusTraversalPolicy(order); } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { if ("toggle".equals(e.getActionCommand())) { frame.setFocusTraversalPolicy(togglePolicy.isSelected() ? newPolicy : null); } } public static void main(String[] args) { frame = new JFrame("FocusTraversalDemo"); frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); JComponent newContentPane = new Main(); newContentPane.setOpaque(true); // content panes must be opaque frame.setContentPane(newContentPane); frame.pack(); frame.setVisible(true); } } class MyOwnFocusTraversalPolicy extends FocusTraversalPolicy { Vector<Component> order; public MyOwnFocusTraversalPolicy(Vector<Component> order) { this.order = new Vector<Component>(order.size()); this.order.addAll(order); } public Component getComponentAfter(Container focusCycleRoot, Component aComponent) { int idx = (order.indexOf(aComponent) + 1) % order.size(); return order.get(idx); } public Component getComponentBefore(Container focusCycleRoot, Component aComponent) { int idx = order.indexOf(aComponent) - 1; if (idx < 0) { idx = order.size() - 1; } return order.get(idx); } public Component getDefaultComponent(Container focusCycleRoot) { return order.get(0); } public Component getLastComponent(Container focusCycleRoot) { return order.lastElement(); } public Component getFirstComponent(Container focusCycleRoot) { return order.get(0); } }