The Tab Order palette provides an alternative view of the tabbing order on the form. It shows all the objects on the form as a numbered list, where each number represents the position of the object in the tabbing flow. The palette is also where you modify the tab order, if required.
The difference is that the numbers displayed on the form are for information purpose only, whereas the numbers on the list can be changed to modify the tabbing order.In the Tab Order palette, you can also show or hide the tabbing order on the form and switch between the default and custom tabbing order.