diff --git a/lisp/wid-edit.el b/lisp/wid-edit.el
index 172da3db1e0..b40d4bf8898 100644
--- a/lisp/wid-edit.el
+++ b/lisp/wid-edit.el
@@ -1219,11 +1219,20 @@ widget-button-press
 	(when (commandp command)
 	  (call-interactively command))))))

+(defcustom widget-skip-inactive nil
+  "If non-nil, skip inactive widgets when tabbing through buffer."
+  :version "30.1"
+  :group 'widgets
+  :type 'boolean)
+
 (defun widget-tabable-at (&optional pos)
   "Return the tabable widget at POS, or nil.
-POS defaults to the value of (point)."
+POS defaults to the value of (point).  If user option
+`widget-skip-inactive' is non-nil, inactive widgets are not tabable."
   (let ((widget (widget-at pos)))
-    (if widget
+    (if (and widget (if widget-skip-inactive
+                        (widget-apply widget :active)
+                      t))
 	(let ((order (widget-get widget :tab-order)))
 	  (if order
 	      (if (>= order 0)