Basic Functions of JAWS

Material from Libraries without Walls

Morning Session of JAWS

Reading and Navigational Keystrokes:

  • Numpad keys 4, 5, 6, 2, and 8 act as directional keys (left, right, up and down arrows.) 4, 5, and 6 pressed by themselves will read prior character, current character, and next character. These keys used while pressing the 0 or JAWS key will read prior word, current word, or next word.
  • Numpad 2 by itself will read next line; when pressed along with the JAWS key it becomes the “say all” command. This means that JAWS will begin reading from the cursor to the end of the document.
  • Numpad 8 by itself will read the above line; when pressed along with the JAWS key, it becomes the read current line command.

Miscellaneous JAWS Keystrokes:

  • JAWS Key + J (opens/brings focus to the JAWS Interface)
  • JAWS Key + F4 (close JAWS dialog box)
  • JAWS Key + T (announces title of window)
  • JAWS Key + B (announces dialog box)
  • JAWS Key + F12 (announces time; when pressed twice quickly, announces date)
  • Control + Alt + page up or page down (changes rate of speech on the fly)
  • Control (interrupt speech)

Internet/HTML/PDF Commands:

  • JAWS Key + F6 (headings list)
  • JAWS Key + F7 (links list)
  • Most letters when used by themselves will move to specified areas such as; H for headings, X for check boxes, T for tables, and so on.

Universal Commands:

Universal commands are commands that can be used no matter if JAWS is running; meaning these are Windows based keystrokes. Examples of these include the following:

  • ALT + F4 (closes a program)
  • Control + A (selects all)
  • Control + B (will bold selected text)
  • Control C (will copy selected text)

*Most letters, when used along with the Control key perform some type of function.

Additional Universal Key Commands:

  • Control + Home (moves cursor to the top of the document)
  • Control + End(moves cursor to the end of the document)
  • Control + the arrow keys act similar to the JAWS commands for the numpad.
  • Windows key; when pressed by itself will open the Start Menu. In Windows 8, it becomes the start screen.
  • Windows key + D or Windows key + M brings focus to the desktop.
  • When on the Internet using a browser like Internet Explorer; Alt + D, places the cursor in the address bar to begin typing a web address.

For questions or comments, please feel free to contact me, Kellie Blackwell at 517-999-7524 or email .