Instructor (IN): In this module, I will discuss different ways of obtaining help using JAWS. First, I will talk about the keyboard help command. This command is insert+number 1 on the home row. This command is also the same for Window-Eyes as it is with JAWS and so Window-Eyes users may be familiar with it already. When insert one is pressed, JAWS says:
JAWS: Keyboard Help on.
IN: Keyboard help on. This is a toggle so that means if you press it again then the keyboard help will be turned off. When keyboard help is on, JAWS will tell you what the keys are when you press them. For example, if I press a few letters:
JAWS: a, b, c, d, e,
IN: JAWS tells me which letters i am pressing. If I
Press a hotkey such as insert+T,
JAWS: Insert+T says the title of the active window within an application or the application title itself.
IN: JAWS gives me a description of what that hotkey does. If I am inside a program, for example, Microsoft Word,
JAWS: keyboard help on.
IN: And I press a hotkey which might be specifically related to Word, such as CTRL+B,
JAWS: CTRL+B toggles the bold option
IN: JAWS will also tell me what that is. So, using this feature can be a great way to find out what a certain hotkey might be. Two advantages of using this feature are if you are learning a brand new keyboard or perhaps the keyboard might be a laptop keyboard which has keys in different locations. The second reason is if you want to know if a certain hotkey exists. For example, reading the current title in JAWS is insert+T. Window-Eyes users are used to pressing CTRL+shift+T. Getting the date and time is done by pressing insert+F12. Window-Eyes users are used to pressing insert+T for the same information. Pressing it again will turn it off.
JAWS: Keyboard help off.
IN: Window-Eyes has a feature called program help. The hotkey for this is CTRL+shift+?. When a Window-Eyes user presses this hotkey, a dialog will open and it will give the user information based on the program they are in. If no information is available for the program, then generic help information is displayed. For example, if you are using Window-Eyes and you are focused in Microsoft Word, pressing CTRL+shift+? brings up help for Word. It gives a brief description about how Window-Eyes works with Word and then it follows it with a list of hotkeys that are valid inside Microsoft Word. If the user is focused on Notepad, pressing that same hotkey will give information that's relative to notepad instead. JAWS also has these same kinds of features; but, they are separated into different commands. The first one is insert+H. Pressing insert+H from a certain program will give a list of hotkeys that JAWS has set for that program. For example, if I am in Microsoft Word and I press insert+H, I will get a long list of different JAWS features and hotkeys that are relevant to Word
JAWS: Links set quick settings, insert+V
IN: I went ahead and pressed the CTRL key to silence the voice because this list is quite large. However for example, in Window-Eyes, if I want to get a list of misspelled words, I might use the Window-Eyes page navigation feature which is activated with insert+tab. Since I may not know if JAWS has a similar function, I would press insert+H while I am in Word and then arrow down through this list until I find it. I can tell you that as soon as you press insert+H from within Word, and then press down arrow about nine or ten times, you will reach the feature which lists the misspelled words. I will go ahead and press down arrow about nine or ten times.
JAWS: link list, tables CTRL + insert + T, links list, words marked as misspelled ALT+Shift+L.
IN: There it is, list words marked as misspelled ALT+shift+L. These hotkeys are displayed in a virtual viewer. It is similar to a webpage. Also as I arrow down through these, JAWS is speaking the word, “link” before these. What that means is that I can press ENTER on this as if I am activating a link and it will activate the feature. In this case, I have a blank Word document and so nothing will come up.
JAWS: No spelling errors.
IN: by activating one of the features in this virtual window, the window itself closes and I am placed back in my document. To demonstrate the hotkey which is ALT+shift+L, I will type a few words and purposely misspell one of them. I wrote the sentence, “My name is raul” and I purposely misspelled the word “name”. Now I will press ALT+shift+L.
JAWS: Please wait, processing one items, spelling errors dialog, list one list view, none, one of one.
IN: Using features in Word is out of the scope of this specific module. So, I will not go into a lot of details about that.
Now I will switch over to Microsoft Excel and press the hotkey insert+H.
JAWS: Please wait, Book 1, Book 1, Excel sheet one, blank, links at quick settings, insert+V.
IN: Now after I pressed insert+H, I can press down arrow and get information that is specific to Excel.
JAWS: links to a list of some common Excel shortcuts, insert+W, link say the coordinates of the current cell, insert+C.
IN: So, for example, if I want to find out the coordinates of the current cell, I now know that the hotkey for that is insert+C. I will go ahead and press escape to close this virtual window.
JAWS: Blank A1
IN: The next hotkey I would like to show you is insert+W. Pressing insert+W will show you a list of windows hotkeys for the program you are in. There is a difference between JAWS and Window-Eyes hotkeys vs Windows hotkeys. For example, insert+T from JAWS reads the current title of the program. CTRL+shift+T from Window-Eyes does the same. However, these keys will not work or do anything if the screen readers are not running. On the other hand, hotkeys such as CTRL+N, for new, CTRL+O for open, and CTRL+A for select all, are designated as windows hotkeys. Meaning they will work in the Windows program you are in regardless of whether you are running a screen reader or not. Pressing insert+W is a JAWS hotkey which will list the different windows hotkeys for the program you are in. I am, right now, in Microsoft Excel and I will go ahead and press insert+W.
JAWS: Here are some excel keyboard shortcuts. Auto sum, use ALT+= go to cell, use F5 to start a formula
IN: I went ahead and pressed CTRL to silence the rest of that.
JAWS: Go to cell, use F5; to start a formula, use =.
IN: I can use my up and down arrows to look at this information line by line, so that it doesn't come out all at me at once.
JAWS: Select the entire column, use CTRL+spacebar.
IN: Now I will press escape to close this.
JAWS: Blank
IN: and I will move back into Microsoft Word.
JAWS: Document one, Word, Print view, edit.
IN: Now I will press insert+W.
JAWS: The following word shortcut keys may be useful: create a new document, CTRL+N, open an existing document, CTRL+O.
IN: As you can tell, the list of hotkeys was slightly different. Although to be fair, CTRL+N will open a new workbook inside Excel. So, a lot of the hotkeys are repeated. There are some hotkeys in Word which are only specific to Word. I will now press escape to close this window.
JAWS: Blank, edit.
IN: The last method for help I will be showing you is the screen sensitive help that JAWS has. The hotkey for this is insert+F1. Pressing insert+F1 from a control or from the main area of a program will give you screen sensitive information that is related to that program. This is very similar to how a Window-Eyes user can press F1 by itself while in the Window-Eyes control panel. The difference is that when you do this from JAWS, insert+F1 will give you information based on just about any control you are in. Right now I am still focused on Microsoft Word. I will go ahead and press insert+F1.
JAWS: This is a document window. This is the text area of an open document. The document has one section(s). The cursor is in Section 1. Margins for this section are set as follows:
IN: I went ahead and pressed the CTRL key to avoid listening to the entire text. In addition to giving you information about where you are, it also gives you a summary of the document. For example, it will tell you what your margins are set to in case they are different than the defaults. Once you have the information you need, you can press escape to close it.
JAWS: Blank, edit
IN: I will now move over to Microsoft Excel and press insert+F1.
JAWS: please wait, book 1, book 1, excel sheet 1, blank A1, This is the spreadsheet area. The worksheet name is sheet 1 and its number is 1. Printable pages information, no horizontal or vertical page breaks,
IN: Ok I also went ahead and pressed the CTRL key to avoid listening to the entire thing. You will notice that it gives me information that I am in Excel and it gives me information about the workbook and the sheet that I am in. Pressing escape will close it.
JAWS: Blank A1.
IN: Now let's say that I am on a menu or ribbon item.
JAWS: Upper ribbon, group box, lower ribbon, home group box, cut button CTRL+X.
IN: I am right now focused on the cut button which is part of the clipboard group in the Home tab ribbon. I will now press insertF1
JAWS: Cut button, access key CTRL+X. Press the spacebar to activate this button. Link list JAWS hotkeys. press escape to close this message.
IN: The message for this was a lot shorter but it did describe what this button is. Because I'm in a virtual window, I can use my up and down arrows to review this a bit more slowly. I'm going to press CTRL+home to move to the top of this virtual window.
JAWS: Cut button.
IN: There it is. Now I can move down and read this a bit more slowly.
JAWS: blank, Access key CTRL+X, blank, press the spacebar to activate this button
IN: So if I did not know that the hotkey for cut is CTRL X, this screen sensitive help dialog tells me this. I will now press escape.
JAWS: Cut button
IN: I'm going to press the ALT key to close the ribbon.
JAWS: Leaving menu bar blank A1.
IN: Screen sensitive help can also help you if you are in a JAWS dialog. I will demonstrate this by going into the basics dialog. First, I will press insert+J to bring up the JAWS window.
JAWS: JAWS Home Use.
IN: now I will press the ALT key to activate the menus.
JAWS: Menu bar, Options O.
IN: And now I will move down
JAWS: Menu, Options menu, basics…B
IN: I will press ENTER to run basics.
JAWS: Leaving menus, Basic settings dialog, Tutor messages, turnoff menu and control help, radio button checked, 1 of 3, ALT+T.
IN: Now I will press insert+F1 for screen sensitive help.
JAWS: Use the arrow keys to select one of the radio buttons in this group. Tutor messages provide additional information to help you navigate menus and dialog controls. Use this group of radio buttons to specify whether you want menu and control messages spoken.
IN: I went ahead and press the CTRL key to silence the voice, to avoid listening to the rest of it. However, that should have been enough for you to see that pressing insert+F1 while in a JAWS dialog, will give you a description of what that feature is. It will also give you the information necessary for you to move around.
So to summarize, insert+number one on the home row, activates the keyboard help feature. This is where you can find out the names of the keys and what certain hotkeys do. Insert+H will bring up a virtual window with a list of JAWS hotkeys specific to the program you are in. Insert+W will bring up a list of Windows hotkeys for the program you are in; and lastly, insert+F1 is the screen sensitive help which brings up a virtual window, giving you detailed information about the button or area or program you're in. Keep in mind that if a virtual window is open, pressing escape will close it.
Thanks for listening.