Screen Reader Tips

Here are some ways to make using your screen reader more efficient.

If you begin reading an interesting e-mail message or a long magazine article, you can read the rest of it automatically by pressing the "Read to End" command.

WindowEyes: Control Shift R
JAWS: Numpad Insert 2

You can read the current line of text in a document or on a web page.

WindowEyes: Control Numpad 5
JAWS: Numpad Insert 8

Surfing the Web with a Screen Reader

Control O opens a dialog box that lets you type in a web page address such as www.google.com.

More and more web pages have a link at the top called "skip navigation links" or "skip to content." Selecting this link should take you past repetitive links to the part of the page that you want to read.

There are a few ways to find the beginning of a newspaper article you have selected from a list or something else you want to read on a web page.

1. Bring up a list of links with the appropriate command in your screen reader

WindowEyes: Insert Tab
JAWS: Insert F7

Then type the first letter of the title or item you want (N for news, for example).

2. Use your screen reader's command to find a web page heading. Press H in WindowEyes or in JAWS.

3. Press your screen reader's Find command and type in part of the article title and then press Enter.

WindowEyes: Control Shift F
JAWS: Control F

Are words suddenly missing from the screen that were there a minute ago? Refresh the screen.

WindowEyes: Insert Backslash
JAWS: Insert Escape