Chapter 2. Learning VoiceOver Basics

This chapter provides information about the basics of using VoiceOver, including how to get help while you’re learning. You’ll learn how to turn VoiceOver on and off and pause it, how to hear information about items on the screen and interact with them, and how to use cursor tracking.

Automatically use VoiceOver in the login window

Set a system preference to automatically use VoiceOver in the OS X login window.

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Users & Groups, then click Login Options. If Users & Groups preferences are locked, click the lock icon in the lower-left corner of the window, then type an administrator password to unlock them.

To turn on VoiceOver in the login window yourself, press Command-F5.

Change the default behavior of function keys

By default, you must also press the Fn key to use a function key in a VoiceOver command. You can change this default behavior so that you don’t have to press the Fn key for VoiceOver commands.

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Keyboard.
  2. Select the “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” checkbox.

Some keyboards have dedicated keys for Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down. These are important VoiceOver navigation keys. If you’re using a keyboard that doesn’t have these keys, use the arrow keys with the Fn key for these actions.

Find commands using the Commands menu

If you know the name of a VoiceOver command but can’t recall the keys to press, use the Commands menu to find the command, and apply it to the item currently in the VoiceOver cursor.

A screen shot of the Commands Help menu. A panel with a black background and white text, titled Commands Help. The menu includes these items, from top to bottom: General, Information, Navigation, Text, Web, Find, Tables, Size and Position, Audio, Braille, Visuals, Hot spots, NumPad Commander, Keyboard Commander, Quick Nav. To the right of each item in the list is an arrow to access the item submenu.
  1. When VoiceOver is on, open the Commands menu by pressing VO-H-H.
  2. Type some letters of the command name to narrow the Commands menu to just those commands that contain the letters you typed.

    Use the arrow keys to navigate the Commands menu until you hear the command you want. To list all commands again, press Delete.

  3. When you hear the command you want, press the Return key or the Space bar to apply the command to the item in the VoiceOver cursor.

Lock and unlock the VO keys

You enter VoiceOver commands by pressing the Control and Option keys (the VO keys) with other keys. For example, press VO-H to open the VoiceOver Help menu. You can lock the VO keys so you don’t have to press them. For example, with the VO keys locked, you would press just H to open the VoiceOver Help menu.

To lock the keys, press VO-;. To unlock them, press the command again.

Make VoiceOver ignore the next key press

Some apps use the Control and Option keys (the VO keys) together with another key to perform an action. If you’re using VoiceOver and want to use the app’s command, you can tell VoiceOver to ignore the next key combination.

Press VO-Tab. VoiceOver will ignore the next key combination you press.

You can change many keyboard shortcuts for apps in the Shortcuts pane of Keyboard preferences.

Learn or mute VoiceOver sound effects

VoiceOver uses unique sound effects to denote events (such as a window opening) and locations (such as when you reach a border).

If you’re using VoiceOver gestures, avoid muting sound effects. Hearing the blank space sound effect is very useful in determining where items are located on the desktop.

Hear hints and information about an item

VoiceOver provides several ways to learn more about the item in the VoiceOver cursor.

You can set options in the Hints pane of the Verbosity category in VoiceOver Utility to have help tags and instructions read automatically.

Use positional audio

If you have stereo headphones or dual speakers, you can use positional audio to hear audio cues (or sound effects) about an item’s location on the screen. The positional audio option is on by default; you can turn it off in the Sound category in VoiceOver Utility.

If you have chosen to play stereo audio as mono audio in Accessibility preferences, you can’t hear positional audio using VoiceOver.

Interact with content areas

Navigate past a content area, such as a scroll area or table, or stop and interact with it. For example, in a Finder window you can navigate past the sidebar to get to the view browser, or interact with the sidebar to open folders and files.

You can interact with any element that has a title or embedded text, such as a pop-up button or a Smart Address in Mail, so VoiceOver can read the element by word or by character.

The VoiceOver cursor stays within the boundaries of the area you’re interacting with, so you can navigate only within the area.

Hear changes in progress or status

Hear when the progress bar or status text in the VoiceOver cursor changes. For example, while installing software, you might hear “Installation 45 percent completed” or you might hear a ticking sound.

  1. For status text, open the rotor to verbosity settings by pressing VO-V.
  2. Press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key until you hear “when status changes” and the current setting.
  3. Press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key until you hear the setting you want.
  4. To close the rotor, press Escape.

You can set progress bar and status text options in the Announcements pane of the Verbosity category in VoiceOver Utility.

If you’re using portable preferences on a guest computer when you change status settings, the settings are saved to the portable preferences drive and not to the guest computer.

Select and deselect items

Select or deselect a single item or multiple items.

Drag and drop items

Drag and drop items from one location to another. Both the original and destination locations must be on the screen when you start dragging the items.

Use commands
  1. Move the VoiceOver cursor to an item and press VO-, to mark it for drag and drop.

    To use a modifier with the command, press and hold VO-, until the Drag and Drop menu appears, then choose a modifier.

  2. Move the VoiceOver cursor to the location where you want to drop the marked item, then use one of the following commands to drop the marked items:
  3. On the cursor location: VO-.

    In front of the cursor location: VO-<

    After the cursor location: VO->

If you selected a modifier at the start of the operation, VoiceOver uses the modifier to perform any special behaviors when it drops the item. For example, if you drop a marked file in the Finder using the Option modifier, VoiceOver duplicates the file.

Use the mouse

Mouse tracking can be on or off.

  1. Move the VoiceOver cursor to the item you want to move.

    If mouse tracking is off, press VO-Command-F5 to move the VoiceOver cursor to the target location.

  2. Verify that the mouse is on the item by pressing VO-F5.
  3. Lock the mouse button by pressing VO-Command-Shift-Space bar.
  4. Move the VoiceOver cursor to the target location.

    If mouse tracking is off, press VO-Command-F5 to move the mouse to the target location.

  5. Verify that the mouse is on the target location by pressing VO-F5.
  6. Unlock the mouse button by pressing VO-Command-Shift-Space bar.
Drag to a hot spot

If you used the Commanders category in VoiceOver Utility to assign “Drop Marked Item” hot spot commands to keys or gestures, you can drag items to the same hot spot.

  1. Mark an item to drag, then use one of the commands you assigned to a key or gesture.

    VoiceOver asks you to press the number key for the hot spot you want to use for the drop, then drops the marked item after, before, or on the hot spot.

  2. After the drop, the VoiceOver cursor returns to its original location. Repeat for each item you want to drop on the hot spot.

A marked item remains available to drop again unless it’s no longer on the screen, or you mark a new item for drag and drop.

Set up or turn off cursor tracking

By default, the VoiceOver cursor and keyboard focus are set to follow (or “track”) each other. This is called “cursor tracking.” You can also set the VoiceOver cursor and the mouse pointer to track each other.

It can be useful to turn off cursor tracking, and use the keyboard, mouse pointer, and insertion point independently. For example, in Messages you can move the VoiceOver cursor to the message portion to hear incoming messages, while the keyboard focus remains in the text field to type outgoing messages.

Turn on cursor tracking for the mouse

Open VoiceOver Utility (press VO-F8 when VoiceOver is on), click the Navigation category, then choose a mouse pointer option:

Follows VoiceOver cursor: The mouse pointer moves with the VoiceOver cursor.

Moves VoiceOver cursor: The VoiceOver cursor follows the mouse pointer.

Turn off cursor tracking
  1. Open VoiceOver Utility (press VO-F8 when VoiceOver is on), click the Navigation category, then deselect these checkboxes:
  2. Keyboard focus follows VoiceOver cursor

    VoiceOver cursor follows keyboard focus

    Insertion point follows VoiceOver cursor

    VoiceOver cursor follows insertion point

  3. From the “Mouse pointer” pop-up menu, choose “Ignores VoiceOver cursor.”

To temporarily turn cursor tracking on or off while you’re working, press VO-Shift-F3. This command doesn’t change the settings in VoiceOver Utility; it just switches them on or off until you press the command again.

Work with cursor tracking turned off

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the keyboard focus: Press VO-Shift-F4.

Move the keyboard focus to the VoiceOver cursor: Press VO-Command-F4.

Move the VoiceOver cursor to where the mouse pointer is focused: Press VO-Shift-F5.

Move the mouse pointer to where the VoiceOver cursor is focused: Press VO-Command-F5.

Customize VoiceOver with VoiceOver Utility

VoiceOver Utility is the app you use to customize VoiceOver settings. To learn about the options, click the Help button in the lower-right corner of each pane in VoiceOver Utility.

A screen shot of the VoiceOver Utility window. The VoiceOver Utility window is divided vertically into two parts. A sidebar on the left lists categories, preceded by an icon, and an area on the right shows options for the currently selected category. Navigation is the current category in the sidebar and navigation options are displayed on the right. At the bottom right corner of the window is a Help button for displaying the VoiceOver online help topic which explains the options. A Help button is available on every VoiceOver Utility pane.

To open VoiceOver Utility, do one of the following:

Search VoiceOver Utility

Search VoiceOver Utility to quickly find and go to specific options, instead of navigating the various categories and panes.

  1. Open VoiceOver Utility (press VO-F8 when VoiceOver is on), interact with the toolbar, then type in the search field.
  2. To navigate the list of search results that appears, press VO-Down Arrow or VO-Up Arrow.

    For each result, VoiceOver Utility shows the pane where the option is located and highlights the option.

  3. To select a result, press the Return key.