[blindlaw] Update on Track Changes in Microsoft 2016 and 2019

[Laura Wolk]

Sure.  Feel free to contact me off list.

On 6/19/19, Amar Jain <amarjain at amarjain.com> wrote:
> Great job Laura. Would you mind sharing your contact coordinates off the
> list? Since you seem to be a heavy user of track changes like I am, let’s
> discuss some thoughts which I have.
>
> I am reachable on +91-9892622230 / amarjain at amarjain.com
>
> Regards,
> Amar Jain
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On 20-Jun-2019, at 5:23 AM, Laura Wolk via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> All,
>>
>> I have some more great news on the track change front.  As of the June
>> Jaws release, many of the most detrimental track change issues have
>> been fixed in Microsoft Office 2016.  These include:
>> 1. Jaws reporting an accurate number of revisions in the virtual viewer.
>> 2. Footnotes and comments no longer being sluggish/gaining the ability
>> to select text in footnotes and comments so long as all markup is
>> chosen.
>> 3. Being able to pull up a list of revisions in footnotes in the
>> virtual viewer, as long as the cursor is in the footnote pane when you
>> do this.
>> 4. Jaws now says the call number of the footnote as you navigate the
>> footnote pane, and when navigating above the line, it says the word
>> "footnote" or "endnote" when it reaches the call number.
>>
>> changes that are not incorporated include:
>> 1. not hearing the exact type of revision in-line as you navigate the
>> document; Jaws just says "revision"
>> 2. When the Braille display is plugged in, switching to all markup
>> does not fix the footnote sluggishness problem.  In addition, dots 78
>> still display across the footnote, Braille Marking doesn't work, and
>> the cursor routing buttons do not work.  I'm going to try my darnedest
>> to get this addressed.  But this is a vast improvement.  I'd love it
>> if anyone could verify they've noticed these changes also.
>>
>> I have also been told that all issues have been addressed in Office
>> 2019.  I don't have access to that version though.  If someone is an
>> Office 2019 user, please be in touch.
>>
>> I think I will have more updates RE 365 tomorrow.  I had meant to
>> provide updates on that front in this email as well, but somehow, in
>> tinkering with my home machine, which is older and more finicky, I've
>> inadvertently broken something and none of my programs are responding
>> as expected.  If anyone wants to trade some accessible word for a home
>> or remote computer consult, let me know!  In the meantime, I've had
>> enough robotic synthesizers for one day!  Stay tuned for th enext
>> episode.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Laura
>>> On 5/1/19, Laura Wolk <laura.wolk at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Dear all,
>>>
>>> I am very happy to report some extremely positive changes on the Track
>>> Change front.  I just met with members of Vispero and Microsoft for
>>> two hours to review many of the changes that we have proposed.  Almost
>>> all of them are implemented in the latest version of Jaws that was
>>> just released today.  As I expected, these are only being implemented
>>> in Microsoft Office 365.   I highly encourage everyone who is
>>> experiencing difficulties with track Changes to work with their
>>> employers to obtain Office 365 as a reasonable accommodation, and
>>> folks at the Microsoft Enterprise answer Desk should be available to
>>> field any questions and to verify that in fact Office 365 is the most
>>> fully functionable, accessible version of Office with Jaws.  Anyway,
>>> here are the changes I verified.
>>>
>>> 1. Jaws now displays the **correct!** number of revisions in a
>>> document in a mere matter of seconds. We tested this with a document
>>> with 406 revisions.  Jaws almost immediately announced the number, and
>>> I had to wait about four seconds for the full list to load.  Game
>>> changer.
>>> 2. Jaws now announces the revisions in-line exactly where they occur,
>>> instead of just stating "revision" or "insertion" at the beginning of
>>> the line.  Jaws also now announces font change attributes immediately
>>> following the change.  A few notes on this:
>>> a. In the virtual viewer list, Jaws still just says "revised
>>> property."  But they know how to fix this and aim to have it addressed
>>> in the June release.  But to reiterate, the precise font changes are
>>> announced in-line as you scroll with Jaws using the arrow keys.
>>> b.  Currently, the font attribute change is also displayed in words on
>>> the Braille display.  This is cumbersome, especially in legal
>>> documents.  They are going to try to figure out a way to toggle
>>> whether that information is displayed in Braille.  Again to be clear,
>>> this only occurs when you're looking at font attribute revisions, not
>>> every time you make a font change when track changes aren't on.
>>> 3. And now the moment we've all been waiting for... Footnotes are no
>>> longer sluggish!  **and** you can actually select text!  Same goes for
>>> comment bubbles!  Notes.
>>> a.  This currently only works in all markup.  It does not work in
>>> simple markup.  They are aware of this and know how to change it, and
>>> aim to have it addressed in the June release.
>>> b. To change mark up modes, hit alt, r, t, d, then arrow down to
>>> select the mark up mode you desire.
>>> 4. cursor routing buttons work in footnotes, dots 7-8 no longer
>>> display throughout the entire footnote, and Braille marking properly
>>> works in footnotes.
>>> 5. You can now access revisions in the footnotes.  You have to have
>>> all markup selected, and you have to be in the footnote pane when you
>>> call up the virtual viewer.  They are working on a way to have them
>>> accessible from above the line as well.
>>> 6. Jaws announcing revisions even when track changes are off:
>>> Currently, this is occurring because control+shift+e is a Microsoft
>>> keystroke that tells the program to stop tracking changes, but even
>>> when it's off, the underlying "code" is still there so that the
>>> revisions will display again once you turn the feature back on.  Jaws
>>> still has acces to that code, even if you toggle track changes off,
>>> and sometimes this causes confusion.  If this happens, change markup
>>> to no markup by hitting alt, r, t, d and arrowing down to no mark up.
>>> That should solve it.
>>>
>>> The teams are also aware of the issue regarding pasting large amounts
>>> of text into comments causing the programs to crash.  They aim to
>>> address that as well.
>>>
>>> Again, I am sorry that we will not be seeing changes in 2016 or 2013,
>>> but this honestly is a quicker and more robust solution than I ever
>>> expected, and i am very pleased.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>
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