[gui-talk] Word and Outlook 2013

[Susan Kelly]

My employer (a county government) has never been able to get any assistive technology to work with our Microsoft-based network, despite over 6 years of efforts.  As a result, I will eventually be getting an office-issued iPad Pro, since I already use my personal iPad to do most everything that does not require direct network access.  Unfortunately, there are still things that have to be done on the network computer.  Both Outlook and Word, and often the computer itself, crash every 10 minutes or less, which seriously reduces my ability to get work out quickly - or at all, in some cases.  IT insists nothing is wrong with the computer or the Microsoft programs on it.  I have been assured that the assistive technology (JAWS and MAGic at this point) are Enterprise versions and properly installed on the network.

Until the iPad Pro arrives, and IT agrees to allow it modified network access, does anyone have any ideas how to at least stop the Microsoft programs from crashing constantly?  My back-up has been to type everything on Notepad, copy it to a Word our Outlook document, and not delete the Notepad draft until things finally save.  Any other ideas?  I run both JAWS and MAGic, and need at least one of them on at all times.  I can theoretically do some things visually, providing the magnification is set to HUGE and keep my nose to the surface of the monitor, but I have not been able to get a better result by turning either one or the other program off.