[Nationalharbor] FW: [Trainer-talk] [blind-philly-comp] From Alex Hall/Getting VoiceOver Help on Your Mac

Sat Jul 12 15:06:29 UTC 2014

Good information for those who use Apple products.
Getting VoiceOver Help on Your Mac
JULY 11, 2014 BY MEHGCAP
Intro
When you first get a Mac, and are learning VoiceOver, it can be hard to 
remember the myriad commands available. Some are pretty easy, like 
control-option-w to read the current word. Some are quite complex or 
seldom used, such as control-option-command-f5 to move the mouse pointer 
to where VoiceOver is focused. Then there are the core concepts, like 
interacting, moving around dialogs, getting to menus, and plenty more. 
So, I wanted to offer a guide that does not explain most of the commands 
and concepts, but rather tells you where to go if you need help. Mailing 
lists, books, online resources, and cheat sheets are great, but there 
are powerful help facilities built right into every Mac, just a 
keystroke or two away at any time. The trick is knowing how to access them.
Keyboard Keys and Layout
First, let's be sure you know where to find the keys you will be using 
for this. I will assume you know where the letters are, but the 
modifiers (control, option, command, and function) can be harder to 
figure out and memorize.
On any Apple keyboard, such as the Apple Wireless Keyboard that comes 
with most Mac desktops or the keyboard built into any Macbook, the order 
of the bottom row of keys is, from left to right:
▪function
▪control
▪option
▪command
▪space
▪command
▪option
▪arrow keys
The VoiceOver keys, control and option, are used to control VoiceOver, 
hence the name. Often, you will see commands like "vo-f"; that just 
means control-option-f. Again, the control and option keys are next to 
each other, the two middle keys in the group of four to the left of the 
spacebar. There are no VoiceOver keys on the right side of the spacebar 
because there is no control key there.
On non-Apple keyboards, things get more interesting. Since I have no way 
of knowing the layout of your keyboard, I will instead explain which 
non-Apple keys map to what on the Mac.
▪Control is the same.
▪The Windows key is the command key.
▪The alt key is the option key.
On many non-Apple keyboards, the usual order is control, Windows, alt, 
space, alt, Windows, applications, control. If your keyboard has that 
layout, then the VoiceOver keys will be found on either side of the 
Windows key.
Now that we are on the same page as far as where the keys are, let's 
start pressing some!
The Help Menu
Control-option-h is perhaps the most useful command you have when you 
need help. It offers six options:
▪Online help, which opens up the OS x Help Viewer to show the VoiceOver 
manual
▪Commands Help Menu, which is discussed in more detail below
▪Keyboard Help, again discussed in its own section
▪Sounds Help Menu, which is a menu of every sound VoiceOver can produce 
and a textual description of what that sound represents
▪Quick Start Tutorial, the tutorial that covers the basics of using 
VoiceOver. When you first ran VoiceOver on your new Mac, this tutorial 
was offered, and here is a way to go through it again.
▪Getting Started Guide, which opens a webpage in Safari that explains 
the essentials of VoiceOver.
Key Description Mode
Perhaps the easiest way to check what a keystroke does, or simply 
practice keystrokes or trackpad commands, is to press buttons and see 
what happens. Fortunately, VoiceOver allows you to do just that. To 
enter this mode, which VoiceOver calls "Keyboard Help", press 
control-option-k. When you are in this mode, no VoiceOver commands will 
be executed, and most system commands are stopped as well. Only 
VoiceOver commands are actually described, though. For example, if you 
are in Text Edit and enter Keyboard Help, pressing control-option-w will 
tell you that what you just pressed reads the current word. Pressing 
command-s, on the other hand, will cause VoiceOver to say the keys you 
pressed, but will not say that those keys are to save the current 
document, since command-s is not a VoiceOver command. Still, this is a 
perfect mode to just press keys and key combinations to see what does 
what, and, for the most part, you can't hurt anything because almost no 
commands will go through. When you are done, just hit the escape key 
(the top left key on most keyboards) and your Mac will return to normal.
Keyboard Help is a misleading term, as it is even more powerful than 
that. If you use the Trackpad Commander, this mode will also describe, 
but not run, any touch gestures you care to test out. It will do the 
same for any other Commanders you have set up. Quick Nav is the only 
exception; to hear descriptions of what the arrow keys do, you must 
enable Quick Nav, then turn on Keyboard Help. Even then, you will not be 
told what single keys (such as H for headings) do.
Commands Help Menu (control-option-h-h)
Hold down the control and option keys, then hit h twice. You will be 
placed in a new menu which lists every function of which VoiceOver is 
capable, sorted by category. Use up or down arrow to move through the 
different categories, right arrow to expand the desired category, then 
up or down to browse the items. Left arrow will close an open category 
and move you back to the main menu. While you are at this main menu, you 
can also start typing the particular command you are looking for. If, 
for eexample, you know you want the command to copy the last spoken 
phrase to the clipboard, just start typing "copy" and any commands 
matching that search will be shown. There is no need to press enter 
after typing, the search happens with every letter you press. To clear 
the search, simply hit delete (usually found on the number row, all the 
way to the right). To execute any command you find in this set of menus, 
you need only press enter. To close the menu, press escape.
Searching the Menu Bar
While this is not specific to VoiceOver, it is worth mentioning as it 
can be a huge time-saver. Most every Mac app includes menus (File, Edit, 
Window, and others), each of which has commands. Often, these commands 
have keystrokes bound to them, such as command-q for quit or command-s 
for save. If you cannot recall a particular keystroke, though, or if the 
option you want does not have an assigned keystroke and you haven't 
assigned your own, , you can just run a quick search. How?
▪Press control-option-m to move to the Menu Bar, then navigate to the 
Help menu. Usually, you can just press H, but if another menu also 
starts with H you may need to type more of the word "help". 
Alternatively, simply use left or right arrow to move to the Help menu. 
Once you are on it, press down arrow.
▪VoiceOver should say "Search. Search result, interactive." At this 
point, just start typing the name of the command you are looking for. 
Don't press enter, just type some or all of the command's name.
▪Once you have typed what you want, press down arrow to examine the 
results. First will be a section of matches to items in the current 
app's menus; once you hear the one you want, simply press enter. After 
that list will be matches in the Mac's built-in help; pressing enter on 
one of those will open the relevant section in the OS X Help Viewer. 
Note that this help is not VoiceOver-specific.
▪If you do not find the command you want, or wish to abandon the search, 
just press escape (you may need to do that a few times) and the menu, 
then the menu bar, will close and you will be back in the main window of 
the app you started from.
Other Resources
As mentioned above, the VoiceOver Help Menu lets you open local 
documentation in the Help Viewer, as well as a web-based guide (the 
Getting Started Guide). I find navigation in the Help Viewer to 
sometimes be a bit strange, so I strongly recommend that new VoiceOver 
users go for the Getting Started guide, which opens in Safari, instead. 
At the most basic, you can get around the pages with 
control-option-right arrow and control-option-left arrow (to move left 
and right through the text and links). Use control-option-space to 
activate a link, and command-left bracket to go back a page (such as to 
return to the table of contents).
Of course, AppleVis has plenty of resources to help new Mac users who 
are just starting out. If you get stuck at any point, don't hesitate to 
ask your questions on our forums and someone will be glad to try to help 
you out. Finally, the most popular email list for visually impaired Mac 
users I know of is Macvisionaries, which is a moderately high-traffic 
list but has a lot of very knowledgeable people ready to help you out. 
Finally, if you are on Twitter, feel free to ask questions of @VOTips 
and I will try to answer. The @VOTips timeline also includes many 
helpful tricks for Mac and iOS users which you may find useful.

-- 
David Goldfield,

Founder and Peer Coordinator,
Philadelphia Computer Users' Group for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Feel free to visit my new Web site
http://www.DavidGoldfield.info/

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