How To Read This Guide
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Video Version
To Watch this guide as a video tutorial just visit the link below.
Audio Version
Listen to or download the audio version below.
Text Version
If you keep going you’ll find an entirely text version of the guide with headers marking each section, so feel free to jump around.
Introduction
Voiceover on the Mac is a very powerful screenreader but it also has a learning curve. Luckily Apple does provide a handful of learning resources, reference materials, and some built-in help. In this lesson we’re gonna go through how to access and use those resources.
Before we begin there’s two things you should know. This tutorial was done with no modifications to the voiceover settings. If you changed the way focus behaves in voiceover you might find that some of the keystrokes are slightly different than what is mentioned in this video.
We will also be referring to the voiceover keys, control and option, as simply the VO keys. This is consistent with many of the support documents and tutorials that voiceover provides.
The home base to all of the voiceover built-in help is the voiceover help menu. You can access this menu at any time on the computer by pressing VO – H. The voiceover help menu can be navigated in the same way most menus work on the Mac by using the up and down arrow keys to navigate through the menu options. You can then use the spacebar or the enter key to select the menu item. To close the menu press the escape key.
Let’s explore some of the items in this help menu.
Online Help
The online help feature contains a variety of reference and instructional materials on how to use voiceover. It’s not designed as a place to start but rather a reference those for users who want to learn more about how voiceover works. To get the most out of the online help menu you will need to have some basic understanding for navigating using voiceover. If you are just at the beginning then the best place to start will be in the Quick Start Tutorial or the getting started guide which will cover later.
When you select online help, the help application will open and your focus will be inside the application window, on the toolbar. This is an Apple universal help menu. Many other applications have a similar help menu.
The information Online can be updated by Apple since it is loaded as a webpage. Because of this reason you might find the help menu takes a minute or two to load before it’s ready for use.
The first thing you want to do is move voiceover to the web content that makes up the help menu. Press VO – right arrow until you hear web content. Now interact with the web content by pressing VO – shift – down arrow.
The easiest way to navigate the help menu will require you to turn quick NAV off. You can turn off quick NAV by pressing the left and right arrow keys at the same time.
Use the VO – right and left arrow keys to read through the content of each section. Press the right and left arrow keys by themselves to move the next and previous section. Because each page is essentially a website you might notice that when you use the right arrow key by itself to move to the next section you will begin reading that section automatically.
Some sections will contain a heading followed by a collapsed button. These are optional sections and to read them press VO – space this will expand the topic and you can then use your reading commands like VO – right arrow to read about that topic.
When you are done exploring the online help you can quit it with command – Q.
Commands Help
The second item in the voiceover help menu’s commands help. This feature acts as a reference to all of the various voiceover commands. All of these commands are universal commands that voiceover will respond to through various keyboard shortcuts.
Keep in mind that each individual application can have its own set keyboard commands specific to it. You will find that those keyboard commands in the menu bar. So you will only find voiceover specific commands in voiceover help – commands help menu.
When you select commands help you will be in a submenu of the VoiceOver help menu. You can navigate it using the up and down arrow keys and you can make selections with the space or the enter key. The commands help is broken into categories like: general, navigation, web, and text. If you select one of these categories you can get back to this main menu by pressing the left arrow key.
If you know the name of the command but not the keyboard shortcut you can simply type it on the keyboard while inside commands help. This will perform a search and it will give you list of items that match what you typed. Keep in mind that if you use this feature while inside one of the subcategories it will only search for that command in that subcategory. If you want to search all of the commands do so at the main commands help menu, remember that if you are inside of a subcategory use the left arrow to go back to the main menu. To end your search but stay inside the commands help menu press the delete key just once.
When you’re done with the commands help menu you can press the escape key to closing it.
Keyboard Help
The third item in the voiceover help menu is keyboard help. This particular help feature can be activated at any time by pressing VO – K.
When keyboard help is activated the computer will echo the name of any key pressed on the keyboard. This is a great way to explore the various keys on your keyboard. If you’re using a third-party keyboard with custom keys some of those special keys may not work with keyboard help.
You can also try out various voiceover commands to hear their names. For example with keyboard help on if you press VO – command – H, keyboard help will inform you that this command is the find next heading command.
To stop keyboard help either press the escape key or VO – K.
Sounds Help
The fourth item in the voiceover help menu is sounds help. When you enter sounds help you brought to a menu that as you navigate up or down you will hear a sound and then an explanation to what that sound means. The sounds and explanations can come fast but keep in mind that you can press the space or enter key to repeat both the sound and the explanation.
When you’re done with sounds help you can press the escape key to close the help menu.
Quick Start Tutorial
The fifth item in the voiceover help menu is the Quick Start Tutorial. The very first time that voiceover is activated on the computer it will offer to open the Quick Start Tutorial. This guide is designed to walk you through the basics of using voiceover and does not assume previous knowledge about voiceover or screen readers.
When you turn on the Quick Start Tutorial it will temporarily turn off voiceover and gives you an explanation of how the Tutorial works. You can use the left and right arrow keys by themselves to move to the various sections of the Quick Start Tutorial. I highly recommend you wait and listen to everything each menu says before moving forward. Many of the sections will include a hands on section where you can practice what you have learned.
To close the Quick Start Tutorial you can press the escape key on the keyboard. If you were in the middle of a lesson when you exited, don’t worry, it will remember where you were when you return and it will offer to put your back where you left off.
Getting Started Guide
The sixth and last item in the voiceover help menu is the getting started guide. The getting started guide is designed as a manual for how to use voiceover. Think of it as a continuation of the Quick Start Tutorial. You will need to have some basic voiceover navigation skills in order to get the most out of this guide. So if you’re a very beginner it’s best to complete the Quick Start Tutorial first.
When you select the getting started guide it will open the Safari web browser and load a webpage that contains the getting started guide. First press VO – right arrow till you hear getting started guide, web content. Interact with the web content with VO – shift – down arrow.
If this is your first time using the getting started guide I highly suggest using a similar navigation method to what we used with online help. First make sure that quick NAV is turned off, remember you can toggle this feature by pressing the right and left arrow keys at the same time. Now you can use the right arrow key by itself to move to the next section of the guide and the left arrow key by itself to move to the previous section. Use the VO – right and left arrow keys to read the content of each section.
When you are done using the getting started guide you will need to close Safari by pressing command – Q.
Conclusion
That is a basic overview of all of the built-in help functions for voiceover. If you are having technical difficulties using voiceover on your Mac there is also an Apple support line that you can call or email. If you do call this number, which will be listed below, be clear with the support staff that you need is for the voiceover screenreader. Not all of the support staff are equally familiar with voiceover and you will want to make sure you’re talking to someone who is very comfortable with it. You can contact Apple support at:
877-204-3930
or
accessibility@apple.com
Blind Support 