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Apple’s screen reading utility VoiceOver comes standard with Mac OS X 10.4 and later. The information below is meant to help users begin to use VoiceOver’s functions.
For a comprehensive list of VoiceOver’s keyboard commands, as well as guides on getting started with VoiceOver and its newest features, see Apple Accessibility.
Note: These commands are optimized for the Safari browser. Some commands may work in other browsers.
Activate VoiceOver
To activate VoiceOver you can:
- Press Command + F5 keys to toggle VoiceOver on and off.
- VoiceOver can be toggled on and off from the Systems Preferences panel in the Accessibility settings.
Basic Commands
Note: The sequence of Control + Option (Mac keyborard) or Control + Alt (PC keyboard) is called the VoiceOver or "VO" key in other documentation.
| Function | Keyboard Command |
|---|---|
| Enter Web Page | Control + Option + Down Arrow |
| Exit Page | Control + Option + Up Arrow |
| Read All | Control + Option + A |
| Pause VoiceOver | Control |
| Safari Address Bar | Command + L |
| Previous Page in Safari | Command + Left Arrow |
| Next Page | Command + Right Arrow |
| Brower Menu | Command + Option + M |
| Access "Right Click" Menu options | Shift + Command + Option + M |
| Enter/Exit VoiceOver | Command + F5 |
Rotor Window
The "rotor" is a menu window in VoiceOver which presents lists of Web elements such as headings, links, images and other Web elements. It can be configured to add or remove Web page elements as well.
Rotor window showing "Headings" on Accessibility Home page. The first is "2: Quick Links" indicating the presence of an H2 for Quicklinks.
Open and Browse Rotor
| Function | Keyboard Command |
|---|---|
| Open Rotor | Control + Option + U |
| Close Rotor | Escape |
| Next Window | Right Arrow |
| Previous Window | Left Arrow |
| One List Item Down | Down Arrow |
| One List Item Up | Up Arrow |
| Go to Item | Enter or Return |
| Read After Item | Control + Option + A |
Configure Rotor Options
The rotor can be configured to display or disable different Web page elements. This is done in the VoiceOver Utility settings in the System Preferences. To open the VoiceOver Utility
- Open VoiceOver (Command + F5).
- Open the VoiceOver Utility by pressing Control + Option + F8.
- Look for the rotor settings options under the Web tab.
Note: The location varies depending on operating system version. - Check or uncheck the Web page elements as desired elements.
- Use arrow key commands to reorder elements into an appropriate sequence order.
Navigate to Page Elements
You can navigate different Web elements without using the rotor with the keyboard commands below.
| Function | Keyboard Command |
|---|---|
| Read Next Heading | Control + Option + Command + H |
| Next Link | Control + Option + Command + L |
| Next Image | Control + Option + Command + I |
| Next Form Control | Control + Option + Command + J |
| Next Frame | Control + Option + Command + M |
| Next List | Control + Option + Command + X |
Navigate to Previous
To navigate to previous heading, link, image and so forth, add the Shift key to the command for the "Next" option.
For instance, if Next Heading is Control + Option + Command + H, then Previous Heading is Shift + Control + Option + Command + H
Reading Text in Detail
These commands allow the user to specify exactly what type of content VoiceOver should read.
| Function | Keyboard Command |
|---|---|
| Read Paragraph | Control + Option + P |
| Read Sentence | Control + Option + S |
| Read Line | Control + Option + L |
| Previous Line | Control + Option + Up Arrow |
| Next Line | Control + Option + Down Arrow |
| Read Word | Control + Option + W |
| Previous Word | Control + Option + Left Arrow |
| Next Word | Control + Option + Right Arrow |
| Read Character | Control + Option + C |
| Previous Character | Control + Option + Shift + Left Arrow |
| Next Character | Control + Option + Shift + Right Arrow |
| Read Row in Table | Control + Option + R |
| Read Column in Table | Control + Option + Shift + C |
| Read Visible Window | Control + Option + Shift + W |
ARIA Landmarks
VoiceOver users can navigate a page via Aria landmarks by choosing Landmarks in the Rotor.
| Function | Keyboard Command |
|---|---|
| Start the web rotor | Control + Alt + U |
| Navigate to list of landmarks | Left/Right Arrow |
| Navigate through the list of landmarks | Up/Down Arrow |
Reading Tables
| Function | Keyboard Command |
|---|---|
| One Cell Forward (Begin Table) | Control + Option + Right Arrow |
| One Cell Backwards | Control + Option + Left Arrow |
| One Cell Down | Control + Option + Down Arrow |
| One Cell Up | Control + Option + Up Arrow |
| Read Row in Table | Control + Option + R |
| Read Column Header | Control + Option + C |
| Read Column in Table | Control + Option + Shift + C |
iPhone/iPad
A version of VoiceOver is also available for iPhone, iPad and iTouch and is based on finger gestures.
More information about VoiceOver on the iPhone is available in the external links list.