Welcome to JAWS Tips and Tricks!

As a company exclusively working with JAWS for Windows and ZoomText Fusion in respect of training and scripting, we have in depth knowledge of how the products function. We also are fully aware of how they interact with different applications including Office, Google Chrome, Edge, Teams, Zoom, audio-related software such as Studio Recorder, Sound Forge, GoldWave, to name but a few. Finally, we know how to use JAWS with specific platforms such as Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and so many more.

To that end, we'll regularly share a useful tip regarding JAWS and how to get the most from it. Sometimes you'll get information for JAWS or Fusion standalone, or maybe we'll reveal a Leasey tip, a keyboard shortcut for Microsoft Office, a useful strategy for working in Zoom or Teams; you'll just never know.

Keep checking this page often for more JAWS Tips and Tricks!

I Need to Find Something Else.

Were there just too many steps involved with finding the text you wanted in Microsoft Word? What if you want to find text in the body of an email message you have received?

Fortunately there is a keystroke for you, Control+JAWS Key+F. This is the JAWS Find dialog box. What most people do not realise is that in addition to using it in the JAWS virtual buffer, (such as on a web page or in the body of an Email message you have received), it will work within Microsoft Word as well. It is especially helpful in Word because you do not become enmeshed in various controls you do not need.

We'll use our Watership Down book again within Microsoft word to find all instances of the name Fiver.

1. Press Control+Home to move to the top of the document.
2. Press Control+JAWS Key+F. JAWS says "Find What?" You are now in a dialog box containing several controls. The simplest thing to do is to type what you would like to find into the Edit Combo Box and press Enter. I'll type the word fiver.
3. JAWS speaks the current word which has been located; in this case, "Fiver". You can use a screen-reading command or the arrow keys if you need more context.
4. To find the next occurrence, press JAWS Key+F3. JAWS speaks the line relating to the next instance. Repeat as necessary to move through all the occurrences of the word.
5. To find the previous occurrence, press JAWS Key+Shift+F3. JAWS speaks the line relating to the previous instance. Repeat as necessary to move through all the occurrences of the word.

What's the JAWS Key? It is the Insert key when using the Desktop keyboard Layout within JAWS and the Caps Lock key with the laptop layout.

Note that in the JAWS Find dialog box, there are other controls you can reach by pressing Tab. Press JAWS Key+F1 to find out what they do. For example, there is a Check box relating to whether capitalisation is important; by default, Ignore Case is checked. In addition, by default JAWS will retain your previous searches relative to a specific item, such as a website or Word document. So from the Edit Combo Box, press Down Arrow if you would like to recall the items you had previously located.

Note this tip is not applicable to programs such as Wordpad or Notepad.

I Need to Find Something.

Being able to locate specific words and phrases in a document is one of the most important requirements you could need when working with applications. So let us have a look at how we can do this in Microsoft Word and how the "Find" Dialog Box has improved in recent times.

We will take a copy of the Richard Adams book "Watership Down" which we have in Microsoft Word format and runs to approximately 330 pages. We are going to use that as an example to work through each of the references to the word "Hazel".

1. Press Control+Home to move to the top of the document.
2. Press Control+F to launch the Microsoft Word "Find" Dialog Box.
3. Into the Edit Field which appears, type the word, "Hazel". JAWS announces the number of results found without any further intervention on your part. For interest, there are 1224 such references.
4. Press the Tab key repeatedly to reach the "Next Result" Button and press Enter. JAWS speaks the first result which in our case is "Once upon a time there were two rabbits called Hazel and Fiver".
5. If this is not the result in which you are interested, press Enter again to move to the next one. Each time, you will hear the word in context so you can learn if you have reached the desired location. Sadly, this announcement is not communicated to the Braille display.
6. If you wish to retrace your steps and move back through the results, press the Enter key on the "Previous Result" Button and again, press Enter.
7. When you have reached the point in the document you wish to drop into, perhaps for editing purposes, press Escape. JAWS says "Not available outside of tables or Spellchecker in Office 2013 or later." Despite this message you are in the correct place in the document.

1, 2, 3. Counting Information.

Sometimes it can be beneficial to learn statistical information about your working environment. It is especially helpful when creating Microsoft Word documents. Such information could include the number of words, lines and characters within it.

Microsoft Word provides a useful keyboard shortcut to present this to you. When focused in a document, press Control+Shift+G. A Dialog Box appears, which JAWS reads automatically, containing text such as:
Pages 1
Words 5
Characters (no spaces) 21
Characters (with spaces) 26
Paragraphs 1
Lines 1.

If you press the Tab key in the Dialog, you can check a box to include text emanating from Text boxes, FootNotes and EndNotes.

While it is not possible by default to review this information more slowly with the Up and Down Arrow keys, you can use the JAWS keystroke Shift+Insert+V for Virtualise Current Control. This presents the content of the window using the JAWS Virtual Viewer so you can then take note of the data in which you are interested since you can review it with the Up and Down Arrow keys at your own pace. Press Escape to close the Virtual Viewer and Escape again to close the Word Count Dialog Box.

Our product Leasey has had this information available for many years. From within a Word document, press the Leasey Key then I for Information and you will hear the same output as was provided by the Word Count Dialog discussed above. The Information key can also be used in files generated in Notepad, Wordpad, and even on web pages or other HTML content. The information in this latter environment is slightly different. In that event you may hear for example:
"Forms Mode is not active. Line 1 of 175."

Whichever method of accessing this data you choose to use, selecting (or highlighting) text is prioritised. So if you had selected 10 words in the document, the Word Count Dialog Box in Microsoft Word, (or the Information key in Leasey), will provide information relative to the 10 words rather than the entire document.

Efficiently Moving Through Dates in the Outlook Calendar.

If you do not have our JAWS scripts for Microsoft Outlook and Teams, chances are you may find navigating the Outlook calendar a little slow. Even if you are using them, you can enhance your efficiency even further by using natural language commands within the "Go to Date" dialog box, activated with Control+G. As an example, maybe you do not know the date you are looking for, but you do know it is 10 days from now.

Use any of the following phrases:

• Day.
• Week.
• Month.
• Year.
• Now.
• Before.
• Next.
• After.
• Last.
• This.
• Ago.
• Today.
• Yesterday.
• Tomorrow.

For example type:

• 10 Days from now.
• 15 Days ago.
• 15 Days before 15 July.

You can also use other expressions:

• New Year's Day.
• Valentine's Day.
• Christmas Eve.
• Christmas Day.
• St. Patrick's Day.
• Halloween.

This is also very useful if you would like to find out when a particular day falls. For example, type "Christmas Day" into the "Go to Date" Dialog Box and then press Enter. JAWS responds with the day of the week on which Christmas Day falls.
Try combining expressions as well, such as "Christmas Day 1970".

The language Outlook accepts is very flexible. Give it a try!

The Virtual Cursor Can Stay Turned Off If You Want it To!

You'll know that when you browse web pages, JAWS predominantly uses the Virtual Cursor. This gives you access to the page content in addition to providing you with lots of Quick Navigation keys to move to specific elements. But it can be turned off if necessary and, what many people do not appreciate, is that JAWS remembers that setting even when you ALT+Tab away from the browser window!

Why is this important? Take a web site such as twitter.com. While for efficient use you may like to take advantage of a Twitter client such as TWBlue, Twitter on the web is quite usable if you disable the Virtual Cursor.

As you navigate with shortcut keys, JAWS will read out messages from Twitter such as:
"Radio News Hub @radionewshub 3 minutes ago The Prime Minister intends to speed up the #vaccine roll out. Second doses of #coronavirus vaccines will be accelerated for the over-50s and the clinically vulnerable across the country to be given eight weeks after the first dose amid a rise in cases of the
Indian variant. 1 reply, 1 Retweet".

If you move away from the browser and back to it, JAWS remembers that you prefer the Virtual Cursor to be disabled. Useful! Tweet away!

Now if you visit an alternative web page, you should find that the Virtual Cursor is back again. So JAWS remembers your preference depending upon the site in question.

Don't close the browser window because then that retention functionality is gone.

To enable or disable the Virtual Cursor, press JAWS Key+Z. On a desktop keyboard the JAWS Key is Insert; on a laptop it is Caps Lock.

Here are some Twitter shortcut keys to get you started.
Move forward and back through tweets: J and K.
Compose tweet: N.
Send tweet: Control+Enter.
New Direct Message: M.
Load new tweets: full-stop or period.
Home: G then H.
Notifications: G then N.
Mentions: G then R, but they are also included in notifications.
Direct Messages: G then M.
Likes: G then L.
Get the rest of the keyboard shortcuts: question mark.

Working With EMail Attachments in Microsoft Outlook.

Did you know there are easy ways to be able to handle any files which people send to you by Email? Opening them is all very well, but if you need to store a document or other file type in a location where it can be accessed at a later time, it is super easy.

1. Open up an Email which contains an attachment.
2. From the top of the message, press Shift+Tab. You are now in the attachments area.
3. Press the Right Arrow key repeatedly to find the file you wish to save.
4. Press Control+C to copy it to the Clipboard.
5. Using File Explorer, browse to the chosen location for the file.
6. Press Control+V to paste.

Now of course, the reverse is also true.

1. Compose your Email message and leave the cursor within the body of it.
2. Within File Explorer, locate the file you wish to attach to the message.
3. Press Control+C to copy the file to the Clipboard.
4. Press ALT+Tab to reach the Email message you were previously composing.
5. Press Control+V to paste.
6. If necessary, repeat the process to attach more files.
7. Optionally, prior to sending, press Shift+Tab from the top of the message. Remember this is the attachments area, so you can press the Right Arrow key to verify your files are in place prior to sending.

Closing Applications Quickly.

You will know that if you hold down the ALT key on your keyboard, and while doing so lightly tap the Tab key, you can move through all of the applications which are open and capable of being focused. But what if you want to close one of those applications? You may be pressing ALT+Tab through the running programs and feel you no longer need one of them.

With Leasey installed, while holding down the ALT key press the Delete key. The application should be closed.

Adjusting the Volume of Applications.

While training a group of people yesterday, the following question was posed: how can I make the volume of JAWS lower than the audio from the application I am working in, such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams?

As was noted in an earlier Tip, it is possible to create a JAWS profile which falls into place whenever an application gains focus. But this has a disadvantage, notably that it is always active unless you change it by selecting an alternative profile. Let's meet the Windows Volume Mixer.

The easiest way to access the Volume Mixer is by pressing Windows+R to bring into view the "Run" Dialog Box, and type the following:
sndvol
That is, S N D V O L, then press Enter.

The Volume Mixer Dialog Box appears. The Volume Mixer contains three controls relative to each application which is running, however before you reach those, there are three controls for the default Windows sound source including overall system volume. We are not concerned with these controls.

Following this, each application is represented including all those you have running. There are three controls for each application:

• The name of the application, such as JAWS, Microsoft Teams, etc. If you were to press Enter on the name of the application, focus is set to this application and the Volume Mixer closes.
• Crucially, next is a volume slider pertaining to the application of interest. Use the Arrow keys or Page Up and Page Down to change the volume level. JAWS reports the percentage reached. Adjust as necessary.
• Finally, there is a "Mute" button so as to mute output from the application. Be careful not to press this button unless you are sure you really want to, although the status can easily be reversed by pressing the Space Bar again. JAWS will not report if the button has been pressed, but if you press Tab away from the control and then Shift+Tab to return to it, it will report that an "Unmute" Button is available which you can press with the Space Bar.

When you have finished working with these controls, and the sound balance is how you would prefer, press ALT+F4 to exit the Volume Mixer.

Storing Internet Favourites - The Way Things Used to Be.

Do you remember the good old days when using a web browser such as Internet Explorer, we could quickly save Favourites pointing to sites for later visiting? All such shortcuts used to be placed in a special folder for the purpose, which could be located from the Windows "Start Menu", or indeed a Shortcut could be placed on the Windows Desktop. Activating such a shortcut would take you into a list of all your Favourites which if necessary you could divide into separate sub-folders so as to group them into categories. First letter navigation was possible too. Oh, the good old days.

The good news is that with our Leasey product, this is still possible.

Before you begin, you must instruct Leasey as to which folder contains your Favourites. So, either open up the Favourites folder you previously used, or alternatively, browse to a new one. In most cases, what you are about to do is a one time process unless you specifically want to store Favourites in a new folder at a later time.

Now, press ALT+L. The location is stored permanently unless you change it.

1. Using Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, browse to the website you wish to store as a Favourite.
2. Press ALT+A. You will be asked to name the item to be stored as a Favourite. The name of the previously focused page is already displayed in the edit field. You can leave it intact, edit it or Type in a new name and press Enter.

There is nothing further to do. Just browse to the folder in File Explorer, or by locating your Favourites folder, and your newly created Favourite will be there waiting for you.

Hashtags in Microsoft Teams.

Teams does not use hashtags as a rule. If you have used Twitter or Slack, then you are probably familiar with the concept of a hashtag. A hashtag consists of the hash symbol (#) immediately followed by a series of characters or words. For example, #CompanyPicnic is a hashtag; #WorkTravel is a hashtag.
Using Twitter, you could bring up a list of all the tweets which match the hashtag. However, if you can remember to do it, you could use it in Teams as well. This means that you can tie topics of interest together and it is a much easier way of finding them in the future.

So, at the end of each message, type the hash sign followed by the hashtag reference prior to sending it.

When you want to refer back to that topic later, you can type the hashtag into the search bar, Control+E, and press Enter. By default you will be located on the Messages Tab, and pressing the Tab key twice should show you the results.

There is an added bonus: typing the hash sign by itself in the search bar should then show you a list of recent searches containing your hashtags, so you can move through the list with the Down Arrow key to find the one you want, then press Enter.

For more comprehensive training in the use of Microsoft Teams, consider taking our training course; Winning Teams!

Keep Up-To-Date with YouTube Videos Via RSS.

Google does not make it too easy for you to keep up with your favourite YouTube videos via RSS, but follow along with us, and you'll find that you can. This ensures you never miss anything important on your favourite channel.

1. Browse to the page of the YouTube channel. This is not an individual page pointing to a video, but rather the channel name, which you will always find as a link on each video page. You will also find the name of the channel in your YouTube search results, just under the video title. For example, we chose "Loose Women", a popular UK TV show.
2. When inside the channel, press Control+U to open up the page source.
3. From here, press Control+F, type RSSURL and press Enter.
4. To the right of this phrase you will find the RSS feed in quotation marks. It might look something like this. https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UChJfh0Y4ycfMbf2SHQz....
5. Select and copy the URL to the Clipboard.
6. Press ALT+F4 to close down the source window.

There, now you have it. You can now paste that into your RSS reader, such as the one found in our Leasey product. In Leasey for example, you'll get a beautifully formatted page with each new post denoted by a new heading, with each one also containing a hyperlink. Press Enter on each link to watch the video and press ALT+F4 to return to your results.

Finding Tabs on a Web Page.

Many people navigate a page by using the Tab key, some use Links List Insert+F7, and others just arrow down through the page. Of course there are many ways to navigate a page in a browser including H for Headings and R for Regions. Then you hit a page that uses different types of controls and you are not sure what to do. It is almost like opening the refrigerator and you find some food that you cannot identify, is it meat or is it cake?

One of these controls is a Tab control. Did you know there were Tabs on a page used as section dividers? You didn't? Well you've learned something today.

This is not the browser tabs or the Tab key. You cannot use Insert+F7 to find a tab control, but you can use a Navigation Quick Key.

1. Go to the YouTube site.
2. Press the Navigation Quick Key Apostrophe(') to move forward by Tab.
3. Add Shift to move backwards if needed.
4. Press Enter to select a Tab.

This is a very useful feature on YouTube because each Tab represents a major section by which your Home Page especially can be filtered, for example Recent Uploads or those defined in the Hash Tags for videos, such as Britain's Got Talent or Court Room Dramas.

While on YouTube, and if you have our Leasey product, check out all the keystrokes you can use to work with videos, such as those to fast forward or rewind, play and pause, or to move to specific parts of them.

Popping Out a Chat in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams is being used widely in the workplace at present, so let us have a useful tip in this regard.

Microsoft Teams has a feature just like many other chat applications where you can have a specific chat opened in a separate window.

1. Move to Chat with Control+2.
2. Open a chat from the list of active chats by moving to the one you want and press Enter.
3. JAWS will say "Type a new message, editing edit".
4. Press Shift+Tab twice until you hear JAWS say "Pop Out Chat Button".
5. Press Enter.
6. A new window will open with the same name as the other Teams window.
7. You can use ALT+Tab, Windows+Tab or Insert+F10 to move between windows.

Notes:

• It is recommended that you switch out of the same chat in the main Teams window to reduce confusion since both windows will have the same titles.
• ZoomText and Fusion users will have an easier time tracking in this view.
• You can close this window without closing Teams by pressing ALT+F4.
• The window will not be maximized as it is unnecessary.

However, our preferred approach for opening a chat in a separate window is as follows:

1. Move to Chat with Control+2.
2. Move to the chat of interest from the list with the arrow keys.
3. Press the Space Bar to open the Context Menu.
4. As of this writing, the first item is "Pop Out Chat". Press Enter.
5. A new window will open with the name associated with the focused chat. This is likely to have a different title to the originating window.
6. You can use ALT+Tab, Windows+Tab or Insert+F10 to move between windows.

Notes:

• ZoomText and Fusion users will have an easier time tracking in this view.
• You can close this window without closing Teams by pressing ALT+F4.
• The window will not be maximized as it is unnecessary.

For more comprehensive training in the use of Microsoft Teams, consider taking our training course; Winning Teams!

Lock Your Keyboard with JAWS.

When you need to make sure you don’t accidentally type something such as when you are on a call or just got up from your desk to get a drink, you may want to lock your keyboard. This is not like locking your computer, it is only stopping you from doing something destructive.

1. Press Insert+Space followed by the letter "L".
2. This is a toggle action, so pressing it again will unlock the keyboard, making it free for use.

Setting your JAWS Volume for a Specific Application Such as Zoom.

Wouldn’t it be nice to set your JAWS Volume specific to an application like Zoom? Well, you can do just that. When in a meeting, you may wish the volume of JAWS to be significantly lower than the audio from the meeting.

Setting this up is a one-time process and is in two parts. First we will create the voice profile to be used and then we will associate it with Zoom and adjust the volume of JAWS.

1. Press Insert+J to focus upon the JAWS window.
2. Press ALT+O for Options. Note that if JAWS resides in the System Tray rather than its own window, press letter "O" by itself since the menu is already deployed.
3. Press V for Voice Adjustment.
4. Press Enter.
5. Press Tab to reach "Save As".
6. Press the Space Bar on the Button.
7. Type a special name for the profile. Zoom would be a good example.
8. Press Enter to save.
9. When prompted whether you wish to use this profile as the default, press letter "N" for "No".
10. Press Escape to close the dialog. The profile is saved.

Now we have created the profile, we will assign it to the application with which you wish to associate it. It can be any application you like.

1. Load the application such as Zoom.
2. Press Control+Insert+S to select a Voice Profile
3. Press Down Arrow until you reach the name of the profile just created. This is Zoom in our example.
4. Press Tab to the listbox for the current application.
5. Select the application from the List Box; Zoom in our example.
6. Press Tab and press the Space Bar on the "OK" Button".

Now finally, adjust the JAWS volume with Insert+Space followed by the letters "V" for Volume and "J" for JAWS.
This also works in Fusion.

Please note this applies to JAWS version 2021 only.

Turning Off the Backstage Menu in Microsoft Word.

Have you ever been frustrated when you open Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint and you start in the Backstage menu? You say to yourself, “I just want to start typing.”
How do you know you are in the Backstage menu in Word? JAWS will say “New List box Blank document.” Once you hear this you have to press ESCAPE to land in a blank document.
Let’s change the option in Word to turn this off.

1. Open Word and press Escape.
2. Press ALT+F to open the menu.
3. Press the letter "T" for Options. JAWS will say "Word Options Categories List box General."
4. Now press ALT+H to move to and change the setting "Show the Start screen when this application starts."
   JAWS will tell you if the option is checked or unchecked.
5. Use the Space Bar to toggle this option.

You will have noticed that when working in Word, after pressing Control+S and Control+O you are currently forced to use the Backstage menu. This is ok if you remember each of the sub menus and any hotkeys associated with those keys.
So, let’s change the setting to turn back the clock to the old way. We'll pick up where we left off in the Options Dialog Box.

1. Press the Tab key repeatedly until you reach the list of categories. JAWS will say “Word Options Categories List box General.”
2. Press the letter “S” to move to Save.
3. Now press ALT+S to move to and change the setting "Don’t show the Backstage when opening or saving files with keyboard shortcuts ."
4. JAWS will tell you if the option is checked or unchecked.
5. Use the Space Bar to toggle this option.
6. Press Enter to save this setting

Note F12 is still the command for "Save As".