JAWS Critical hotkeys in my opinion

By Glenda V. Such, M. Ed.

There are all sorts of guides and reference sheets which list all the commands in their order for reading things, accessing things, and so on. I want to cut to the quick with some hotkeys I had to work hard at finding when in the middle of a task. So, here is what I found I needed on the fly fast and not in any particular order.

Shut Up Key: which is the, Control Key

               This is the control key hit by itself.  It is the first key anyone needs to know is the shut-up key. This will be essential when the screen reader is talking and giving you more verbiage than you want.

Speak Slower:  which is the, Alt, control, and tap page down key.

To slow down the speech just for the current task you are doing, hold down the alt and control key and tap the page down key. Each time you tap it the speech goes slower. This speed won’t hold when you leave this program you are working on right now.

Speak Faster: which is the, Alt, control, and tap page down key.

To speed up the speech while in the current task, hold down the alt and the control key and tap the page up. Each time you tap it the speech goes faster. This speed won’t hold when you leave this program you are working on right now.

Key Echoing of what you are typing:  which is the, insert, and number 2, on qwerty keyboard.

To change how the keys or words are said as you are typing, or as they call it, echoing, hold down the insert key and tap the number 2 on the top of the qwerty keys not the numeric pad. It will cycle through your choices of characters, words, both characters and word. Or none. When you let go, that is how the speech will read back as you are typing.

Key functions, what key does what in JAWS: which is the, insert, and number 1, on the qwerty keyboard.

to be able to test what keys do what and not do any harm to what you are doing on the computer, is insert and tap the number one on the top of the qwerty keyboard. Then what you hit on your keyboard will tell you what JAWS will do if you do that when JAWS keyboard help is not on. Try combinations of things like the insert and F6 or Alt and control and page down. Get creative in trying things out. When done, tap the insert and 1 key again and it will say off, meaning the keyboard help is off.

Read Current Line: which is the, insert, and number 8, on numeric keypad.

               To read the current line use insert and the number 8 on the keypad which is above the number 5.

Read Current word: which is the, insert, and number 5, on numeric keypad.

To hear the word you are on, use insert and number 5 on the keypad.

Read the Document to the end: which is the, insert, and number 2, on numeric keypad.

To have a document read to you from your current location to the end, use insert and the number 2 on the numeric keypad.

Read Current or of a table or spreadsheet: shift, and insert, and tap number 8, on numeric keypad.

To have the full line of the form or spreadsheet read to you, hold down the shift key, and the insert key and tap the number 8 on the numeric keypad just above the five.

Read full table or spreadsheet column: which is the, shift, and insert, and number 5, on num keypad.

To have the entire column of a form or spreadsheet read to you, hold down the shift key, and the insert key, and tap the number 5 on the numeric keypad.

Hot keys for the program you are using: which is the, insert, and the letter W

Use the insert and the letter W to have the list of useful hot key keystrokes for that program. It will read them to you. As it is reading, you can use the down or up arrow to control it yourself. When done, hit the escape key and you will be exactly where you were before you hit that key combination for help.

Links List on an Internet Page: which is the, insert, and F7

To have the list of links in an Internet page, use the insert F7 and then move down or up the list. Yu can tap the first letter of what you are looking for and it will take you to the links that start with that letter. When you want to go to that link, just hit enter.

Form fields to be filled in with data: which is the, Insert, and F5

To fill out a form on the web, and this is safer than just tabbing and hoping you get all the fields, use the insert and F5 and the list of forms fields will be listed. To move down to the ones you want, use the down or up arrow. To select the field so you can enter your information, just tap enter and add the information. When done, use insert and F5 again to list the fields and go past the one you just did and hit enter on the next one needing your information.

Move to first form field:  which is the, Control, and insert, and number 7, on numeric keypad

The Control and insert and number 7 on numeric keypad will move the active cursor to the first form field in a document or webpage.

Previous page on the Internet which is the, alt, and left arrow.

               Once you have gone past the starting page of your browser, you can back up one page at a time by holding down the alt key and tapping the right arrow. That moves you back one page each time that key combination is used.

Forward to a visited page on the Internet: which is the, alt and right arrow key.

If you want to go to a webpage you were on before but backed off, use the alt key and the right arrow to alt and right arrow. Move forward to the desired page.

Music needing to be stopped from website: which is the, escape key

               If a website has music in the background, usually if the escape key is hit it stops but does not have an impact on your assistive technology speech.

JAWS Cursor, which is the, minus key, on numeric keypad

               This is the top key on the right side of the numeric keypad and is used when the screen reader is not letting you hear what is on all of the screen. It allows you to search around with what they call a virtual cursor which just means hunting around with the arrow keys to see if you can find any print that was not read to you. When done, you have to go back to PC cursor or any commands you give won’t do anything.

PC Cursor: which is the, plus key, on numeric keypad.

               This key is the second from the top on the right side of the numeric keypad.

It is needed when you have started the JAWS cursor and now need the PC to work correctly.

Moving JAWS to the PC cursor:  which is the, insert, and the minus key on the numeric keypad.

               This is needed when you have moved the JAWS cursor away from where it began and need it to be focused on where the action really is on the PC.

Moving the PC Cursor to JAWS: which is the, insert and the plus key, on the numeric keypad.

                              This is needed if you found something when you moved the JAWS virtual cursor and want to have control of that area or option. You can make the computer’s cursor go to where JAWS is reading rather than the other way around.

Time: which is the insert, F12

               This will read the current time to you.

Date: which is the insert, and F12 hit twice fast.

               This will read you the current date.

Version of Program running: which is the control, insert, and tap the letter V

               This will give you the version of the program you are in when you use that key combination.  

System Tray: which is the, windows key, and the letter B.

                              This lets you check on your Internet connection, speaker setting, and if you are using a laptop, the battery status, then the time as well.