If you are coming from the Jaws screen reader or the Window Eyes screen reader to NVDA, you may find the following list of comparable hot keys useful.
The following tutorial covers
making the change coming from Window-Eyes to the NVDA screen
reader when using a laptop computer.
This NVDA tutorial is courtesy of Tony Ballou.
If you have decided that you're going to make the
switch from Window-Eyes to NVDA and you're using a laptop, as
with anything you may catch a case of the jitters. Hey, with
something new, who doesn't? Here's a guide that hopefully will
not only rest those jitters, but will have you working with
NVDA.
Let's get things started!
The first thing you will want to do (if you do not
have screen reading software installed on your laptop) is to
start up Narrator. Since there’s no way for me to know what
system everyone has, there are still a couple of ways that will
work no matter what version of Windows you are running. Press
the Windows key to enter the search box and type Narrator, or if
you are more comfortable with using the run dialog box, press
the Windows key and R, and type the word Narrator, then press
Enter.
To get NVDA, there are 2 places that you can go.
The first is the NV access website (the link follows) https://www.nvaccess.org Once there, you can get your copy of NVDA from the
downloads page.
Once you've downloaded the file from there, go to
the location where you saved it, and hit Enter on it. When
prompted, allow the program to run and in a few seconds you'll
hear a musical chord. After this the E speak voice will welcome
you to the NVDA installer program. At this point you will want
to shut down Narrator so that only one voice will be speaking.
Follow the prompts until you have successfully
installed NVDA and when the finish button comes up hit it. NVDA
will close out for a second or two then restart with the fully
installed version that you put on your laptop.
If you have a bit of computer savvy, you can get an
automatic installer for NVDA at WWW.ninite.com
Once you have downloaded the file to your hard
drive, go to the location where you saved it, press Enter and
after allowing it to run, sit back, relax, and let ninite do its
thing. Once it's complete, NVDA will be installed and ready to
go.
Before I go any further, let me say that laptops
come in various keyboard designs and layouts. Some of them have
numeric keypads and some of them don't. However, with this
section you shouldn't have any trouble with setting things up.
To get into the NVDA menu hit Insert + N. You can
use any one of three modifier keys. The Caps Lock, and both
Insert keys can be used in combination with any letter that NVDA
designates as a shortcut key. (These can be located under the
keyboard settings section).
Once the menu is up, arrow down to the preferences
submenu. Hit the right arrow to open it, and arrow down twice
until NVDA says synthesizer. Press Enter on it. Once the dialog
box comes up, NVDA should default to the synthesizer combo box.
Down arrow to choose Microsoft Sapi version 5. Then, when it
begins to speak, tab to the OK button and press the Enter key.
Once you have this done, you probably will want to keep the
voice you have selected. To do this, press the NVDA + Control +
C keyboard shortcut. This will save the current configuration,
so that when you restart your system, the voice you selected
will always come on.
To get into the NVDA menu hit Insert +N. Once the
menu is up, arrow down to the preferences submenu. Hit the right
arrow to open it, and arrow down twice until NVDA says voice
settings. Press the Enter key. When the dialog box comes up it
should default to voice (which is the language of the voice) and
you will need to tab down to Variant. Here you can select the
voice that you prefer.
If you are strictly using a laptop, you will have
to set up NVDA for that. Here’s how:
Press NVDA + N to bring up the NVDA menu. Down
arrow to the preferences sub menu and hit the right arrow once
to open it. Press down arrow until NVDA says keyboard settings,
and press Enter. The keyboard settings dialog box will come up,
and NVDA should say keyboard settings dialog combo box keyboard
layout; desktop collapsed Alt + K. This is the default choice.
Press Alt + down arrow and NVDA says Laptop; then tab to the ok
button and press Enter. Note: if your laptop does not have a
numeric keypad and you are using an external keyboard, you can
work with NVDA using the desktop layout.
If you are familiar with the Windows commands, then
you have pretty much got the game won. Nothing has changed, the
arrows do as they have always done, and when combined with the
Control and Shift keys they are still very much the same.
However, there are some keyboard commands that you should be
aware of in NVDA. Here are some of those:
Start NVDA
Alt + Ctrl + N
NVDA Menu
NVDA + N
Brings up the NVDA menu to allow you to access
preferences, tools, help, etcetera.
Quit NVDA
NVDA + Q
Input Help Mode
NVDA + 1
Pressing any key in this mode will report the key,
and the description of any NVDA command associated with it.
Pass next key through
NVDA + F2
Tells NVDA to pass the next key press straight
through to the active application, even if it is normally
treated as an NVDA key command.
Report date/time
NVDA + F12
Pressing once reports the current time, pressing
twice reports the date.
Report battery status
NVDA + Shift + B
Reports the battery status that is whether AC power
is in use or the current charge percentage.
Report clipboard text
NVDA + C
Reports the text in the clipboard (if there is
any).
Report current focus
NVDA + Tab
Announces the current object or control that has
the System focus. Pressing twice will spell the information.
Report title
NVDA + T
Reports the title of the currently active window.
Pressing twice will spell the information. Pressing three times
will copy it to the clipboard.
Read active window
NVDA + B
Reads all the controls in the currently active
window. (Very useful for working in dialog boxes).
Report Status Bar
NVDA + Shift + End
Reports the status bar if NVDA finds one. It also
moves the navigator object to this location. Pressing twice will
spell the information.
Say all
NVDA + A
Starts reading from the current position of the
system caret, moving it along as it goes.
Read current line
NVDA + l
Reads the line where the system caret is currently
situated. Pressing twice spells the line.
Read current text selection
NVDA + Shift + S
Reads any currently selected text.
These are just a few of the keyboard shortcuts that
are available to you. In the help section of NVDA, you can find
a list of all of the NVDA keyboard shortcuts. Any other
information that you may want to check out is in the user guide
which is also in this menu.
The commands for navigating the internet are
universal, and everything that you could do with your original
screen reader can be done with NVDA. Nearly all of the single
letter navigation keys perform in the same manner with a couple
of exceptions. Again, you can use the command reference and the
NVDA user guide to find out more information on it.
Reviewing text
NVDA like Window-Eyes does have a review cursor
which you can use to navigate the screen. If you’re coming from
Window-Eyes, the PC cursor is called the system focus and the
system caret. As for the Window-Eyes cursor, it is a combination
of things, 3 review modes which are: document, object, and
screen. The screen review part of this will probably be the mode
you will be most comfortable with; and object navigation. The
NVDA users guide explains all of this thoroughly. You can also
find information on review and object navigation at the
accessibility central and NVDA Korea-English websites. The web
addresses will be posted in the NVDA resources section later on
in this document.
Move to previous line in review
NVDA + up Arrow
Moves the review cursor to the previous line of
text
Report current line in review
NVDA + Shift + period
Announces the current line of text where the review
cursor is positioned. Pressing twice spells the line. Pressing
three times spells the line using character descriptions.
Move to next line in review
NVDA + down Arrow
Move the review cursor to the next line of text.
Move to previous word in review
NVDA + Control + left Arrow
Report current word in review
NVDA + Control + period
Announces the current word in the text where the
review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice spells the word.
Pressing three times spells the word using character
descriptions.
Move to next word in review
NVDA + Control + right Arrow
Move the review cursor to the next word in the
text.
Move to previous character in review
NVDA + left Arrow
Moves the review cursor to the previous character
on the current line in the text
Report current character in review
NVDA + period
Announces the current character on the line of text
where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice reports a
description or example of that character. Pressing three times
reports the numeric value of the character in decimal and
hexadecimal.
Move to next character in review
NVDA + right Arrow
Move the review cursor to the next character on the
current line of text.
The arrow keys will give the previous and next
characters. Adding the Control key to the arrow keys will give
the previous and next words, and adding the Shift key to the
arrow keys will give the previous and next lines. This same
concept holds true for reading the current character, word and
line. The only difference is that you’re using the period
instead of the arrows.
Those are the main commands for reviewing text.
This next set however should be noted.
Move to top line in review
NVDA + Control + Home
Move to bottom line in review
NVDA + Control + End
Move to start of line in review
NVDA + Home
Move to end of line in review
NVDA + End
Observe the pattern of these shortcuts.
Switch to next review mode
NVDA + Page Up
Switches to the next available review mode.
Switch to previous review mode
NVDA + Page Down
Switches to the previous available review mode.
I believe that if you can grasp these concepts, you
will be well on your way to using NVDA with confidence,
efficiently, and effectively. Good Luck!
Should you need any sort of help with NVDA, there
are loads of places on the internet to find it.
Perhaps the largest and most robust repository of
information on the net about using NVDA. Go to http://accessibilitycentral.net/
(Note: Though the information on this page is
totally relevant, some of it goes back to earlier versions of
NVDA and may not apply to what you are currently running). Keep
in mind that as things in operating systems and programs change,
things may have to change in NVDA also.) Here is what you'll
find there.
For information regarding the NVDA screen reader
itself
http://accessibilitycentral.net/nvda%20screen%20reader.html
Installing additional components for NVDA
Here's a link to a page with information on
installing additional components for NVDA
http://accessibilitycentral.net/how%20to%20install%20additional%20nvda%20components.html
NVDA Tutorials
This page has a wealth of information. There are
tutorials covering everything from working with NVDA to using
NVDA with the internet, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft
Excel. Check it all out at http://accessibilitycentral.net/nvda%20tutorials.html
Are you using Mozilla Thunderbird as your e-mail
client, and you're looking for a tutorial for it? Well you can
find it here.
http://accessibilitycentral.net/accessible%20email%20client%20mozilla%20thunderbird.html
If you can't afford the Microsoft office suite
and need something to fill the bill, there are a couple of
programs out there that will do it rather nicely; and they
both support NVDA. They are Open Office and Libre Office. For
information on using these productivity suites with NVDA, go
to:
Link for Open Office https://www.openoffice.org/
Link for Libre Office https://www.libreoffice.org/
Sometimes you may need to grab a program and you
are not exactly sure if it will work with NVDA. Here is a list
of programs that are being road tested with NVDA. Keep in mind
that nothing's guaranteed here and other factors such as which
version of the Windows operating system you are working with
apply.
http://accessibilitycentral.net/nvda_road_tested_programs.html
Windows 10 and NVDA
Looking for information about using Windows 10 with
NVDA? You can find it here.
http://accessibilitycentral.net/nvda%20tutorials%20for%20windows%2010.html
Here you can find audio tutorials covering the use
of the NVDA Screen reader in either language. The link to the
English version of the website is
http://www.josephsl.net/tutorials/
This site hosts information and links to add-ons,
plug-ins, and enhancements for NVDA. Check it out at https://addons.nvda-project.org/index.en.html
Home to the NVDA screen reader
If you wish to connect to a community loaded with
NVDA users that will help you answer any queries about NVDA you
may have, look no further than the NVDA users e-mail list. To
get started there, send a message to nvda+subscribe@nvda.groups.io and we will be glad to assist.