Being a low vision user, before I was introduced to screen readers I always wondered if I could ever use a computer. As all I knew of computer was it was a powerful tool to get information over the internet, which had a monitor which displays the information, a keyboard to type the data and a mouse to navigate and click the interactive elements.
But it was like a dream come true when I began to work with screen readers. Yes screen readers do not rely on mouse. I could perform all activities only by my keyboard that someone could do with a mouse. Isn’t that cool??
Though at first I found it difficult and tiring job as I had to navigate to entire page with the arrow keys. But as I explored more I found many keystrokes that helped in scanning through a page through heading, quickly jumping to links, finding the form field etc.
Now Screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS and many more is been a part of my day to day job. But sometimes I too get confused with some of the keystrokes. So I always keep a Cheat sheet for screen reader commands handy with me!
So I thought of sharing it with the community so that users can access a webpage with ease.
Navigating Using both Jaws and NVDA:
The following table lists JAWS and NVDA commands for accessing website:
Keystrokes to read content:
| Function | Jaws Commands | NVDA Commands |
| Read Web page Title | Insert + T | Insert + T |
| Go to Next Heading | H | H |
| Go to Previous Heading | Shift + H | Shift + H |
| Heading levels 1-6 (Numeric) | 1-6 | 1-6 |
| Open the Headings list dialog (JAWS) or Elements List dialog (NVDA) | Insert+F6 | Insert + F7 then Alt + H |
| Go to Next List | L | L |
| Go to Previous List | Shift+ L | Shift+ L |
| Go to Next List Item | I | I |
| Go to Previous List Item | Shift + I | Shift + I |
| Go to Next Link | Tab | Tab/ K |
| Go to Previous Link | Shift + Tab | Shift + Tab/ Shift +K |
| Go to Next Unvisited Link | U | U |
| Go to Previous Unvisited Link | Shift + U | Shift + U |
| Go to Next Visited Link | V | V |
| Go to Previous Visited Link | Shift + V | Shift + V |
| Open the Links list dialog (JAWS) or Elements List dialog (NVDA) | Insert+F7 | Insert+F7 |
| Elements List – landmarks | Insert + Control + R | NVDA+F7 |
| Go to Next Graphic | G | G |
| Go to Previous Graphic | Shift + G | Shift + G |
| List of Graphic | Insert + Control + G | – |
Now let’s find out the commands for navigating with tables!
Keystrokes to read Table:
The following table lists JAWS and NVDA commands for reading Tables:
| Function | Jaws Commands | NVDA Commands |
| Go to Next Table | T | T |
| Go to Previous Table | Shift + T | Shift + T |
| List of Tables | Insert + Control +T | – |
| Move to next cell | Ctrl + Alt +Right Arrow | Ctrl +Alt +Right Arrow |
| Move to previous cell | Ctrl + Alt+ Left Arrow | Ctrl+ Alt+ Left Arrow |
| Move Down cell | Ctrl+ Alt+ Down Arrow | Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow |
| Move Up cell | Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow | Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow |
Now let’s find out the commands for interacting with Web forms!
Keystrokes to interact with Form Fields:
The following table lists JAWS and NVDA commands for reading Web forms:
| Function | Jaws Commands | NVDA Commands |
| Go to Next Form Element | F or Tab | F or Tab |
| Go to Previous Form Element | Shift +F or Shift + Tab | Shift + F or Shift + Tab |
| List of Form Elements | Insert+F5 | – |
| Go to Next Button | B | B |
| Go to Previous Button | Shift +B | Shift + B |
| Go to Next Radio button | A | R |
| Go to Previous Radio button | Shift + A | Shift + R |
| Go to Next Checkbox | X | X |
| Go to Previous Checkbox | Shift + X | Shift + X |
| Go to Next Combo box | C | C |
| Go to Previous Combo box | Shift + C | Shift + C |
| Enter Forms Mode | Enter key | Enter key or NVDA key + Space |
| Exit Forms Mode key | Escape or Numpad 5 (Num lock off) | NVDA key + Space |
Tip : Instead of remembering multiple keystrokes for various elements in JAWS, there is one master keystroke “Insert+F3”.
Hope this cheatsheet will make your life easier and do share your experiences of using the above commands!!
Hi,
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Regards,
Angie
Hello,
I’m keen in learning SPSS/STATA data statistical tools. Is it possible with Jaws or NVDA? If yes, kindly advice on the key strokes.
Thanks
Thank you for this! How do you read noninteractive text? I’ve been looking all over and can’t seem to get NVDA to read anything but links, headings, landmarks, etc. but I cannot get it to read the content on websites. I’ve tried the arrow keys, and that just takes me back and forth between the links.