Edit text with Switch Access

You can edit text with Switch Access.

Note: Text editing currently isn't supported in Gmail and Google Docs.

Type with the on-screen keyboard

Follow these steps if your scanning method is set to linear scanning or row-column scanning. 

1. Select a text field.
2. Press your 'Next' switch to start scanning the keyboard. The highlighting moves over the keyboard one row at a time. 
3. When the highlighting reaches the row containing the key that you want to press, press your 'Select' switch. 
4. Press your 'Next' switch to scan through the keys in the selected row.
5. When the highlighting reaches your desired key, press your 'Select' switch.

Note: When the keyboard is visible, the scanning order changes. Instead of moving from the top of the screen to the bottom, scanning moves from the Menu button to the keyboard. After scanning the keyboard, scanning continues to the remaining items at the top of the screen.

Edit text

When your cursor is in an editable text field, you can use the Actions menu to edit text.

To edit text:

1. Make sure that auto-select is off:
   1. Press a switch to start scanning.
   2. Select the Menu button at the top of the screen.
   3. If you see 'Enable auto-select' in the menu, auto-select is off. Select Close to exit the menu.
   4. If you see 'Disable auto-select' in the menu, select Disable auto-select.
2. Select a text field. A menu appears with available actions for the text field, including Select, Touch & hold, Next, Previous, Delete, Highlight, Copy, Cut and Undo.

Note: If you select an action with an ellipsis, another menu opens. For example, if you select Previous… the next menu lets you choose options, such as Previous character, Previous word, Previous sentence, Previous line, Previous paragraph or Previous page.

Move the cursor in the text field

When the cursor is in an editable text field, you can use the Actions menu to move the cursor by character, word, line, paragraph and page.

To move the cursor:

1. Make sure that auto-select is off:
   1. Press a switch to start scanning.
   2. Select the Menu button at the top of the screen.
   3. If you see 'Enable auto-select' in the menu, auto-select is off. Select Close to exit the menu.
   4. If you see 'Disable auto-select' in the menu, select Disable auto-select.
2. Select a text field.
3. In the menu, select Previous or Next. 
4. In the following menu, select an action to move the cursor by character, word, sentence, line, paragraph or page.

Cut, copy and paste

In most editable text fields, you can select, cut, copy and paste text.

To copy and paste text between two different fields:

1. Make sure that auto-select is off:
   1. Press a switch to start scanning.
   2. Select the Menu button at the top of the screen.
   3. If you see 'Enable auto-select' in the menu, auto-select is off. Select Close to exit the menu.
   4. If you see 'Disable auto-select' in the menu, select Disable auto-select.
2. Select the text field containing the text that you want to copy. A menu appears with available actions. 
3. Copy all or some text: 
   • To copy all text, select Copy all text.
   • To copy some text, select Highlight then choose how much text to highlight (character, word, line, page, paragraph or all text). Select the same text field again, then select Copy.
4. Select the text field where you want to paste the copied text. A menu appears with available actions. 
5. Select Paste.
   • If you don't see 'Paste' in the menu, choose Select to select this text field. A keyboard should appear. Select the text field again. A menu appears with available actions. Select Paste to paste the text.