Use Google Chat with a screen reader

Introduction

This article is divided into sections with headings. Use the links below to jump to a specific section of the article.

• Quick start
• Getting started
• About the Chat interface
• Navigate around main Chat content
• Complete common tasks in Chat with a screen reader

Quick start

This article is for the chat.google.com page and has lots of great information to help you use Chat. It can take time to read the entire article. If you want to get started quickly, use these quick tips to read and send messages in direct messages and Spaces.

• For JAWS: Turn off the virtual cursor.
• For NVDA: Switch to focus mode.
• For ChromeOS: turn off sticky mode.
• For MacOS: turn off quick nav.

To read chats that you receive:

1. Press the H key, then C to move focus to the list of chats.
   • If focus does not move:
     1. Press ? to open the keyboard shortcuts dialogue,
     2. Press Tab to the Enable link,
     3. Press Enter,
     4. Press Escape to try again.
2. Press the up or down arrow until focus is on the desired chat.
3. Press Enter to open the chat and move focus to the reply box to type messages.
4. Press Escape to exit the reply box and move focus to the list of messages.
5. Press the up or down arrow to review the messages.
6. Press the R key to move focus to the reply box.

To start a chat with someone:

1. To start a direct message, search your contacts.
   • For Chrome OS and Windows: Press Ctrl + Shift + K.
   • For macOS: Press Command + Shift + K.
2. Enter the name or email address of the person that you want to chat with.
   • If you hear an exact match, press Ctrl + Enter.
   • To explore close matches, press the down arrow.
3. Focus moves to the reply box.

Tip: If you're not in edit mode, the Q shortcut works the same as Ctrl + Shift + K (Command + Shift + K on macOS).

To read spaces:

1. Press H, then R to move focus to the list of spaces.
   • If focus does not move:
     1. Press ? to open the keyboard shortcuts dialogue,
     2. Press Tab to the Enable link,
     3. Press Enter,
     4. Press Escape to try again.
2. Press the up or down arrow to find the desired space.
3. Press Enter to move focus to the space:
   • If focus lands on an edit field: the space can also have threads.
   • If focus lands on a message: the legacy space has topics.

Tip: New spaces can't include topics.

To read spaces with threads:

1. To focus on the most recent message in the main conversation, press Escape.
2. To read messages in the main conversation, press the up or down arrow.
   • If the message is a thread, then '<nn> replies' is after the message text.
   • If the message is a thread with unread replies, the beginning of the output is '<nn> unread' followed by the sender and message.
   • If the message isn't a thread, then '<nn> replies' or '<nn> unread' isn't part of the output.
   • Every message in the main thread can be the beginning of a thread.

To read a thread:

1. Press the right arrow to open the thread and move focus to the most recent unread message.
2. Press the up arrow to read older messages and the down arrow to read newer messages.
3. Press R to move focus to the reply edit field. Type a message and press Enter to add a message to the thread.
4. Press Escape to move focus from the reply edit field to the messages in the thread.
5. Press the left arrow to return to the messages in the main thread.
6. To add a message to the main thread, press Ctrl + S (Command + S on Mac) with focus anywhere in the space.

To find recently updated threads:

1. With focus in a space but not in an edit field, press H, then T.
   • Focus moves to the thread with the most recent reply in a list of threads for that space.
2. Press the down arrow to move to threads with older replies.
3. To read the recent replies, press the right arrow to open the thread.
4. To reply to the thread, press R or Enter in the threadlist to move focus to the reply edit field.

To read spaces with topics:

1. To focus on different topics, press the up or down arrow.
2. To open the desired topic, press the right arrow.
3. To read the messages in the topic, press the up or down arrow.
4. To return to the list of topics, press the left arrow.
5. To reply to the messages in the topic, press R.
6. To start a new topic, with focus anywhere in a space, press Ctrl + S (Command + S on Mac).

Getting started

Recommended browser and screen readers

Google Chat recommends Chrome and:

• NVDA or JAWS on Windows
• ChromeVox on ChromeOS
• VoiceOver on MacOS

Use Chat as a web application

You can use chat.google.com as a web application rather than a web page. When you use chat.google.com as a web application:

• Turn off the screen reader web browsing shortcuts. For details, go to set up your screen reader below.
• Use Chat's keyboard shortcuts to navigate and read instead of your screen reader's commands. For details, go to navigate around Chat below.

Tip: There are times when you should use chat.google.com as a web page and use screen reader browser commands. We point out these times as they occur.

Set up your screen reader

Some screen reader setup is required to use Chat as a web application:

• JAWS: Turn off the virtual cursor. Press Insert + Z until you hear 'Off'.
• NVDA: turn on focus mode. Press Insert + the spacebar until you hear a click sound like typing on a keyboard.
• ChromeVox: turn off sticky mode. Quickly press Search twice until you hear 'Sticky mode disabled'.
• VoiceOver: turn off quick nav. Press the left + right arrow until you hear 'Quick nav off'.

Open Chat

Go to chat.google.com. When you open Chat, the keyboard focus is on a list of messages in the 'Home' list inside the main landmark. The first time that you open Chat, you may want to explore it as a web page as described in the next section. After you've completed your exploration, we recommend that you switch to use Chat as a web application as described in set up your screen reader above.

About the Chat interface

In Chat, there are four main areas:

• The top, presented by your screen reader as a banner landmark: contains general settings and controls, such as your status, a search bar and the Google bar to switch to other apps and user accounts.
• The left-hand navigation area, presented as a navigation landmark: on the left, you can find headings for shortcuts, direct messages and Spaces.
• Chat content, presented as a main landmark: contains the most recent messages in the 'Home' section, the currently selected Chat conversation or Spaces content. This area also includes a list of past messages, a message edit field for new messages and action buttons.
• The right-hand side panel, presented as a complementary landmark: provides embedded access to other Google products, like Calendar, Keep, Tasks and Contacts.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts include three sections:

Home:

• When you first open Chat, keyboard focus lands on the first message in the list of messages in the 'Home' section.
• The first messages in Chat or Spaces are likely to be the ones that you haven't read yet; later messages in the list are older.
• To open that message in the direct message or space, press Enter.
• To return to the list of messages in 'Home', after you've read or replied, use normal navigation as below or the back button in the browser.

Mentions:

• This section has a list of the most recent messages in Chat or Spaces that mention you using the at-sign.

Starred:

• This section is the list of messages that you have 'Starred' by using the 'More actions' menu for any message. Learn more about starring a message.

From the list of messages in any of the shortcuts sections:

• To navigate to the section heading, press the left arrow.
• To navigate to the mentions and starred section headings, use the down arrow.
• To navigate to the list of messages in that section, press Enter or the right arrow.

Tip: If focus doesn't move to the list of messages from home, Tab multiple times to the Unread switch, press Space to turn it off, then Tab to the list of messages.

Direct messages

Chats with one person or a group create a list of messages. By default, history is off and messages disappear 24 hours after they arrive. Spaces are for active long-term conversations with a team or group of people. History is on by default.

Spaces with topics or threads

Important: You can no longer create a space organised by topics. Instead, new spaces use threads.

In a space organised by topic, there's a single panel with a two-level tree of topics and conversations that each have one or more messages. The first level is the topic and the second level includes all of the messages about the topic.

In a space organised by threads, the main panel lists conversations in which each message can be the start of a thread. A thread is a set of replies to a message in the main conversation that is presented in a right-hand side panel.

Navigate around main Chat content

Chat and Spaces content have two modes: edit and navigation. When focus is on the reply box, Chat is in edit mode. To switch from edit to navigation mode, press Escape.

Tab and arrow keys behave differently in each mode:

• In edit mode: the up arrow moves to the last posted message and allows you to edit and resend it.
• In navigation mode:
  • Up arrow moves to the most recent message and then to older messages.
  • On a message, the Tab key navigates to buttons like: 'Add reaction' (an emoji), 'Edit message' (if you posted it), 'Mark as unread' and 'More actions'.
  • In a space with threads:
    • Move to older messages within the main conversation or within a thread with the up arrow.
    • Move to newer messages within the main conversation or within a thread with the down arrow.
    • Move to the replies in a thread in the right-hand panel with the right arrow.
    • Move back to the message that started the thread in the main conversation with the left arrow.
  • In a space with topics:
    • Move within a topic with the up or down arrow.
    • Move to the list of topics with the left arrow, then use the up or down arrow to move between topics.
    • Move to the messages in a topic with the right arrow.

Basic navigation

Tab and the arrow keys work for basic navigation. For additional Chat navigation, you can use these commands:

• In the left navigation area for Chat:
  • The up or down arrow to select a shortcut section, direct message conversation or space.
  • Shift + the up or down arrow to move to the previous or next unread conversation.
  • Ctrl + the up or down arrow to move between shortcuts, direct messages or spaces.
• If focus is on a Chat or Space conversation:
  • Right arrow to the oldest unread message.
  • Enter to move focus to the edit field to add a message.
• In the main message area:
  • Use the up or down arrow to move within the messages.
  • Use the left arrow to move to the left-hand navigation area.
  • In a space, use the right arrow to move into a topic or thread.
• When the focus is on the message edit field:
  • The up arrow to edit the last message that you sent.
  • Escape and then the up or down arrow to go through all the messages.
• When the focus is on the topics of a space:
  • Left arrow to move to the left-hand navigation area.
  • Right arrow to move to the messages of the selected topic.
• On a threaded space, if the focus is on a thread message: left arrow to move the focus to the main conversation.
• When you press Enter on a space without topics, focus goes to the message edit field of the main conversation. When you press Enter on a message in the main conversation, focus moves to the edit field for the thread that starts with that message.

Advanced navigation

To improve your efficiency, use additional keyboard shortcuts.

Show a full list of keyboard shortcuts in Chat

1. Turn off the virtual cursor or browse mode in your screen reader.
2. Press Escape if focus is on a message edit field.
3. Press the question key (Shift + Slash).

To read the keyboard shortcuts dialogue, use Chat as a web page. Turn on the virtual cursor or browse mode in your screen reader. The list of keyboard shortcuts is in a table, so use your screen reader's table-reading commands for easier navigation. The first tab stop is a link that you can activate to enable or disable some keyboard shortcuts. Make sure that the link says 'Disable', so that the extra keyboard shortcuts are available. When done, turn off the virtual cursor or browse mode. To dismiss the dialogue, press Escape.

In a new browser tab, you can open Google Chat keyboard shortcuts.

Popular shortcuts

Shortcuts are for Chrome and Windows devices. For Mac, use the Command key instead of Ctrl, and the Option key instead of Alt.

• With a screen reader, you can read each of the last nine messages in a Chat conversation, a Spaces topic or the main Spaces conversation with Alt + {number}. For ChromeVox, use Alt + Shift + {number}. For VoiceOver, use Option + {number}. Replace {number} with 1 for the most recent message, 2 for the next most recent and so on. Focus doesn't move.
• To move focus to the most recent message in a conversation, press Ctrl + J (Command + J on a Mac).
  • This works regardless of edit mode and can be used in place of Escape as described in basic navigation above.
• To move the focus to your Chat messages in the left-hand navigation area, press H, then C.
• To move the focus to your Spaces messages in the left-hand navigation area, press H, then R.
• To open and move focus to the list of active threads in a threaded space, press H, then T.

• To add, create or find a person, group or Space, press Ctrl + Shift + K (Command + Shift + K on Mac). If you're not in edit mode, the Q shortcut works the same as Ctrl + Shift + K (Command + Shift + K on Mac).

  • To add or create, press the down arrow to reach the desired option.
  • To find an existing conversation, type a part of the name and then use the down arrow to reach the desired match.
• To find people, spaces or messages, press the slash key when not in edit mode.
• To start a new topic in a space, a new message in a chat or in the main conversation of a threaded space, press Ctrl + S (Command + S on a Mac).
• To open a chat or space menu, press Ctrl + G (Command + G on a Mac). For details, go to Access message and spaces options.
• To reply to a conversation in Chat, a thread in a space or a topic, then move focus to the message edit field, press R.

For more on interactions with different elements, go to complete common tasks in Chat below and refer to the documentation for your screen reader.

Complete common tasks in Chat with a screen reader

Direct messages

Direct messages, also called DMs and Chat, are conversations between you and one or more people. In direct messages, the message list only has one level.

Read a direct message

1. Press Escape, then H, then C to move to the Chat section of the left-hand navigation area.
2. Press the up or down arrow to select the person whose message you want to read and then press Enter.
3. Press Escape to switch to navigation mode.
4. Press the up or down arrow to review previous messages in the chat.
5. If the message includes a link, press Tab to move the focus to the link, then press Enter to open the link.

To review recent messages but keep focus on the main reply box:

• For Windows: Press Alt + {number}.
• For ChromeOS: press Alt + Shift + {number}.
• For MacOS: press Option + {number}.
• Replace {number} with 1 to 9 for the nine most recent messages.

Switch between direct messages

To find a person or group that you've messaged:

1. To open the 'Add one or more people' combo box, press Ctrl + Shift + K (Command + Shift + K on a Mac).
2. Type the name of the person or group that you want to find. As you type, Chat verbalises the name.
3. Choose a name:
   • If Chat verbalises the name that you want, press Ctrl + Enter (Command + Enter on Mac).
   • If Chat doesn't verbalise the name that you want, press the Down arrow until you hear the name and then press Ctrl + Enter (Command + Enter on Mac).
   • If you still can't hear the person's name, type their entire username and press Enter.

To open a message in the prior messages list:

1. Press Escape and then the left arrow to move to the left-hand navigation area.
2. Press the up or down arrow until you find the person that you want to message.
3. Press Enter.

Tip: As you move through the left-hand navigation area, you're told if there are unread messages for the direct message or space. To move to the next unread message, press Shift + the down arrow.

Reply to a direct message

1. Use the steps in earlier sections to find or navigate to the person that you want to reply to. From navigation mode, press R to move focus back to the main reply box.
2. Type the message text and then press Enter.
3. When not in edit mode, you can react to a message with an emoji:
   1. Press Tab to reach the 'Add reaction' button and press Space.
   2. Type part of the name of an emoji.
   3. Press Tab twice to reach the list of matches.
   4. Press the down arrow to reach the emoji that you want and press Enter.

Use Smart Reply

Important: Some messages don't have Smart Replies available.

1. With focus on the message edit field, press Shift + Tab until you reach one of the three suggested reply buttons.
2. Press the spacebar to select a reply and load it into the message edit field.
3. Add additional content if desired, then press Enter to send the reply.

Send a direct message to multiple people

1. To start a direct message to multiple people, press Ctrl + Shift + K (Command + Shift + K on a Mac) to search your contacts.
2. Type the name of the person that you want to add. As you type, Chat verbalises the name.
3. Choose a name:
   • If Chat verbalises the name that you want, press Ctrl + Enter (Command + Enter on Mac).
   • If Chat doesn't verbalise the name that you want, press the Down arrow until you hear the name and then press Ctrl + Enter (Command + Enter on Mac).
   • If you still can't hear the person's name, type their entire username and press Enter.
4. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to add all of the people to the message.
5. To move focus to the main reply box in the new chat, press Enter.
6. Type your message and then press Enter.

Edit a posted message

1. To edit the most recent message that you posted, from the message edit field, press the up arrow.
2. Edit the message:
   • To repost, press Enter.
   • To cancel changes, press Escape.

Turn history on or off for a direct message

If allowed by your administrator, you can decide to save your message history. You will hear if history is on or off when you focus on the main reply box of the conversation.

1. In the left-hand navigation area, select the conversation that you want to change the history settings for and press Enter.
2. Press Ctrl + G (Command + G on a Mac) to open the conversation menu.
3. Use the down arrow to reach 'History' and press the spacebar or Enter to change the current setting. Some history settings can't be changed.

Spaces

Spaces are for active long-term conversations with a team or group of people. The membership of a space may change over time as people join or leave the conversation.

All new spaces have a main conversation like Chat. Any message in that conversation can become the beginning of a side conversation called a thread. Threads are presented in a right-hand side panel that opens as needed.

Some legacy spaces have two levels:

• Level 1 is the list of conversation topics.
• Level 2 is messages in a topic.

When you open a space with topics, the focus is on the oldest unread topic. If there are no unread topics, the focus is on the most recent topic.

Tip: There's no main conversation in a legacy space with topics and all messages must be in a topic.

Read messages in Spaces

1. If the focus is on an edit field (edit mode), press Escape to switch to navigation mode.
2. Press H, then R to move to the Spaces section of the left-hand navigation area.
3. Press the up or down arrow until you reach the space that you want or use Shift + the up or down arrow to move to spaces with unread content. Then press Enter.
4. If the space has no topics, focus moves to the main reply box like a chat message.
5. If the space has topics, press the up or down arrow to navigate to the different topics.
6. Press the right arrow to open a topic or a thread.
7. Press the up or down arrow to read the messages.
8. Press the left arrow to return to the topic or main conversation.

Read recently updated threads

1. With focus in a space but not in an edit field, press H, then T.
   • Focus moves to the thread with the most recent reply in a list of threads for that space.
2. To move to threads with older replies, press the down arrow.
3. To read the recent replies and open the thread, press the right arrow.
4. To return to the list of threads, press Escape.

To review recent messages without moving focus:

• For Windows: press Alt + {number}.
• For ChromeOS: press Alt + Shift + {number}.
• For MacOS: press Option + {number}.
• Replace {number} with 1 to 9 for the nine most recent messages.

Tip: These shortcuts aren't available in a thread.

Reply to messages in Spaces

1. To move focus to the reply box, press the R shortcut.
   • If focus was in the main conversation: This replies to the thread anchored by the main conversation message.
   • If focus was in a thread: this replies to that thread.
   • If focus was on a topic: this replies to that topic.
2. Type your message and then press Enter.
3. To go to the last message in the main conversation or to the last topic, press Ctrl + J (Command + J on a Mac).

Tip: In Spaces, you can also use Smart Reply.

Create a conversation topic in a space

1. Move focus to any topic.
2. To focus on the main reply box, press Ctrl + S (Command + S on a Mac).
3. Type the message text that describes your new topic and then press Enter.

Your message becomes the first message in the topic and the name of the topic.

Tip: You can verify that you will create a new topic by the name of the focused edit field:

• A new topic is named 'Message' followed by the space name.
• A reply to an existing topic is named 'Reply'.

Tip: This shortcut moves focus to the edit field for the main conversation in a space without topics.

Create a space

1. Press Ctrl + I (Command + I on a Mac) to open the 'Create a Space' dialogue.
2. Type the required 'Space name'.
3. To create a space with you as the only member, press Enter.
4. For other options, press Tab to:
   • Add a space description.
   • Add people or groups to the space.
   • Specify who can join the new space.
   • Specify if people outside your work or school can join the space.
   • Activate the 'Cancel' or 'Create' buttons.

Join an existing space

1. Press Ctrl + O (Command + O on a Mac).
2. Type any part of the name.
3. Use the up or down arrow to move through the list of spaces.
4. When you find one that you want, press Tab to the 'Space joined' tick box and press the spacebar to tick.
5. Press Enter to join and open the new space.

Add people to a space

1. Open the space that you want to update.
2. Press Ctrl + G (Command + G on a Mac) to open the space menu.
3. Press the down arrow to move to 'Manage members' and then press Enter.
4. Tab to reach the 'Add' button and press Enter.
5. Type the name of the person that you want to add. As you type, you'll hear the first name that matches.
6. Choose a name:
   • If Chat verbalises the name that you want, press Ctrl + Enter (Command + Enter on Mac).
   • If Chat doesn't verbalise the name that you want, press the Down arrow until you hear the name and then press Ctrl + Enter (Command + Enter on Mac).
   • If you still can't hear the person's name, type their entire username and press Enter.
7. Press Tab until you get to the 'Add' button and press Enter.

Files in a space

To post files in a space for discussion or to share with the members of the space, move focus to an edit field. To move focus to the 'Google Workspace tools' button, where you can add a Drive file or Calendar invite, press Shift + Tab.

To view files posted by others, press Ctrl + G (Command + G on a Mac) to go to the space menu, and then Tab several times to the Chat tab. Press the right arrow to the Files tab and then press Enter. When you open the Files tab, focus moves to the 'Add file' button. If any files are shared, you can tab through the three elements for each file:

1. File details: the file name, who posted it and when. Press Enter to open the file in a new browser tab.
2. Option to 'Move within Drive' or 'Add shortcut to Drive'.
3. Option to 'View in Chat', which moves focus to where the file was added to give context.

Apps

Important: To use apps in Google Chat, you must use a work or school account and your Google Workspace administrator must give permission to install apps.

Apps are special accounts that you can chat with, just like you would with people. You can connect with apps in a conversational way to look up information, schedule meetings or do other tasks. Google creates and maintains some apps like the Google Meet and Google Drive apps. Third-party software vendors create and maintain other apps.

Find apps

1. To search your contacts, press Ctrl + Shift + K (Command + Shift + K on a Mac).
2. Press the down arrow until you get to 'Find apps' and press Enter.
3. Type a partial name or use Tab and the arrow keys to explore offered content.
4. Press Enter on an app and explore the description in the dialogue. Initial focus is on the button to add the app to Chat.
5. Press Enter to add this app to your set of Chat conversations.
6. To add the app to a space:
   1. Press Tab to reach the 'Add to space' button.
   2. Press Enter to open the 'Enter the space name' dialogue.
   3. Type a partial name or press the down arrow to reach the space that you want to add the app to.
7. After activating one of the buttons, the app is added and the dialogue is dismissed.

Tip: This is how to find an app and add it to either a chat or a space. The next section is how to add an app to the current space without extra steps.

Add an app to a space

1. Open the space that you want to update.
2. Press Ctrl + G (Command + G on a Mac) to open the menu.
3. Press the down arrow until you get to 'Apps and integrations' and then press Enter.
4. Press Tab to the 'Add apps' button and press Enter.
5. Type the name of the app that you want to add. As you type, you'll hear the first name that matches.
6. Choose a name:
   • If you hear the name that you want, press Enter.
   • Press the down arrow until you hear the name that you want and then press Enter.
7. Press Tab until you get to the 'Add' button and then press Enter.

Message an app in a space

1. Open the space that has the app.
2. To focus on the main reply box, press Ctrl + S (Command + S on a Mac).
3. Type '@appname' followed by your message. Replace 'appname' with the name of the app.
4. Press Enter, then wait for it to respond.

See the commands that you can use with an app

• In a direct message with the app, type 'Help'.
• In a space, type '@appname help'. Replace 'appname' with the name of the app.

Search

To search for content within Chat, use chat.google.com instead of mail.google.com:

1. Press Slash when not in edit mode.
2. Type the search term and the first matches will be people, groups or spaces.
3. Press the up arrow to jump to the last option for 'More search results'.
4. Press Enter to display all messages that include your search term. Results are in chronological order with the most recent result first.
5. Press the down arrow to the messages that include your search term.

Tip: Activate a result to go to the chat message or spaces topic that includes the result. Use the browser back shortcut to return to the search results. Use the browser back shortcut again to exit the search results.

Changing notification settings

You can change how you're notified from the Chat app or per conversation. Conversation options are described in access message and Spaces options below.

To open settings for the Chat app:

1. Press Escape to switch to navigation mode.
2. Press Slash to move the focus to the 'Find people, spaces and messages' field.
3. Press Tab to reach the 'Settings' button and press Enter to open the settings dialogue that includes notification options.
4. Make your changes, then press Tab to reach the 'Done' button and press Enter.

Access message and Spaces options

Press Ctrl + G (Command + G on a Mac) to open the options menu for Chat messages and Spaces. This menu includes:

• View members or manage members
• Apps and integrations
• Pin the conversation to Chat or Spaces
• Notification options for this conversation
• Toggle history
• Block the conversation

Use Smart Replies

For certain messages that you receive, Chat provides suggestions that you can use to send quick replies.

Make sure that Smart Reply is on

1. Open settings as described in the previous section.
2. Tab to the 'Enable Smart Reply on web and desktop' tick box.
3. Press the spacebar to toggle on or off.