Use Google editors with a screen reader

1. To open the Tools menu:
   • On Windows and ChromeOS: Press Alt + Shift + t.
   • On MacOS: Press Control + Option + t.
2. In the Tools menu, select Accessibility settings.
3. Tab to and check Turn on screen reader support.
4. To close the dialogue, press Enter.

Tip: Once any menu option is open, press the Right arrow or Left arrow to navigate to the other menus.

• On ChromeOS: Screen reader support is automatically turned on when ChromeVox is on.
• On Windows: Press Ctrl + Alt + z.
• On MacOS: Press Command + Option + z.

Docs, Sheets and Slides have a braille mode that's needed when using a braille display but can also be used when using spoken feedback. If you turn on braille support, you will notice the following improvements:

• Your braille display starts showing content.
• You can use the cursor routing buttons on your braille display to move the cursor.
• Faster screen reader typing echo.
• Faster screen reader navigation handling when you navigate by character.
• Better screen reader announcements of punctuation and whitespace.
• While you type, your screen reader uses its settings for character echo and word echo instead of always echoing characters.

If you aren't using a braille display, or notice poor responsiveness in Sheets or Slides, turning off braille support can help. To turn off:

1. Open the Tools menu.
2. To open the Accessibility settings dialogue, select Accessibility.
3. Tab to the 'Turn on braille support' tick box, then press Space to toggle.
4. To accept the change and close the dialogue, press Enter.

You can also use this shortcut:

• On Windows and ChromeOS: Press Ctrl + Alt + h.
• On MacOS: Press Command + Option + h.

In Docs, Sheets and Slides you can quickly navigate between the menu bar, side panel and the main landmarks with the following shortcuts:

• On Windows: Press Ctrl + Alt + full stop.
• On ChromeOS: Press Alt + Shift + full stop.
• On MacOS: Press Command + Option + full stop.

Tips:

• Replacing full stop with comma will navigate in the reverse direction.
• These are landmarks that can be announced by your screen reader, but using the screen reader landmark navigation can be unreliable due to performance optimisations.

The editors have a menu bar with menus for File, Tools and Accessibility.

• To open the File menu:
  • On Windows and ChromeOS: Press Alt + Shift + f.
  • On MacOS: Press Control + Option + f.
• To explore that menu: Use Up arrow and Down arrow.
• To open other menus, like Tools or Accessibility: Use the Right arrow or Left arrow.
• To open each menu directly: You can usually use the first letter, like:
  • For Tools on Windows and ChromeOS: Press Alt + Shift + t.
  • For Accessibility on MacOS: Press Control + Option + a.

To learn all menu bar shortcuts, refer to Use keyboard shortcuts.

Tips:

• If the menu shortcut doesn't move focus, it is likely because the menus have been hidden. Turn on menu visibility (and function) with the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + f.
• To quickly find a menu option, press Alt + slash (on MacOS, press Option + slash). After pressing the shortcut, type part of the name and the matching items can be found with the Down arrow. This shortcut is available even when the menus are hidden.

There are top-level buttons for document-level actions like renaming, sharing or moving to a different folder, between the menu bar landmark and the menu bar.

• To navigate to the last button:
  1. Open the File menu.
  2. To navigate to the 'Google Account' button, press Shift + Tab.
• To navigate to the first button:

1. Navigate to the menu bar landmark.
2. To navigate to the 'Home' and the other top-level buttons, press Tab.

• To explore other top-level buttons: Press Shift + Tab or Tab.
• To return to the main content: Press Escape.

A toolbar is a horizontal row of common action buttons that usually duplicate menu actions.

• To get to the main toolbar: From the menu bar or menus, press Tab.
• To navigate to each of these toolbar actions for the application: Press the Right arrow.

Tip: Many of the keyboard shortcuts are presented along with the name for quick usage later without navigating to the toolbar.

A context menu is provided that has actions related to the current context, like editing or keyboard focus.

To open the context menu, press Shift + F10.

This UI is most helpful when you know that a shortcut exists because you can search.

When the 'Keyboard shortcuts' dialogue is displayed, tab once to the 'Search keyboard shortcuts' combo box and type part of the function name (for example, 'menu') and press Enter. The results will be presented in one or more tables that include that term. From there:

1. Switch your screen reader to Virtual, Browse, Sticky or QuickNav mode.
2. If focus isn't already on the table, navigate to the next table.
3. Navigate down the column to hear the function names (matching your search).
4. Navigate to the next column to hear the shortcut.
5. If needed, navigate back to the first column and continue, or navigate to the next table to explore matches in another category of functions.
6. When you find the desired shortcut, turn off your screen reader's Virtual, Browse, Sticky or QuickNav mode. To return to the content, press Escape.

Tip: These steps also work to browse all presented shortcuts even without performing a search.

If you aren't using the default US English keyboard layout, many shortcuts that include the Ctrl + Alt modifier won't work as expected. They'll act as if the AltGr key was pressed instead. If you would like to use these shortcuts, consult the Windows documentation on installing and temporarily switching to the US English keyboard layout.