Finding bold, underline and italics on Mac with VoiceOver: Part 2

As we discussed in Part 1, digital assignments and assessments frequently add visual features such as bold, underline, or italics to indicate words that the student needs to find and identify in order to answer the question. In the first post, we learned about text attributes, the three text attribute options (Speak, Play Tone and Do Nothing) and the commands to switch between these options. In this Part 2, we will learn the commands to jump directly to each text attribute.

Note: Highlight is another text attribute; however, highlighting is rarely used in digital assignments or assessments. Highlights are more frequently added by the student to mark a desired word or section of the text.

Shortcut keyboard commands to jump to text attributes

During homework assignments, the student should first focus on the content being read in order to comprehend the content. This is often done with text attributes turned off (Do Nothing setting). Then, in order to answer the questions, the student may need to go back and find the word or phrase that was in bold, italics or underlined. The quickest way to find these marked up words is to jump directly to the desired marked word using shortcut keys:

To jump to the next bold text: VO + Command + B
- To jump to the previous bold text: VO + Command + Shift + B
To jump to the next italic text: VO + Command + I
- To jump to the last italic text: VO + Command + Shift + I
To jump to the next underlined text: VO + Command + U
- To jump to the previous underlined text: VO + Command + Shift + U
To jump to the next color change (highlight): VO + Command + K
- To jump to the previous color change (highlight): VO + Command + Shift + K

Additional keyboard shortcut commands

There are additional shortcut commands to help students efficiently navigate text. Of course, students can navigate text by searching for a letter or word, in addition to searching by text attributes. The additional text attribute searches include:

To jump to the next font change: VO + Command + O
- To jump to the previous font change: VO + Command + Shift + O
To jump to a style change: VO + Command to C
- To jump to the previous style change: VO + Command + Shift + C
To jump to the next plain text: VO + Command + P
- To jump to the previous plain text: VO + Command + Shift + P
To jump to the next graphic: VO + Command + G
- To jump to the previous graphic: VO + Command + Shift + G
To jump to the next link: VO + Command + L
- To jump to the previous link: VO + Command + Shift + L

Apply these keyboard shortcut commands

Students who use a screen reader can be lightening fast with their shortcut keyboard commands. Forget long hours spent on completing homework assignments because of slow navigation skills. BLV students who have ramped up their listening speed skills and who know/use keyboard shortcuts can fly through homework assignments. Help your student work smarter not harder!