When reading educational materials, students often want to mark areas that they want to quickly find again. JAWS has a feature, called PlaceMarkers, that enables students to easily find desired areas within a webpage, document, spreadsheet or email message. PlaceMarkers are often used to mark a web element that is hard to find or a commonly visited area on a web page.
Types of PlaceMarkers
There are two kinds of PlaceMarkers: Permanent PlaceMarkers and Temporary PlaceMarkers.
Temporary PlaceMarkers
Temporary PlaceMarkers can be added to a page or document quickly without having to negotiate a Dialogue Box. Temporary PlaceMarkers can be added to a word processing document, such as Microsoft Word. This is a great way to mark a specific place, such as where you stopped reading or editing in a long document. You can only have one Temporary PlaceMarker per web page or within a document.
To add a temporary PlaceMarker, move the virtual cursor to the desired location and then press Control + Windows key + K. JAWS will say, “marking place” or “temporary PlaceMarker set” depending on the type of document or file that you are currently in.
To move a Temporary PlaceMarker to a new location, press Control + Windows Key + K again in the new spot on the page.
To navigate to a Temporary PlaceMarker, press Alt + Windows + K in a word processing document or simply K in an HTML page such as website page. JAWS will say “returning to marked place” or may say the text that is next to the Temporary PlaceMarker.
Note: Once you shutdown or restart your computer, all temporary PlaceMarkers will disappear.
Permanent PlaceMarkers
Permanent PlaceMarkers are always available (or until you remove the Permanent PlaceMarker).
To set a Permanent PlaceMarker for Word, press Control + Shift + K. This command is to add a new PlaceMarker as well as to remove a previously placed marker.
Use PlaceMarkers to select text
Power tech users known how to use and apply cool features to become as proficient as possible with their tech. Now that we know how PlaceMarkers can be used, let’s apply the PlaceMarker feature to easily select a sentence or larger chunk of text. This is a quick way to select text and then copy and paste it somewhere else, or delete the text.
- Move the virtual cursor to the beginning of the text that you want to select and add a temporary PlaceMarker (Control + Windows key + K)
- Move the virtual cursor to the end of the desired text. Press Insert + Space , then M. This will select the text between the PlaceMarker and the current position.
- To have JAWS announce the selected text, press Insert + shift + down arrow
JAWS QuickTips: Using PlaceMarkers to Select Text Video:
PlaceMarker commands
Freedom Scientific shares this list of JAWS PlaceMarker commands:
- Set Temporary PlaceMarker (or Permanent marker for Word): Control + Windows key + K
- Add, delete, edit or rename Permanent PlaceMarkers: Control + Shift + K
- Move to the Next or Prior PlaceMarker: K or Shift + K
- Read Text at PlaceMarkers 1 through 4: Number Row keys 7 through 0
- Move to PlaceMarker 1 – 4: Shift + number row keys 7 through 0
- Return to PlaceMarker in Word: Alt + windows Key + K
- Select text from PlaceMarker to Cursor Position: Insert + Spacebar followed by M
By Diane Brauner
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