So you have a Mac and you are looking for tutorials on how to use/teach VoiceOver on the Mac. You’ve done Internet searches . . . but are not finding much. Challenge Solutions, a group of tech-savvy students who love their assistive technology, are creating a series of Mac with VoiceOver video tutorials. Here is the first episode, that demonstrates the dock, desktop, finder and menus.
Caitlyn does an amazing job of introducing the Mac in this video and she demonstrates a number of keyboard commands. The keyboard commands used in the video tutorial are listed below in the order they appear in the video.
Keyboard command abbreviations
VO = Control + Option (modifier keys)
Cmd = Command key (located to the left of the space bar)
Fn = Function key (located in the bottom left corner of the keyboard)
Ctrl = Control key (3rd key to the left of the space bar or to the right of the Function key)
Esc = Escape key
Keyboard commands
VO + D = Go to the Dock (The dock is the panel at the bottom of the screen)
VO + Right Arrow = Move to the next item
VO + Left Arrow = Move to the previous item
VO + Space = Open the application
Cmd + Q = Quit (Example: Quit the opened app, goes back to the desktop)
Fn + Ctrl + Option + Right Arrow = Jump to the “top” (Example: When in the dock, this means jump to the first item in the dock, which is the Finder.)
Fn + Ctrl + Option + Left Arrow = Jump to the “bottom” (Example: When in the dock, this means jump to the last item in the dock. The last item depends on what you have in YOUR dock.)
VO + Shift + D = Go to the desktop
Cmd + , (command + comma) = Open Preferences in almost any application.
Esc = Close the application (Example: Close Preferences)
Group means that you have to interact with this group and that there are more items in the group.
VO + Shift + Down Arrow or 2-Finger Swipe Right on the trackpad = Interact with the Group
VO + Right/Left Arrow to navigate thru items in the group
Cmd + N = Open new
VO + Shift + Down Arrow = Interact with table
VO + Shift + Up Arrow = Stop interacting with the table
Function + VO + Left Arrow = Jump to the top item in this window
Functional + VO + Right Arrow = Jump to the bottom item in this window
Space bar = Preview item (document, Audio file, etc.)
Cmd + O = Open the selected item (or open a dialog to select a file to open)
Cmd + Shift + O = Open the Documents Folder
Cmd + Shift + N = Create a new folder
Cmd + C = Copy
Cmd + V = Paste
Command + [ (left bracket) = Back
Cmd + Delete = Move it to trash
Cmd + W = Close the front window
Cmd + Shift + A + Open Application folder (look for all your applications)
Apple Menu which is located at the very top left and changes according to the open app that has the focus) and Status Bar Menu which is located at the top right and has items such as battery life, Wi-Fi, date and time, etc.
VO + M = Go to the Apple Menu
VO + M (twice quickly) + Go to Apple Bar Menu
VO + Right arrow to go to next item in the Menu
Esc to exit menus
Video tutorial
Caitlyn does an excellent job in the video demonstrating basic information about using a Mac with VoiceOver. When uploading her video to YouTube, the screen recording of her video was lost. This is an excellent opportunity for teachers and students with some vision to practice their LISTENING skills.