Additional Utilities.

There are several additional utilities which do not fall into other categories but which nevertheless are worth documenting here. All of them are going to provide you with an enhanced level of accessibility to applications.

Maximising Windows Automatically.

In many applications, JAWS is able to provide a greater level of speech and support if a window is maximised, where it fills the entire screen. But it's a question of remembering to use the keyboard shortcut for it each time.

Leasey has a function which will automatically do this for you when you are within an application. Press the Leasey Key then ALT+Space to enable or disable this feature. Once it is set, the setting is remembered, even when you restart the computer. If enabled, the application window will be maximised each time.

Windows Notifications

Controlling how much your computer speaks when specific events occur is always a good thing to know about. Quite often, you will receive Windows notifications or application alerts which vocalise (or display in Braille) far more information than you need. This section of our documentation explains a way in which this can be customised.

Starting in JAWS 2022, Vispero have introduced into the screen reader a utility called the notification history list. The term "notification" in this context is a very broad one. It could be an announcement emanating from a proper Windows notification, such as that sent out by WhatsApp, Outlook or Teams, but it could also be what we call an alert, and that is a message sent by an application to the screen reader to convey information, such as in Microsoft Edge. Have you ever been in Microsoft Edge and it said, for example, "Loading page", "Load complete"? That is what we call an alert. It's not an official Windows notification.

Regardless of what kind of alert or notification it is, you can press the insert key or the caps lock key if you're using the laptop layout together with space. Then the letter N for notification. This shows a list of the last 500 entries comprising notifications and alerts. You can leave this list open all day if you really wanted to because it's constantly going to refresh with the most recent notification at the top. You can always alt-tab over to it if you want to review the last few notifications that you've received.

If you are using JAWS version 2023, you can create "special" rules so as to manage some of the speech and braille output when a notification is captured by JAWS. Because this process is somewhat unwieldy and not particularly easy to understand, you can import our own special rules so as to handle these notifications more efficiently.

Rules are available at present for Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Edge and the FileZilla FTP client.

1. Press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+B so as to move into the Backup and Restore Manager.
2. Select the option to "Import Leasey Notification Rules".
3. You will be asked if you are sure you want to import the rules. This question is important. If you have created notification rules yourself, we cannot merge the Leasey rules with those you have previously created. You can create rules afterwards if you wish, but if you choose to import those created for Leasey, at least initially any previously defined rules will be overwritten.
4. Assuming "Yes" is activated, the latest set of rules will be downloaded from the Leasey Central web site and you can start using them right away.
5. You are free to remove or modify any of the Leasey imported rules and use them as you see fit, assuming you have the skills to do that.
6. In the event you wish to remove the Leasey rules and reinstate those you previously created, return to the Backup and Restore Manager, and this time, select the option to Reinstate Old Notification Rules. Again, you will be asked if you would like to proceed. Select "Yes". The Leasey rules will be removed and your old rules reinstated.

Miscellaneous.

Pressing the Leasey Key then P will cycle between the various options concerning how JAWS announces punctuation. The options are none, some, most and all.

Pressing Control+Windows+Shift+Up or Down arrow keys will increase or decrease the computer's system volume. This is ideal especially if you have purchased a new laptop computer and have no idea how to change the volume settings. Pressing Control+Windows+Shift+Left or Right Arrow will change the volume level in smaller increments.

Press the Say Window Title keystroke twice quickly, Insert+T or Caps Lock+T, to place the title of the Windows application into the JAWS Virtual Viewer for closer inspection.

Pressing the Leasey Key then Down Arrow will read the time.

Pressing the Leasey Key then Up Arrow will read the date.

Pressing the Leasey Key then Windows+Down Arrow will read the time including seconds.

Pressing the Leasey Key then Left Arrow will insert the current time into your document or edit area.

Pressing the Leasey Key then Right Arrow will insert the current date into your document or edit area.

Pressing the Leasey Key then Left Bracket, (to the immediate right of letter "P"), will speak the Leasey version and build number currently running.

Pressing the Leasey Key then Right Bracket, (two keys to the immediate right of letter "P"), will speak the JAWS version currently being used.

Pressing the Leasey Key then Control+Left Bracket will speak the Windows version number being used.

Press the Leasey Key then letter U to hear the JAWS serial number being used. This information is also copied to the Windows clipboard.

Pressing the Leasey key then Windows+Delete will delete the current line of text.

Pressing the Leasey key then Control+Delete will delete all text from the cursor position to the start of the line.

Pressing the Leasey key then ALT+Delete will delete all text from the cursor position to the end of the line.

Pressing the Leasey Key then ALT+D will report the status of your Dropbox activity if it exists. Pressing the Leasey Key then Control+D will open the Dropbox Preferences, while the Leasey Key then Windows+D will launch the Dropbox folder. When entering the Dropbox Preferences Dialog Box for full customisation of this service, you will find that this is now much more accessible than it otherwise would have been. Press Tab to move from one field to another, or Control+Tab to move through Tabbed Pages.

Pressing the Leasey Key then ALT+G will report the status of your Google Drive activity if it exists. Pressing the Leasey Key then Control+G will open the Google Drive Preferences, while the Leasey Key then Windows+G will launch the Google Drive folder.

Pressing the Leasey Key then ALT+O will report the status of your Microsoft OneDrive activity if it exists. Pressing the Leasey Key then Control+O will open the Microsoft OneDrive Preferences, while the Leasey Key then Windows+O will launch the Microsoft OneDrive folder.

Pressing the Insert Key with figure 2 on the main QWERTY keyboard will cycle through the JAWS "Typing Echo" modes. Unlike JAWS default behaviour, the setting is permanently stored.

If you wish to hear useful information about the document or webpage, (such as the number of characters, words or lines), press the "Speak Information" keyboard shortcut, Leasey Key then I. Important notes:

• If text is selected prior to pressing the above keyboard command, the number of items reported relates to the selected text.
• If focused on a webpage and you execute this keystroke, in addition to other useful information you will hear whether the JAWS forms Mode is active or not.

Pressing ALT+Control+Windows+Page Up will increase the JAWS speech rate. Pressing ALT+Control+Windows+Page Down will decrease the JAWS speech rate. Both settings are permanently stored.

If you have a Pearl camera attached to your computer, pressing the Leasey key then ALT+P will cause the item under the camera to be scanned automatically.

Obtaining a Computer Report.

Leasey contains a feature which can produce a detailed report of your computer for you. In order to carry this out, press the Leasey Key then Control+Right Bracket, two keys to the right of the letter P. You will receive results similar to this which are displayed in the JAWS Virtual Viewer:
Computer name.
Windows version and build number.
Original install date of Windows.
The last time the system was re-booted.
The computer manufacturer.
The model of the computer.
The processor.
The default Windows folder where the operating system files live.
The drive the computer boots from.
The default Windows language.
The current time zone.
Amount of memory capacity.
Available memory.
Network card being used.
IP addresses.

File Explorer File or Folder Properties.

Anyone familiar with File Explorer will know that it is possible to access the properties of a file or folder. Properties include details of the size of the item, together with when it was last updated. If focused on a folder, the number of files contained within it is displayed there.

JAWS provides no easy way to read the information in the properties Dialog box. Leasey however allows you to access it.

1. When focused on a file or folder in File Explorer, press ALT+Enter to bring into view the Properties Dialog Box.
2. Press ALT+Enter once and you will hear the size of the folder or file together with the last modification date.
3. Press ALT+Enter twice quickly to place the above information into the JAWS Virtual viewer, together with how many files are contained within the folder, assuming a folder was selected prior to invoking the Properties Dialog box.
4. If you are reading the information in the Virtual viewer, as prompted on the final line, press Escape to return to the Properties Dialog Box.
5. Press Escape to exit the Properties Dialog Box.

Converting a Scanned PDF to a Text File.

Have you ever had a PDF file which is a scanned image of a document? You will know if you have such a file because, when you launch it and try to read its contents, JAWS will say, "Document is empty".

JAWS versions 16 onwards provide a facility where the document can be scanned and the results are delivered back to you within the Results Viewer, a webpage-like environment allowing you to read the text. To carry out such a scan, with the file loaded press Insert+Space, then D. After a short pause, you should be able to read the results of the scan.

If you would like a text file containing the contents of the file, with the scanned document in focus press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+F. When prompted, type in the full path where you would like the file saved and press Enter. The full path may look like, "c:\temp\phone information.txt", although you do not need to include the ".txt" extension. The file should now be present on the machine with the required output.

Audio Splitter.

If you are using stereo headsets or speakers, you can route all JAWS or Fusion speech to one ear while routing audio from all other applications to the other ear. This helps make it easier to continue getting work done with JAWS while following along during a Zoom or Teams meeting, a Skype call, or a YouTube video.

To split audio, press Insert+Space, (or Caps Lock+Space if using the JAWS Laptop Keyboard Layout), then:

1. Left Arrow to route JAWS to the left and audio to the right.
2. Right Arrow, to route JAWS to the right and audio to the left.
3. Up Arrow, to restore sound balance.

Note: Before attempting to split your audio, make sure your headset or speakers are properly oriented. For instance, if you route JAWS speech to the left and instead hear it in your right ear, your headset is most likely reversed.

Once you split your JAWS speech and application audio, it remains in effect until you restart JAWS, or use the command to restore the audio balance.

Press Insert+Space or Caps Lock+Space then Down Arrow to move through soundcards.

Bookmarking Windows.

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