Leasey Custom Help.

Introduction.

Along long time ago, we mentioned Leasey Custom Help which forms part of the Leasey Hotkey Help system. But what exactly is it?

Leasey Custom Help allows you to create notes to help you when working with computing applications or environments. We all need a reminder from time to time as to how to work with a program. Perhaps you may care to create a list of shortcut keys you can use for it. Maybe you need to note some reminders as to the best ways of navigating it; quick shortcuts and tricks to assist you in doing things that little bit faster. You can make notes of them to be accessed wherever you are on the computer, or perhaps associate them with the application for which the notes are intended.

If you are training a Leasey or JAWS user, Custom Help is the ideal tool for you to create text notes for your student. You then have confidence that he or she can access the notes at any point in the future. You can even create them if you are away from the student and Leasey is not installed if you know the format to use to create the file.

We will now work through some examples of how to create Custom Help, accessing it and managing it.

Working with Custom Help.

Leasey Custom Help can be accessed from anywhere by pressing the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H. Think of it as help which you are controlling!

This takes you into a menu containing a number of choices.

• Read Custom Help. Read the Custom Help which is global or for the application which has focus prior to initiating this function.
• Search Custom Help. Search for a word or phrase which may be in your Custom Help.
• Create or Edit Custom Help. Create Custom Help notes globally or for an individual application. You can also edit them here.
• Deleting Application Custom Help. Deletes the Custom Help for the application which has focus prior to executing this function if it exists.
• Delete Global Custom Help. If you've created notes to be used anywhere, this function allows you to delete them all.
• Browse to Custom Help folder. Using File Explorer, this takes you into the folder where the training notes live. You could paste additional files in this folder if you wish which correspond to the file format described below.
• The last three items on the menu allow you to manage all aspects of the Custom Web Text feature described in the next section. They are placed here for convenience so that everything relating to creating custom notes is in the one central location.

Creating Global Custom Help.

First of all, we will create some notes that remind us how to launch an application from the Windows Start menu. This is something potentially you would carry out from any location which is why it should reside as part of Global Custom Help.

1. Press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H. The Custom Help menu appears.
2. Find the third option, "Create or Edit Custom Help".
3. Press Enter. You are asked if you would like this to be associated with the focused application.
4. In this example, because we want the help to be available anywhere, we will press letter N for no.
5. A special Help file is created. You can write anything you like in this file and edit it in the same way in which you would manipulate any text file. Write something like this:

To launch a program such as Microsoft Word:
1. Press the Windows key to bring into view the Start Menu.
2. Type part of the program name, such as Word.
3. Press Enter.
***

Now press Enter so as to create a new line of text, and we will create another exciting set of instructions!

"To bring into view a list of running applications, press Windows+Tab".
***

Press Enter again to create a new line. Note how we are presenting this text. You can create as many lines as you like; ideal for step by step examples. However, the end of each instruction must end with three asterisk characters ("***"). This will ensure that when you are searching your Custom Help, the entire text of the result will be available to you. You will observe in our second example, we only have one line of text as an instruction. This is fine, provided you terminate it with the three asterisk characters.

We now have our Custom Global text so we can save it. You can change or add to it at any time. Press Control+Enter and the notes will be saved and the text editor will close.

Creating Application Specific Help.

Now we will create notes for an application. Let us assume we would like to instruct someone how to move through a list of messages in Microsoft Outlook.

First, launch Microsoft Outlook. The location as to where you are within the application is not important.

1. Press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H. The Custom Help menu appears.
2. Find the third option, "Create or Edit Custom Help".
3. Press Enter. You are asked if you would like this to be associated with the focused application.
4. In this example, because we want the help to be available only for Microsoft Outlook, we will press letter Y for yes.
5. A special Help file is created for Microsoft Outlook. If you read the title bar of your text editor with Insert+T or Caps Lock+T if using the JAWS laptop layout, you will notice that it contains the name of the application, Microsoft Outlook. You can write anything you like in this file and edit it in the same way in which you would manipulate any text file. Write something like this:

"To move through messages, press Up or Down Arrow.
***

Now press Enter so as to create a new line of text, and we will create another exciting set of instructions!

"When composing a message, if you wish to change the Email account from which the message will be sent:
1. Press ALT+M.
2. Press Down Arrow to reach the account of interest, then press Enter.
***

Press Enter again to create a new line. Note how we are presenting this text. You can create as many lines as you like; ideal for step by step examples. However, the end of each instruction must end with three asterisk characters ("***"). This will ensure that when you are searching your Custom Help, the entire text of the result will be available to you.

We now have our Custom application specific text so we can save it. You can change or add to it at any time. Press Control+Enter and the notes will be saved and the text editor will close.

Note that if you launched a web browser, such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, and then you decided to create application specific help, this will apply to the entire browser. So any notes should pertain to general web page navigation. If you do this, you are presented with a short message within the JAWS Virtual Viewer, stating this and advising you that you can use the Custom Web Text feature to create notes for specific sites and pages.

Reading the Global Custom Help.

So at some point in the future, you may like to read everything that is in the Global Custom Help.

1. Press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H. The Custom Help menu appears.
2. You are on the first option, "Read Custom Help".
3. Press Enter.
4. The help for all applications is displayed. It is shown in the JAWS Results Viewer which is a separate application. You can keep this window open, move to another application if you wish by pressing ALT+Tab, work in the program, and then move back to your notes again by pressing ALT+Tab.

Reading the Application Specific Custom Help.

Now we will examine the application specific help we created for Microsoft Outlook.

1. Launch the Microsoft Outlook application.
2. Press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H. The Custom Help menu appears.
3. You are on the first option, "Read Custom Help".
4. Press Enter.
5. The help for Microsoft Outlook is displayed. It is shown in the JAWS Results Viewer which is a separate application. You can keep this window open, move to Microsoft Outlook if you wish by pressing ALT+Tab, work in the program, and then move back to your notes again by pressing ALT+Tab.
6. You will notice that the Global Custom Help is displayed underneath the application specific text. This is displayed for two reasons. First, whenever you want to read any help text at all, whether it is for a specific application or not, all you need to do is focus on the first option in the Custom Help menu, "Read Custom Help". That is the only thing you (or your student) really needs to be concerned with. Second, it could be that you need reminding of global help procedures while you are focused within an application for which help has been created. The Global Custom Help begins with a levelled heading.

Searching Custom Help.

Let us assume you have lots of notes you have created in Custom Help. You may wish to search for something specific rather than reading either the application specific (or global) help right the way through. Leasey allows you to search for a key word or phrase to bring back the necessary results.

The way Leasey works with search is as follows. If there is application specific help for the program which has focus, it is assumed that is the help you wish to search through. If the chosen word or phrase is not found there, she will search the global help instead. It is possible that you may have forgotten where you placed the help text; whether it was application specific or global. It does not matter. Leasey will find it anyway.

In this example, we would like to find the details relating to how to send messages from specific accounts in Microsoft Outlook.

1. Launch the Microsoft Outlook application.
2. Press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H to launch custom Help.
3. Select the second option, "Search Custom Help".
4. Press Enter. You are asked what you would like to search for. Type the word "Account" and press Enter.

The following text is displayed using the JAWS Results Viewer so you can keep the window open.

"When composing a message, if you wish to change the Email account from which the message will be sent:
1. Press ALT+M.
2. Press Down Arrow to reach the account of interest, then press Enter.

Searching Global Help.

Now we wish to search Global Custom Help instead. The procedure is almost identical to that described above.

1. From within any application, press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H to launch custom Help.
2. Select the second option, "Search Custom Help".
3. Press Enter. You are asked what you would like to search for. Type the word "running", because we want to remind ourselves how to bring into view a list of running applications. Press Enter.

The following text is displayed.

To Bring Into View A List Of Running Applications, Press Windows+tab".

Editing Application and Global Custom Help.

If you wish to edit any aspect of the application or global Custom Help, this can be achieved easily.

If the help you wish to edit belongs to a specific application, be sure you have launched it first and that it is focused. In our example, this is Microsoft Outlook.

1. Press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H to bring into view the Custom Help menu.
2. Select the option "Create or Edit Custom Help".
3. Press Enter.
4. You will be asked if the help is for the focused application. If you press letter Y for yes, then you will be editing your Custom Help for that application. It will be launched in a text editor such as Notepad. You can then edit it. If there was no Custom Help for the application, it will have been created.
5. If you had pressed N for no in the above step, you will be editing Global Custom Help. It will be launched in a text editor such as Notepad. You can then edit it. If there was no Global Custom Help, it will have been created.

Deleting Application and Global Custom Help.

Deleting all the notes in Global Custom Help is self-explanatory. Having activated the Custom Help menu with the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H, select the item to delete the Global Custom Help.

Press the Enter key and you are asked if you are sure you wish to do this. Press letter Y for yes and the Global Custom Help is removed.

If you wish to delete Custom Help for a specific application:

1. Open up the application of interest. In our example, this is Microsoft Outlook.
2. Press the Leasey Key followed by Control+Shift+H to enter the Custom Help menu.
3. Select the option "Delete Application Custom Help".
4. Press Enter. You are asked if you are sure you wish to do this. Press letter Y for yes. The application specific Custom Help is removed.

Creating Custom Help When Away From The Computer on Which Leasey is Installed.

If you wish to create Custom Help if you are away from the computer on which Leasey is installed, please follow these steps:

1. First, you need to make a decision as to whether this is Global Custom Help referring to training concepts which can be used anywhere or for a specific application.
2. If it is Global Custom Help, you should create a text file containing the instructions, with each set of instructions separated by three asterisk characters. This has been illustrated above.
3. The file name should be CustomHelp.txt.
4. If it is application specific Custom Help, you should create a text file containing the instructions, with each set of instructions separated by three asterisk characters. This has been illustrated above.
5. If it is application specific help, you need to know how JAWS interprets the name of the application. For example to do this, from within the focused application press Insert+Q (or caps lock+Q if you are using the laptop keyboard layout) twice quickly. The following is displayed on screen and in the JAWS Virtual Viewer. "Microsoft Outlook settings are used in the OUTLOOK.EXE application." The key to this is the part which comes before ".exe", in this case, "Outlook". So your text file will be named "OutlookCustomHelp.txt".
6. When you are next at the computer where Leasey is installed, you will press the Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H to bring into view Custom Help.
7. Select the option to browse the Custom Help folder.
8. Press Enter. This is where all the Custom Help files live. Paste your newly created files into this folder.