LeaseySelect.

Introduction.

It is essential when working with text to be able to select (or highlight) it. This invariably involves placing the cursor at the start of where you would like the text to be selected and then holding down a number of Keys including the Shift Key. For example, pressing Shift+Down Arrow repeatedly will select successive lines of text. However, if large blocks of text need to be selected, this can cause problems both when holding down the Keys, or in terms of the provision of accurate oral feedback of text which has been selected. Selecting text is necessary for format manipulation, cutting or copying it to the Windows Clipboard or manipulating it in some other way.

Leasey provides a very easy method for selecting text and reviewing the start point of a potential selection. The concept is that you will navigate to the start of the text which is to be selected and mark it with a Keystroke. Next, using any means of text navigation at your disposal (such as the Arrow Keys), move to where you would like the end of the selection to be. This could be many pages if necessary or maybe just a few words. When the potential end point of the selection is reached this is similarly marked with a Keystroke and the text between the two marked points is selected. Text selection using this method is available within Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook (incoming and outgoing messages), the JAWS virtual Viewer, documents within Adobe Reader, Mozilla Thunderbird, QRead, many text edit environments such as Notepad and Wordpad, together with browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Brave.

Using LeaseySelect.

In order to use Leasey to select text, please work through the following two examples:

Example 1.

1. Launch the Microsoft Word application and ensure you are located within a blank document.
2. Type the phrase: This is a test
3. Press the Home Key to move to the start of the line you have just typed.
4. Press the Leasey Key then the Comma Key. JAWS will say “Begin Selection”.
5. Press the End Key to move to the end of the line you have typed. Note that no text has been selected at this juncture and if you have vision you will also notice that there is no visual indication that the text has been selected.
6. Press the Leasey Key then the Full-Stop or Period Key. JAWS announces “End Selection”.
7. If you can see the screen, you will have noticed that the text between the two marked points is selected. Pressing the JAWS Key together with Shift+Down Arrow instructs JAWS to speak the text which has been selected and if all has gone well you should hear the words “selection is this is a test” or something similar.

Please note that the Leasey selection facility can be used within Microsoft Word even if the JAWS “Quick Navigation Keys” have been enabled by pressing Insert+Z. There is no need to exit this mode prior to using a selection command.

Example 2.

1. Launch Microsoft Edge and browse to the following web site: www.google.co.uk or www.google.com if you prefer.
2. Once the page has loaded, press Control+Home to reach the top of it.
3. Press the letter B repeatedly if necessary to reach the Button on the page entitled “Google Search Button”.
4. Press the Home Key to move to the start of the line.
5. Press the Leasey Key then Comma and, as before, the start point of the selection is marked.
6. Now press Control+End to move to the end of the web page. JAWS announces the text which is displayed.
7. Now we will introduce to you a new Key combination which is the Leasey Key then Forward Slash. This is the Leasey function entitled “Speak Beginning and End”. This causes JAWS to read the text where the starting point of the selection was marked and the line containing the current cursor position. This is a good indicator of the potential start and end points of selected text particularly if the passage is quite lengthy. Note that if the cursor was placed some way along the line prior to the marking of the start point of the selection, JAWS will read from the selected text to the end of the line. Go ahead and press the Leasey Key then Forward Slash. In this example, JAWS says “first line of selection, Google Search, end line of selection will be”, then JAWS will read the final line of text on the web page since this is the current location. At this point the text is not selected.
8. Press the Leasey Key then Full-stop or Period. JAWS confirms that the end point of the selection has been made.
9. Finally, press the JAWS Key with Shift+Down arrow and all of the selected text will be announced.

Moving Back to the Selection Start Point.

Lets add a further dimension to the selection procedure.

Let us assume that you have marked the start point of a selection, and have then moved the cursor elsewhere. If you wish to return to the start point of the potential selection, you can press the Leasey Key then Control+Comma.

You can also use this keystroke when you have completed the selection. For example, if you select from page 2 of a document through to page 7, and copied the text to the Clipboard, you then may wish to move back to the start point of the selection on page 2. This can be done by pressing the Leasey Key then Control+Comma.

Please note that this does not function within Email messages.

What is Leasey Quick Select?

There is nothing at all wrong with using the above methods for selecting text, and indeed many people have done that for years. However, there is an alternative method if you wish to use it, and that is by missing out the final step of ending the selection. In summary, you mark the start point of the potential selection, move the cursor to the end point, but do not mark it with the end selection keystroke. Instead, just go ahead and carry out the action you require, such as Control+C for copy.

Example 3.

1. Launch the Microsoft Word application and ensure you are located within a blank document.
2. Type the phrase: This is a test
3. Press the Home Key to move to the start of the line you have just typed.
4. Press the Leasey Key then the Comma Key. JAWS will say “Begin Selection”.
5. Press the End Key to move to the end of the line you have typed. Note that no text has been selected at this juncture and if you have vision you will also notice that there is no visual indication that the text has been selected.
6. Press Control+C to copy the text to the Windows clipboard.

Note that when you press a keystroke such as Control+C to copy text to the clipboard, there may be a slight pause between the time you press the keystroke and JAWS confirming that the text has been copied.

The following keystrokes are likely to function well using this method:

• Control+X.
• Control+C.
• Control+V.
• Delete.

And in Microsoft Word:

• Control+B.
• Control+I.
• Control+U.
• Control+l.
• Control+R.
• Control+J.
• Control+E.

If you had text already on the clipboard as a further example, and you want to select text so as to paste the content of the clipboard over the top of it, mark the start point of the selection in the usual way. Move the cursor to the end point and press Control+V.

Note that if you begin marking a potential selection, and for whatever reason you do not wish the keystrokes such as Control+C to automatically select the text and copy it when pressed, just press the Escape key. JAWS will confirm that the quick selection process is cancelled. The start marker is still in the place where you set it, so you can go ahead and continue using the old selection method if desired.

Speaking the Contents of the Windows Clipboard.

One of the primary reasons why you would want to select text is to cut or copy it to the Windows Clipboard. The Windows Clipboard is of course a temporary storage area which can be used for holding text which is cut or copied to it for pasting into an alternative location, such as another document or Email message.

When the text has been copied to the Clipboard, you can press the Leasey Key followed by the letter X from within any application. The contents of the Clipboard will be announced. If there is no text on the Clipboard, you will be advised of this.

Why would you want to use this keystroke when JAWS already has a mechanism for displaying the contents of the Windows Clipboard as text?

• If you want to check whether the desired text is on the Clipboard, this is a much faster way of doing so. It is quite possible that you do not want to hear all of the text which is stored there, but it could be helpful to listen to the start of it prior to pressing the Control Key to silence speech, such as the first two or three words. There are occasions where the text you think is selected has not correctly been copied to the Clipboard and this is a very quick way of verifying it.
• If you were to use the JAWS feature to display the contents of the Clipboard, (JAWS Key+Space then C), it can take several seconds for you to gain access to it. This can be three seconds or more which can add up over the course of a day if you are checking the Clipboard frequently.

To clear the contents of the Clipboard at any time press the Leasey Key then Z.

It is worth noting that you can use another keystroke in relation to selecting text and the Clipboard. This is Leasey Key Shift+Full-Stop or Period. This will end a selection and append the text to the Clipboard. So, mark the start of it with the Leasey Key then Comma, move to the end point, and then this time, mark the end point with the Leasey Key then Shift+Full-Stop or Period. The text is selected and it is immediately appended to the Clipboard, separated from the text which already exists there with a blank line.

Appending Text to the Clipboard.

Leasey contains a feature called LeaseyClips, allowing you to copy multiple text segments and paste them into a text edit area in any order of your choosing. However, Leasey also contains the ability to automatically append text to the Windows clipboard for those people who would like to use it in this way. This means that you can copy or cut text segments from multiple sources and paste them into a document or text edit area.

JAWS already contains the ability to press a keystroke to append selected text to the clipboard. The Leasey feature relating to achieving this however has a number of advantages:

• Pressing Control+X will cut text to the clipboard and it is appended to the previous segment if appropriate.
• Leasey allows you to separate each copied text segment with either a line break, a space character or a paragraph break.
• In addition, it is possible to insert any characters between the copied segments. A good example of this would be three asterisk characters. When the text is pasted into a document, it will be much easier for you to locate each segment.
• Leasey is much clearer in terms of its use of language when text is being copied to the clipboard. You will be in no doubt as to whether your copied text segment is the first or a subsequent item on the clipboard.
• Finally, an option is available to clear the clipboard when pasting has taken place.

Each of the above advantages will now be discussed.

Enabling and Disabling Clipboard Append.

Enabling and disabling the append clipboard feature can be done by pressing the Leasey key then Control+C. The setting is retained even if JAWS is restarted.

When the setting is disabled, pressing Control+C or Control+X performs its regular Windows function by copying or cutting text to the clipboard whilst overwriting it. JAWS announces "Replace Mode".

Enabling the feature appends text to the clipboard when text is selected and you press Control+C or Control+X. When you enable this option, JAWS says "Append Mode".

If you copy an item and it is the first text segment on the clipboard, JAWS says "Copied". If it is a subsequent segment, JAWS says "Appended".

Changing the Clipboard Divider.

You can change the divider between segments you copy to the clipboard by pressing the Leasey key then Control+Z. This has three options.

• Line break. Each copied segment will begin on a new line. This is the default setting.
• Space character. This separates each copied segment with a space character. This could be useful if you are copying multiple Email addresses for example and each one needs to have a space in between.
• Paragraph break. This is a useful divider. One blank line separates each copied segment.

Characters to Separate Clipboard Segments.

This feature is activated by pressing the Leasey key then Control+X. An edit field appears requesting that you type the clipboard separator, such as three asterisk characters. Type the characters and press Enter. The characters are saved for later use, even if JAWS is restarted.

Note that this feature works in conjunction with the previous option relating to the divider. For example, if you had pressed the Leasey key then Control+Z so as to set the divider to a paragraph break, and three asterisk characters are used to further separate copied segments, the text will be presented in this format:

segment 1, blank line, star star star, blank line, segment 2, blank line, star star star, blank line, segment 3.

Note that if you decide you no longer require a string of text to separate each appended text segment, press the Leasey key then Control+X. The previous separator is displayed in the edit field. Press the Backspace key to erase it, then press Enter.

Clear Clipboard On Pasting.

This setting is enabled or disabled by pressing the Leasey key then Control+V. When enabled, and text is pasted into a text edit area, the clipboard is automatically cleared. JAWS says "Pasted, Clipboard Cleared".

Special Note: It is likely that you will be switching on and off the feature to append text to the clipboard. This is why it is placed on an easy-to-use keystroke: Leasey key then Control+C. If the option to clear the clipboard on pasting is enabled, enabling the append mode will automatically clear the clipboard in order that you can start again. JAWS advises you of this so you are in no doubt as to what has happened. While this is an advantage, there is also value in disabling this feature.

Let us assume that you have copied some segments to the clipboard and you paste them into a document. If the feature is disabled, you still have your text segments available. If necessary, you could paste them elsewhere if you wish. This feature is designed to be flexible so as to suit your way of working.

Clearing and Speaking the Clipboard.

If the option to clear the clipboard on pasting is disabled, you can always clear it yourself by pressing the Leasey key followed by Z. This feature has been in the product since it was released.

To speak the contents of the clipboard, press the Leasey key then X.

Additional Notes.

If you append text segments to the clipboard, then disable the special append feature with the Leasey key then Control+C, then copy text to the clipboard, the newly copied text will replace the appended segments. This is because disabling the feature ensures that Control+C causes the clipboard to adopt its usual practice of overwriting data. This also applies to cutting text with Control+X.

If the append feature is enabled, and you copy an element to it such as a folder in File Explorer, the clipboard is overwritten because that is default Windows functionality. The Leasey append feature only works with text.

Finally, it is important that we mention this. If you enable the Leasey append feature, then disable it and copy text to the clipboard so it replaces the existing text, Leasey will not warn you that the clipboard is about to be overwritten. This feature has been specifically designed for those who wish to improve their productivity. There are many JAWS users who do not wish for intervening dialog boxes warning them about something they already know. The expectation is that you are fully aware how the feature works before using it in everyday situations. You may like to practice using this feature prior to using it as part of your daily workflow. As is the case with all features native to JAWS, the regular functionality to append text to the clipboard is not disturbed in any way. Back to Help Index.