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Use a screen reader

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Screen readers make model-driven apps accessible to people who have low or no vision or might need extra support for a temporary scenario, such as eye fatigue. Commonly used screen readers such as Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA are supported.

Basic tasks using a screen reader

Open an app

  1. On the navigation bar, use the Tab key to move to the app drop-down control and press Enter to open the site map.
  2. Press the Tab key until you hear the name of the application you want to open—for example, “Sales.” Press Enter to open the app.

Use scan mode in Narrator

You can use scan mode to quickly navigate apps using the arrow keys and common keyboard shortcuts. Quickly jump to headings, links, landmarks, form columns, controls, and tables in this mode. Turn scan mode on and off by pressing Caps lock+Spacebar. More information: Using scan mode

Find your way around the app

When you open an app, a vertical bar with subarea icons is displayed on the left. You can either use the Tab key to move through these icons until you hear the name of the subarea you want, such as “Accounts,” or you can use the site map control. For example, press the Tab key until you hear “Accounts” and then press Enter to open the Accounts view.

Grids

Screen readers navigate grids more reliably and consistently, and announce row and column headings, as well as the position within the grid. When you first open a grid, the default tab stop is the view selector.

Whenever you enter a cell within the grid from outside of the grid, Narrator announces the name of the table, the row and column counts, and the position of your cursor within the table.

If your cursor is within the table header, quickly navigate between headers by using the Tab key or Shift+Tab. Narrator will announce the name of each header as you enter the header cell. It also announces the type of cell (for example, “column header”), the location of the column (for example, “column 1 of 6”), and whether the column is sorted or selected. If you press Enter in a table header, it will sort the table by that column. Narrator announces the sort order, and you can press Enter again to change the order.

When you move out of the last column in the table, the cursor moves to the second row of the grid, and from this point, you must use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate between the non-header cells. If you instead press the Tab key again, your cursor will move to the next interactive element, typically the table filter list. When moving between non-header row cells, Narrator announces the column name, the location of the column, and text within the cell.

Forms

Multiple navigation modes are available for navigating a form using Narrator, with the most common modes being landmarks, headings, and form columns. To change the navigation mode, press Caps lock+Up arrow. Hold the Caps lock key down while pressing the Up arrow key to cycle through the modes until you hear the mode you want to use. Then use Caps lock + the Left/Right arrow keys to navigate through the various items. For example, if you want to go to the Last Name column in the Contact Information section of a contact, do the following:

  1. Press and hold the Caps lock key and press the Up arrow key until you hear “Landmarks.”
  2. Press and hold the Caps lock key and press the Right arrow key until you hear “Contact information.”
  3. Change the mode by pressing and holding the Caps lock key and pressing the Up arrow key until you hear “Form Columns.”
  4. Navigate to the Last Name column by using Caps lock + the Left/Right arrow keys until you hear “Last Name.” Narrator also announces the control type, value, state, and any special instructions for the column.

You can also use the Tab key to quickly navigate to interactive elements on the form. Some form columns have an icon that will perform the default action when you press Ctrl+Enter. For example, an email form column might have an envelope icon that opens an email editor.

Dashboards/charts

You can navigate through the dashboard charts using the Tab key and Caps lock + arrow keys. Press the Tab key to quickly go to the interactive elements and use Caps lock + an arrow key for navigation of non-interactive elements, such as headings, landmarks, and items.

Note

You must have the latest Windows 10 Update installed to have all of the accessibility features available for charts.

Interactive dashboard streams

You can use the Tab key or Shift+Tab keys to move between interactive dashboard streams, such as found in the Accounts dashboard, or just change the navigation mode until you hear “Headings” and then use the Tab key to quickly move between dashboard streams.

To navigate through each element of a dashboard stream, use the Up/Down arrow keys. Narrator will read the type of control and the title of the control.

Business process flows

You can navigate a business process flow, such as the one found at the top of the Lead form, by pressing the Tab key to move forward, and Shift+Tab to move backward between the tables. Use the Enter key on the Move to the Left or Move to the Right buttons to display additional tables in the process flow. Narrator reads the table type, stage, status, title, element number out of total elements, and whether it is currently selected.

Dialog boxes

When a dialog box opens, Narrator announces the title. For dialog boxes with input columns, the Close button has the default focus, allowing you to close the dialog box by pressing Enter. For dialog boxes that require user action, the focus is on the primary action button, such as Delete or OK.

You can navigate through the controls by using the Tab key. The cursor will loop through each element in the dialog box, and you can press Esc to close it.