?

Hello,

Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial on Microsoft word?? My problem is learning how to format documents an complete filling ?out templates.

Walter

Hello Rick,
This is impressive, thank you!
Call to the mods:
Groups.io has a very useful feature called wiki which is... well...
wiki pages :).
As this is more or less a knowledge transfer group, it would be great
to add such messages as this one from Rick to wiki for easier
discoverability in future (with appropriate author attribution, of
course).
Thanks.

--
With best regards,
Andre
Skype: menelion_elensule
Twitter (English only): @AndrePolykanine


------------ Original message ------------
From: Rick <softwarethatworks@...>
To: [email protected]
Date created: , 4:55:01 AM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [office-accessibility] How to work with comments in word


Hello List:

Comments are a powerful feature of Microsoft Word. In my job and personal work, I use them almost every day. The following describes what you can do with comments using Office 365 on a Windows platform. Some of the behaviors may not be available in Office 2016 or earlier.

Comments can be added, edited, deleted, replied to, resolved, and reopened.

Word has two ways to visually display comments. The default is to display them in balloons, which visually appear on the right side of a document. The text in the document associated with the comment has some visual shading and a line from that text links it to the balloon. Another method is a separate window which can be to the right of the document or below the document where comments are displayed out of context.

Both NVDA and JAWS indicate the presence of a comment as the text of the document is navigated. Neither will indicate if any replies exist. If the cursor moves into text associated with a comment they will announce that a comment is present. If the Application key is now pressed, choices will be provided to Edit the comment, delete the comment, reply to the comment, or resolve the comment. If the comment is already resolved, the last choice will be to reopen the comment instead of resolve the comment. Only the initial comment can be managed this way. Navigating to replies is described later in this document. If you delete a comment that has replies, the comment and all replies will be deleted. No indication that replies are being deleted will be offered.

To add a comment, two keystroke combinations are provided by Word (Alt+r, followed by c, which has already been mentioned in this thread, or Control+Alt+m). I prefer the latter. Note, these are Word shortcuts and work with all screen readers. When you press either of these combination, you will be in a text field where you can edit the comment directly. When done, press the ESC key to return to editing the document.

Word, not your screen reader, offers additional shortcut keys to navigate the comments in a document. Alt+r followed by n will navigate to the next comment in the document while Alt+r followed by v will navigate to the previous comment in the document. Each of these shortcuts will place you in the comment, so you can edit the comment directly, if desired. Pressing the ESC key will place you back in the document. Pressing Alt+r followed by n will navigate to the next comment, which will be the first reply, if one exists, or the next comment in the document if no replies exist.

Word provides the ability to reply to comments. All replies are to the original comment. Even if you are in a reply, replying will be threaded to the original comment and not to the reply. JAWS treats all replies as a reply while NVDA treats them as levels with the initial comment at level 0.

Another feature of comments in Word is the ability to resolve a comment. Comments are typically marked as resolved when the content of the comment has been incorporated into the document or the thread indicates it is not needed. To resolve a comment, the cursor needs to be either in the text associated with a comment or the cursor needs to be in the comment text. Press the application key and choose resolve comment. Resolving the original comment will set all replies to resolved as well. If a reply is selected instead, only the reply will be marked as resolved. If someone disagrees with the resolution, the comment can be reopened, again using the application key and choosing reopen. Typically, if someone chooses to reopen a comment, additional replies should be added to indicate why the comment has been reopened.

Neither NVDA nor JAWS indicates if a comment is in the resolved state. Right now, the only way to determine if a comment is resolved for a screen reader user is to press the application key and if the options offer resolve comment, it is not resolved, and if the option offers reopen, the comment is resolved.

Visually, resolved comments are compressed, showing only one line and are visually dimmed. Comments are also compressed if many are present on the same page of a document. This caused a problem (where the screen readers spoke a bunch of garbage) with earlier versions of JAWS and NVDA and even in the latest version of NVDA, UAI Automation needs to be checked (in the advanced settings) to avoid this problem.

NVDA provides similar functionality already described in this thread for JAWS for working with comments. If the mode is changed from edit to browse (NVDA+space), pressing NVDA+F7 will open the elements dialog. Unlike Jaws, which has individual dialogs for items like links, headings, and comments, NVDA merges these all into a single dialog and allows the user to choose which to display by selecting an appropriate radio button. NVDA also combines comments and tracked changes into a single list called annotations. Also, while in browse mode, single key navigation using the 'a' key will move to the next annotation while Shift+a will move to the previous annotation.

Besides the technical mechanics of working with comments as described above, there are also many philosophies of how to manage comments. In the various consortiums that I work with, each has their own rules on comment creation and resolution. It is important for any author, editor, or reviewer to understand the expectations of how comments will be managed relative to documents. Often, these are described in some policy or procedure. In one of the consortiums that I work, there is a document describing how comments should be managed. For example, only the original author of a comment can delete that comment. Anyone can reply to a comment. Only the editor of a document can create content that addresses a comment and can then set the comment to resolved. It is critical that all parties understand how to manage comments, especially when the editor is not the original author of a document.

Because I spend a significant portion of my day creating, editing, and reviewing documents, many years ago I created an Excel spreadsheet to extract comments from Word documents and placing them (out of context) into an Excel spreadsheet. I am impressed, that even after 15 years, this macro still runs without need for modification. Kudus, Microsoft! This out of context list adds fields not present in screen reader lists, such as the associated text, whether the comment is resolved, page and line number, etc. Visual Basic for applications (VBA) macros were created to perform this function and many aspects of comments are provided beyond what screen readers provide. I am willing to share this automated spreadsheet to anyone who contacts me off list, but you will need to be comfortable running VBA macros, which involves enabling the developer tab on the ribbon. Also, I would request that you do not distribute to others, but have them contact me if they would desire a copy. Of course, I would also appreciate any feedback or problems encountered.

Rick Blair
softwarethatworks@...

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of skylar covich
Sent: Friday, September 4, 2020 1:18 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [office-accessibility] How to work with comments in word

Thanks for this thread. I too am working with a potential employer which may require document commenting, and also accepting and rejecting and suggesting changes via Track Changes. I'm using Word 2016; that said, Alt + R followed by C works well to make comments, and Control + Shift + Apostrophe or alt + R followed by N to find the list of comments, as the others said.
Skylar



On 9/4/20, Mcavoy, Matthew <Matthew_Mcavoy@...> wrote:

Good morning, Chelsea,

I am using the same combination of JAWS and Word.
I do not know about the Google Documents portion, since I have not
tried that part.
In Word, once I have my list of comments, after hitting
Ctrl+shift+apostrophe, I can just arrow down the list of comments.
Ctrl+shift+Once I
get to the comment in the list, I can hit Okay to go to the text with
the comment in the document.
To delete or edit comments, I can go to the comment, then hit the
applications key, then a list of options is available.
To add a new comment, I can either highlight the text, then click the
applications key for the list of options, or just hit alt, then N, then L.




From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
On Behalf Of Chelsea
Sent: Friday, September 4, 2020 11:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [office-accessibility] How to work with comments
in word

Good morning,
I am using jaws 2020, and Microsoft word with office 365. Recently, I
have begun working with a potential employer, and they use more
advanced techniques with word. For instance, they create Google
documents and insert comments into them. I am to read the comments,
and make necessary corrections based on the comments. I know that
control, shift,‘ brings up a list of the comments, but I don’t know
how to navigate to each one individually. For instance, like in
jaws,when you bring up a links list, you can move to a specific link.
Can you do that with comments? Also, how do you delete a comment that
you didn’t need to make? Also, what is the proper procedure for adding
comment? And, finally, is there a way to view the comments as they
appear in the text, instead of it saying has comments? Or, is there a special way to view them?
I know, a lot of questions my first time out, but I would like to get
this figured out as soon as possible. Thank you!
Chelsea



Please go to my website for your braille transcription needs!
;data=02%7C01%7C%7C011ef475a96041e53d5b08d852593243%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637349890330589941&amp;sdata=ZFlKxnlLdBT0csFl9tR%2FWqg%2FPOhwyWV6xISZoYZXeL4%3D&amp;reserved=0<;data=02%7C01%7C%7C011ef475a96041e53d5b08d852593243%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637349890330589941&amp;sdata=kMra5iV1zs06yHkQMUCDD9com0iH6nDv1E%2BOrPOnWYg%3D&amp;reserved=0
rld.net__;!!CQl3mcHX2A!ST4rNK8-U71fIDpWP76JkJMjwA85i3gLubZ9p79O9h58ZEq
q-Bj8aOA3KlxY5vm5BOI-dQ$>

--
Skylar J. Covich, Ph.D., Political Science

Hello,

Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial on Microsoft word?? My problem is learning how to format documents an complete filling ?out templates.

Walter

Hello,

Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial on Microsoft word?? My problem is learning how to format documents an complete filling ?out templates.

Walter

Hello Rick,
This is impressive, thank you!
Call to the mods:
Groups.io has a very useful feature called wiki which is... well...
wiki pages :).
As this is more or less a knowledge transfer group, it would be great
to add such messages as this one from Rick to wiki for easier
discoverability in future (with appropriate author attribution, of
course).
Thanks.

--
With best regards,
Andre
Skype: menelion_elensule
Twitter (English only): @AndrePolykanine


------------ Original message ------------
From: Rick <softwarethatworks@...>
To: [email protected]
Date created: , 4:55:01 AM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [office-accessibility] How to work with comments in word


Hello List:

Comments are a powerful feature of Microsoft Word. In my job and personal work, I use them almost every day. The following describes what you can do with comments using Office 365 on a Windows platform. Some of the behaviors may not be available in Office 2016 or earlier.

Comments can be added, edited, deleted, replied to, resolved, and reopened.

Word has two ways to visually display comments. The default is to display them in balloons, which visually appear on the right side of a document. The text in the document associated with the comment has some visual shading and a line from that text links it to the balloon. Another method is a separate window which can be to the right of the document or below the document where comments are displayed out of context.

Both NVDA and JAWS indicate the presence of a comment as the text of the document is navigated. Neither will indicate if any replies exist. If the cursor moves into text associated with a comment they will announce that a comment is present. If the Application key is now pressed, choices will be provided to Edit the comment, delete the comment, reply to the comment, or resolve the comment. If the comment is already resolved, the last choice will be to reopen the comment instead of resolve the comment. Only the initial comment can be managed this way. Navigating to replies is described later in this document. If you delete a comment that has replies, the comment and all replies will be deleted. No indication that replies are being deleted will be offered.

To add a comment, two keystroke combinations are provided by Word (Alt+r, followed by c, which has already been mentioned in this thread, or Control+Alt+m). I prefer the latter. Note, these are Word shortcuts and work with all screen readers. When you press either of these combination, you will be in a text field where you can edit the comment directly. When done, press the ESC key to return to editing the document.

Word, not your screen reader, offers additional shortcut keys to navigate the comments in a document. Alt+r followed by n will navigate to the next comment in the document while Alt+r followed by v will navigate to the previous comment in the document. Each of these shortcuts will place you in the comment, so you can edit the comment directly, if desired. Pressing the ESC key will place you back in the document. Pressing Alt+r followed by n will navigate to the next comment, which will be the first reply, if one exists, or the next comment in the document if no replies exist.

Word provides the ability to reply to comments. All replies are to the original comment. Even if you are in a reply, replying will be threaded to the original comment and not to the reply. JAWS treats all replies as a reply while NVDA treats them as levels with the initial comment at level 0.

Another feature of comments in Word is the ability to resolve a comment. Comments are typically marked as resolved when the content of the comment has been incorporated into the document or the thread indicates it is not needed. To resolve a comment, the cursor needs to be either in the text associated with a comment or the cursor needs to be in the comment text. Press the application key and choose resolve comment. Resolving the original comment will set all replies to resolved as well. If a reply is selected instead, only the reply will be marked as resolved. If someone disagrees with the resolution, the comment can be reopened, again using the application key and choosing reopen. Typically, if someone chooses to reopen a comment, additional replies should be added to indicate why the comment has been reopened.

Neither NVDA nor JAWS indicates if a comment is in the resolved state. Right now, the only way to determine if a comment is resolved for a screen reader user is to press the application key and if the options offer resolve comment, it is not resolved, and if the option offers reopen, the comment is resolved.

Visually, resolved comments are compressed, showing only one line and are visually dimmed. Comments are also compressed if many are present on the same page of a document. This caused a problem (where the screen readers spoke a bunch of garbage) with earlier versions of JAWS and NVDA and even in the latest version of NVDA, UAI Automation needs to be checked (in the advanced settings) to avoid this problem.

NVDA provides similar functionality already described in this thread for JAWS for working with comments. If the mode is changed from edit to browse (NVDA+space), pressing NVDA+F7 will open the elements dialog. Unlike Jaws, which has individual dialogs for items like links, headings, and comments, NVDA merges these all into a single dialog and allows the user to choose which to display by selecting an appropriate radio button. NVDA also combines comments and tracked changes into a single list called annotations. Also, while in browse mode, single key navigation using the 'a' key will move to the next annotation while Shift+a will move to the previous annotation.

Besides the technical mechanics of working with comments as described above, there are also many philosophies of how to manage comments. In the various consortiums that I work with, each has their own rules on comment creation and resolution. It is important for any author, editor, or reviewer to understand the expectations of how comments will be managed relative to documents. Often, these are described in some policy or procedure. In one of the consortiums that I work, there is a document describing how comments should be managed. For example, only the original author of a comment can delete that comment. Anyone can reply to a comment. Only the editor of a document can create content that addresses a comment and can then set the comment to resolved. It is critical that all parties understand how to manage comments, especially when the editor is not the original author of a document.

Because I spend a significant portion of my day creating, editing, and reviewing documents, many years ago I created an Excel spreadsheet to extract comments from Word documents and placing them (out of context) into an Excel spreadsheet. I am impressed, that even after 15 years, this macro still runs without need for modification. Kudus, Microsoft! This out of context list adds fields not present in screen reader lists, such as the associated text, whether the comment is resolved, page and line number, etc. Visual Basic for applications (VBA) macros were created to perform this function and many aspects of comments are provided beyond what screen readers provide. I am willing to share this automated spreadsheet to anyone who contacts me off list, but you will need to be comfortable running VBA macros, which involves enabling the developer tab on the ribbon. Also, I would request that you do not distribute to others, but have them contact me if they would desire a copy. Of course, I would also appreciate any feedback or problems encountered.

Rick Blair
softwarethatworks@...

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of skylar covich
Sent: Friday, September 4, 2020 1:18 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [office-accessibility] How to work with comments in word

Thanks for this thread. I too am working with a potential employer which may require document commenting, and also accepting and rejecting and suggesting changes via Track Changes. I'm using Word 2016; that said, Alt + R followed by C works well to make comments, and Control + Shift + Apostrophe or alt + R followed by N to find the list of comments, as the others said.
Skylar



On 9/4/20, Mcavoy, Matthew <Matthew_Mcavoy@...> wrote:

Good morning, Chelsea,

I am using the same combination of JAWS and Word.
I do not know about the Google Documents portion, since I have not
tried that part.
In Word, once I have my list of comments, after hitting
Ctrl+shift+apostrophe, I can just arrow down the list of comments.
Ctrl+shift+Once I
get to the comment in the list, I can hit Okay to go to the text with
the comment in the document.
To delete or edit comments, I can go to the comment, then hit the
applications key, then a list of options is available.
To add a new comment, I can either highlight the text, then click the
applications key for the list of options, or just hit alt, then N, then L.




From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
On Behalf Of Chelsea
Sent: Friday, September 4, 2020 11:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [office-accessibility] How to work with comments
in word

Good morning,
I am using jaws 2020, and Microsoft word with office 365. Recently, I
have begun working with a potential employer, and they use more
advanced techniques with word. For instance, they create Google
documents and insert comments into them. I am to read the comments,
and make necessary corrections based on the comments. I know that
control, shift,‘ brings up a list of the comments, but I don’t know
how to navigate to each one individually. For instance, like in
jaws,when you bring up a links list, you can move to a specific link.
Can you do that with comments? Also, how do you delete a comment that
you didn’t need to make? Also, what is the proper procedure for adding
comment? And, finally, is there a way to view the comments as they
appear in the text, instead of it saying has comments? Or, is there a special way to view them?
I know, a lot of questions my first time out, but I would like to get
this figured out as soon as possible. Thank you!
Chelsea



Please go to my website for your braille transcription needs!
;data=02%7C01%7C%7C011ef475a96041e53d5b08d852593243%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637349890330589941&amp;sdata=ZFlKxnlLdBT0csFl9tR%2FWqg%2FPOhwyWV6xISZoYZXeL4%3D&amp;reserved=0<;data=02%7C01%7C%7C011ef475a96041e53d5b08d852593243%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637349890330589941&amp;sdata=kMra5iV1zs06yHkQMUCDD9com0iH6nDv1E%2BOrPOnWYg%3D&amp;reserved=0
rld.net__;!!CQl3mcHX2A!ST4rNK8-U71fIDpWP76JkJMjwA85i3gLubZ9p79O9h58ZEq
q-Bj8aOA3KlxY5vm5BOI-dQ$>

--
Skylar J. Covich, Ph.D., Political Science

Good morning, Chelsea,

I am using the same combination of JAWS and Word.
I do not know about the Google Documents portion, since I have not
tried that part.
In Word, once I have my list of comments, after hitting
Ctrl+shift+apostrophe, I can just arrow down the list of comments.
Ctrl+shift+Once I
get to the comment in the list, I can hit Okay to go to the text with
the comment in the document.
To delete or edit comments, I can go to the comment, then hit the
applications key, then a list of options is available.
To add a new comment, I can either highlight the text, then click the
applications key for the list of options, or just hit alt, then N, then L.




From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
On Behalf Of Chelsea
Sent: Friday, September 4, 2020 11:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [office-accessibility] How to work with comments
in word

Good morning,
I am using jaws 2020, and Microsoft word with office 365. Recently, I
have begun working with a potential employer, and they use more
advanced techniques with word. For instance, they create Google
documents and insert comments into them. I am to read the comments,
and make necessary corrections based on the comments. I know that
control, shift,‘ brings up a list of the comments, but I don’t know
how to navigate to each one individually. For instance, like in
jaws,when you bring up a links list, you can move to a specific link.
Can you do that with comments? Also, how do you delete a comment that
you didn’t need to make? Also, what is the proper procedure for adding
comment? And, finally, is there a way to view the comments as they
appear in the text, instead of it saying has comments? Or, is there a special way to view them?
I know, a lot of questions my first time out, but I would like to get
this figured out as soon as possible. Thank you!
Chelsea



Please go to my website for your braille transcription needs!
www.read-theworld.net<
rld.net__;!!CQl3mcHX2A!ST4rNK8-U71fIDpWP76JkJMjwA85i3gLubZ9p79O9h58ZEq
q-Bj8aOA3KlxY5vm5BOI-dQ$>

?

Hello,

Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial on Microsoft word?? My problem is learning how to format documents an complete filling ?out templates.

Walter

Hi all,

?

I experience regular silences in JAWS 2020 also, but I’m not sure it is just in outlook.

?

Try running Narator (control-windows-enter) and give it up to 10 seconds sometimes that kick starts the speech again. If that works, then just toggle Narator off again .

?

Just a trick I stumbled on that often works.

Regards

Susan

?

?

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of 6217naz@...
Sent: Sunday, 6 September 2020 2:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [office-accessibility] Outlook using 365 & JAWS 2020 on Windows 10

?

Hello all,

A lot of great information here. I have an issue where my JAWS goes silent or rather crashes whenever I try to read an email message.

I minimize the window, sometimes JAWS restores function, sometimes I have to reopen JAWS.

drew

?

?

Hello all,

A lot of great information here. I have an issue where my JAWS goes silent or rather crashes whenever I try to read an email message.

I minimize the window, sometimes JAWS restores function, sometimes I have to reopen JAWS.

drew

?

?

Drew,

Does this consistently occur with all emails or with specific emails?

David Goldfield,

Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist

JAWS Certified, 2019

?

Hello all,

A lot of great information here. I have an issue where my JAWS goes silent or rather crashes whenever I try to read an email message.

I minimize the window, sometimes JAWS restores function, sometimes I have to reopen JAWS.

drew

--
Feel free to visit the moderator's Web site

Hello David:

First, let me thank you for hosting this list. This is not a trivial activity to monitor And I appreciate your work. As a person who uses MS office almost every day, I look forward to exchanging experiences with others who need to use assistive technology to operate Office.

In your vision, is this list restricted purely to Office products (i.e. Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, and Publisher) or can we discuss other Microsoft apps like OneNote, Skype, Skype for business, Visio, and Microsoft Teams)?

Thanks, Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of David Goldfield
Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2020 8:23 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [office-accessibility] Welcome to Our New Members To This New List

I wanted to welcome all of you to this list. I also want to thank you for choosing to subscribe, considering the large number of groups which are available and which always competes with our time and attention.

I realize that there are a ton of technology-related groups out there for blind users and creating yet another one risks further fragmentation. However, about a week ago I ran into a situation where I needed assistance in performing a task with Outlook and I just couldn't figure out the best list to post it to. It wasn't specifically a Windows issue nor was it a screen reader specific question. I realized that what we needed (at least, what I believed that we needed) was a group to ask questions specific to Office, which is why I created this list. The large number of subscribers to this list in such a short period of time confirms that I may have been correct about the need for such a list but time will tell if I'm right or not in the long term. In the meantime please continue to enjoy this list and use it for its intended purpose for as long as you feel it's useful to you. No question is too basic and, while I know this may be an overly used expression, there really is no such thing as a stupid question.

I just ask that you follow the rules for this list. Be courteous, try to make your subject lines detailed and be sure to specify the version of the software you're asking about, as in JAWS 2020, Word 2019, Windows 10, etc.

JAWS 2020 users are encouraged to update to the August release. JAWS updates often add improvements and fixes to the way that it interacts with Office products and this is also the case for Zoomtext. NVDA users should update to version 2020.2, as well.

Finally, please be aware that the first few messages from users need to be approved by me before they get posted to the list. This is a default setting with the Groups.io service. Because I'm working during the day I won't be able to approve users until this evening and so there may be a delay in seeing messages being posted. Thanks in advance for your patience and understanding.

Finally, I hope that this list proves to be a benefit to you and that it helps you to learn more about how to best use Microsoft Office.


Wishing you the best.

?

Hi,

?

When I click on an email link, instead of opening a new message and putting the address in the to field jaws 2020 says add an account, but if I copy the link and open a new message and paste the address in, it is fine, how can I get outlook to automatically open a new message when I click on an email link?

?

When I am deleting messages why doesn’t the delete key delete the message? Is there any way to make this happen? And if I do ctrlD to delete the message, can I make outlook go into the next message and start reading it instead of having to press enter on each message I want to read?

?

Thanks

Hello all,

A lot of great information here. I have an issue where my JAWS goes silent or rather crashes whenever I try to read an email message.

I minimize the window, sometimes JAWS restores function, sometimes I have to reopen JAWS.

drew