This appendix lists VoiceOver commands and gestures, organized into categories.
Use these commands to turn VoiceOver on and off, get help, change basic settings, and enable and disable Commanders.
Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press the Fn key when you press a function key.
Action
Command
Turn VoiceOver on or off
Command-F5
Lock and unlock the VO (Control and Option) keys
VO-;
Open VoiceOver Utility
VO-F8
Start keyboard help
VO-K
Open the VoiceOver Help menu
VO-H
Open the VoiceOver Quick Start
VO-Command-F8
Open VoiceOver online help
VO-?
Read the help tag for the current item
VO-Shift-H
Read the VoiceOver hint for the current item
VO-Shift-N
Open the Commands menu
VO-H-H
Open the Find Commands menu
VO-Shift-F
Close a menu or rotor, stop an action, or exit a mode
Escape
Tell VoiceOver to ignore the next key or key combination you press
VO-Tab
Open the Verbosity rotor
VO-V
Then press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key to choose the setting. Use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to change the level for the setting.
Increase magnification of the item in the VoiceOver cursor
VO-}
Decrease magnification of the item in the VoiceOver cursor
VO-{
Temporarily hide or show the VoiceOver cursor and the caption or braille panels
VO-Command-F11
Hide or show the caption panel only
VO-Command-F10
Resize or move the caption panel
VO-Shift-F10
Press again to cycle through these actions. Then use the arrow keys to resize the panel or move it. Press the Shift key with the arrow keys to move in smaller increments.
Hide or show the braille panel only
VO-Command-F9
Resize or move the braille panel
VO-Shift-F9
Press again to cycle through these actions. Then use the arrow keys to resize the panel or move it. Press the Shift key with the arrow keys to move in smaller increments.
Tile visuals (dim the screen, highlight the caption or braille panel, and show the item in the VoiceOver cursor in the center of the screen).
VO-F10
Press again to return to the normal view.
Enable or disable the NumPad Commander
VO-Clear
Enable or disable the Keyboard Commander
VO-Shift-K
Enable or disable the Trackpad Commander
Press the VO (Control and Option) keys and rotate two fingers clockwise (enable) or counterclockwise (disable)
Turn the screen curtain on or off
VO-Shift-F11
Cycle through speech settings in the rotor (rate, pitch, volume, intonation, voice)
VO-Command-Right Arrow or Left Arrow
Increase or decrease the current speech setting (rate, pitch, volume, intonation, voice)
VO-Command-Up Arrow or Down Arrow
Use these commands to interact with items on the screen.
Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press it when you press a function key.
Action
Command
Start interacting with an item
VO-Shift-Down Arrow
Stop interacting with an item
VO-Shift-Up Arrow
Perform the default action for the item in the VoiceOver cursor
VO-Space bar
Click the mouse
VO-Shift-Space bar
Double-click the mouse
VO-Shift-Space bar-Space bar
Start multiple selection in a list or table, and select each item
VO-Command-Space bar
To stop multiple selection, cut or copy the selected items, press Escape, or stop interacting with the list or table in which the items are located.
Perform a sticky mouse down or mouse up (for use when dragging an item from one location to drop in another location)
VO-Command-Shift-Space bar
Select a menu or list item
VO-Return
Open or close a disclosure triangle
VO-\
Read a row in a table
VO-R
Read the column header in a table
VO-C
Read a column in a table
VO-C-C
Read row and column numbers in a table
VO-Shift-T
Read the number of columns and rows (the dimensions) in a table
VO-Shift-T-T
Jump to the sort button in a column header in a table
VO-|
Interact with scroll bars
VO-Shift-S
Then use the arrow keys to scroll up or down or side to side. To scroll vertically one page at a time, use Page Up and Page Down. To scroll horizontally one page at a time, use Shift-Page Up and Shift-Page Down.
Resize a window
VO-~
From the menu, choose Resize, “Resize and Move to Grid,” or “Resize and Move to Section.” Then navigate to a submenu where you can choose to resize an edge or corner, resize and move to an area of a grid such as the top left, or resize and move to a section, such as the bottom half.
To resize an edge, use the VO and arrow keys (for example, press VO-Right Arrow to extend the right edge of a window). To resize a corner, use VO and two arrow keys (for example, press VO-Right Arrow-Up Arrow to extend the top-right corner of a window). To resize in smaller increments, press Shift while using the arrow keys.
Move a window
VO-`
Then use the VO and arrow keys (for example, press VO-Left Arrow to move a window left). To move a window diagonally, use VO and two arrow keys (for example, press VO-Left Arrow-Up Arrow to move a window diagonally left and up). To move in smaller increments, press Shift while using the arrow keys.
Resize an object
VO-Command-~
From the menu, choose Resize, “Resize and Move to Grid,” or “Resize and Move to Section.” Then navigate to a submenu where you can choose to resize an edge or handle, resize and move to an area of a grid such as the top left, or resize and move to a section, such as the bottom half.
To resize an edge, use the VO and arrow keys (for example, press VO-Right Arrow to extend the right edge of an object). To resize a handle, use VO and two arrow keys (for example, press VO-Right Arrow-Up Arrow to extend the top right handle of an object). To resize in smaller increments, press Shift while using the arrow keys.
Move an object
VO-Command-`
Then use the VO and arrow keys (for example, press VO-Left Arrow to move an object left). To move an object diagonally, use VO and two arrow keys (for example, press VO-Left Arrow-Up Arrow to move an object diagonally left and up). To move in smaller increments, press Shift while using the arrow keys.
Stop scrolling or resizing
Escape
Create a custom label
VO-/
Close the current window or the selected desktop in Mission Control
VO-Command-Escape
Use these commands to move around the screen, move inside windows and webpages, and control cursor tracking.
Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press it when you press a function key.
Action
Command
Move the VoiceOver cursor up
VO-Up Arrow
Move the VoiceOver cursor down
VO-Down Arrow
Move the VoiceOver cursor to the left
VO-Left Arrow
Move the VoiceOver cursor to the right
VO-Right Arrow
Move to the top of the visible area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located
VO-Home
On some keyboards, press VO-Fn-Left Arrow.
Move to the bottom of the visible area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located
VO-End
On some keyboards, press VO-Fn-Right Arrow.
Move to the top of the area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located, scrolling if necessary
VO-Shift-Home
On some keyboards, press VO-Shift-Fn-Left Arrow.
Move to the bottom of the area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located, scrolling if necessary
VO-Shift-End
On some keyboards, press VO-Shift-Fn-Right Arrow.
Move to the top of a window, the first item in the Dock, or the first item on your desktop, depending on your location
VO-Command-Home
On some keyboards, press VO-Command-Fn-Left Arrow.
Move to the lower-right corner of a window, the last item in the Dock, or the last item on your desktop, depending on your location
VO-Command-End
On some keyboards, press VO-Command-Fn-Right Arrow.
Move the window containing the VoiceOver cursor to the front, making it the active window
VO-Shift-F2
Open the Item Chooser
VO-I
Move to the Dock
VO-D
Move to the desktop
VO-Shift-D
Move to the menu bar
VO-M
Move to the status menus in the menu bar
VO-M-M
Open a shortcut menu
VO-Shift-M
Jump to a linked item (for example, from a Mail message in the Inbox to its message text)
VO-J
Temporarily disable or enable the cursor tracking options you selected in VoiceOver Utility
The command doesn’t change the settings in VoiceOver Utility.
VO-Shift-F3
Move the VoiceOver cursor to the keyboard focus
VO-Shift-F4
Move the keyboard focus to the VoiceOver cursor
VO-Command-F4
Move the VoiceOver cursor to the mouse pointer
VO-Shift-F5
Move the mouse pointer to the VoiceOver cursor
VO-Command-F5
Jump from the current location to any displayed input method or auto correction panel, and then jump back to the original location
VO-Shift-J
Find text
VO-F
While finding text, cycle through search item history
VO-Up Arrow or Down Arrow
Move the VoiceOver cursor in the given direction, wrapping when necessary
VO-Command-Shift-arrow keys
Set or remove a hot spot
VO-Shift-[number key]
Jump to a hot spot
VO-[number key]
Hear a description of a hot spot
VO-Command-[number key]
Toggles watching a hot spot for changes
VO-Command-Shift-[number key]
Open the Hot Spot Chooser
VO-[number key]-[number key]
Move to the next hot spot
VO-]
Move to the previous hot spot
VO-[
Jump back to a parent folder
VO-Command-\
Use these commands to hear information about the current item and what’s open on the screen.
Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press it when you press a function key.
Action
Command
Hear a summary of open apps
VO-F1
Open the Application Chooser
VO-F1-F1
Hear a summary of the current window
VO-F2
Open the Window Chooser
VO-F2-F2
Hear the dimensions of the current window and the section of the screen where it’s located
VO-Command-F2
Hear the position of the current window and whether anything overlaps it
VO-Command-F2-F2
Hear a description of the item in the VoiceOver cursor, including the item’s current state, such as whether a checkbox is selected, or the percent value of a slider
VO-F3
Hear the dimensions of the current item and the section of the screen where it’s located
VO-Command-F3
Hear the position of the current item and whether anything overlaps it
VO-Command-F3-F3
Hear a description of the item that has keyboard focus, including its current state, such as whether a checkbox is selected, or the percent value of a slider
VO-F4
Hear details about the item that has the keyboard focus
In text, you hear the location of the insertion point relative to the top-left corner of the text item in which the insertion point is located. For example, you might hear “Insertion point is two inches right, five inches down from top-left corner of edit text.”
VO-F4-F4
Hear a description of the item under the mouse pointer, including the item’s current state, such as whether a checkbox is selected, or the percent value of a slider
VO-F5
Hear the location of the mouse pointer as x and y coordinates on the screen, relative to the top-left corner of the screen
VO-F5-F5
Hear the location of the mouse pointer as x and y coordinates relative to the current window
VO-F5-F5-F5
Read the selected item
VO-F6
Read the contents of the VoiceOver cursor
VO-A
Read the visible contents of the window, the Dock, or your desktop, depending on your location
VO-Shift-W
Repeat the last spoken phrase
VO-Z
Copy the last spoken phrase to the Clipboard (also called the “Pasteboard”)
VO-Shift-C
Save the last spoken phrase and the crash log to a file on the desktop for troubleshooting
VO-Shift-Z
Use these commands to search for text attributes, graphics, controls, and other items in text documents and webpages.
Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press the Fn key when you press a function key.
Action
Command
Find
VO-F
Open the Find Commands menu
VO-Shift-F
Find the next searched text
VO-G
Find the previous searched text
VO-Shift-G
Find the next list
VO-Command-X
Find the previous list
VO-Command-Shift-X
Find the next bold text
VO-Command-B
Find the previous bold text
VO-Command-Shift-B
Find the next style change
VO-Command-C
Find the previous style change
VO-Command-Shift-C
Find the next italic text
VO-Command-I
Find the previous italic text
VO-Command-Shift-I
Find the next color change
VO-Command-K
Find the previous color change
VO-Command-Shift-K