Appendix A. Commands and Gestures
This appendix lists VoiceOver commands and gestures, organized into categories. 

General commands
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

Open the VoiceOver Help menu

VO-H

Open the VoiceOver Quick Start

VO-Command-F8

Open VoiceOver online help 

VO-?

Start keyboard help

VO-K

Hear a description of the item in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-Shift-N

Open the Commands menu 

VO-H-H

Open the Find menu

VO-Shift-F

Close a menu or rotor, stop an action, or exit a mode

Escape 

Tell VoiceOver to ignore the next 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. 

Magnify the item in the VoiceOver cursor 

VO-}

Shrink the item in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-{

Temporarily hide or show the VoiceOver cursor and the caption or Braille panels

VO-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-Option) keys and rotate two fingers on the trackpad 
clockwise (enable) or counterclockwise (disable)

Turn the screen black (screen curtain)

VO-Shift-F11 

Cycle through speech settings (rate, pitch, volume, intonation, voice) 

VO-Command-Right Arrow or Left Arrow

Change the current speech setting (rate, pitch, volume, intonation, voice) 

VO-Command-Up Arrow or Down Arrow

Press and release mouse button

VO-Shift-Space bar

Interaction commands
Use these commands to interact with items on the screen.

Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press the Fn key when you press a function 
key.

Action 

Command

Interact 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

Select a menu or list item

VO-Return

Select multiple items

VO-Command-Space bar

Turn off cursor tracking to use this command.

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

Click the item under the mouse cursor 

VO-Shift-Space bar

Press once for a single mouse click and two times to double-click.

Open or close a disclosure triangle

VO-\

Read a row in a table

VO-R

Read a column in a table

VO-C-C 

Read the column header in a table

VO-C

Read row and column numbers in a table

VO-Shift-T 

Sort a column 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. Use Page Up and 
Page Down to scroll vertically one page at a time. Use Shift-Page Up and 
Shift-Page Down to scroll horizontally one page at a time.

Resize a window or an object

VO-~

Move a window or an object

VO-`

Then use the arrow keys to move the window. Use Shift with the arrow keys to 
move in smaller increments.

Stop scrolling or resizing

Escape

Navigation commands
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 the Fn key when you press a function 
key.

Action

Command

Move up

VO-Up Arrow

Move down 

VO-Down Arrow

Move to previous

VO-Left Arrow

Move to next

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 to the front the window where the VoiceOver cursor is located and make it 
active

VO-Shift-F2

Close the window where the VoiceOver cursor is located

VO-Command-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 first status menu in the menu bar 

VO-M-M

Open the Spotlight menu 

VO-M-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 VoiceOver cursor to keyboard focus 

VO-Shift-F4 

Move keyboard focus to VoiceOver cursor

VO-Command-F4

Move VoiceOver cursor to mouse cursor

VO-Shift-F5 

Move mouse cursor to VoiceOver cursor

VO-Command-F5

Jump command (used with the next four commands)

VO-Shift-J

Jump to the edge of an area 

VO-Shift-arrow keys

Jump to the visible edge of an area

VO-arrow keys

Jump to the area that precedes a horizontal or vertical splitter

VO-[

Jump to the area that follows a horizontal or vertical splitter

VO-]

Find text 

VO-F

While finding text, cycle through search item history

VO-Up Arrow or Down Arrow

Navigate in given direction, wrapping when necessary

VO-Command-Shift-arrow keys

Set or remove a hot spot 

VO-Shift-[number key]

Open the Hot Spot Chooser

VO-[number key]-[number key]

Jump to a hot spot

VO-[number key]

Hear a description of a hot spot 

VO-Command-[number key]

Monitor a hot spot

VO-Command-Shift-[number key]

Jump back to a parent folder

VO-Command-\

Orientation commands
Use these commands to hear where the cursors are located and what is open on 
the screen.

Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press the Fn key when you press a function 
key.

Action

Command

Hear the application summary

VO-F1

Open the Application Chooser 

VO-F1-F1

Hear the window summary

VO-F2

Open the Window Chooser 

VO-F2-F2

Describe the item in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-F3

Describe the size of the item in the VoiceOver cursor 

VO-Command-F3

Describe the position of the item in the VoiceOver cursor 

VO-Command-F3-F3

Describe the item that has the keyboard focus

VO-F4

Describe the location of the insertion point (from upper-left corner of screen)

VO-F4-F4

Describe the item under the mouse cursor

VO-F5

Describe the location of the mouse in x, y coordinates (from upper-left corner 
of screen)

VO-F5-F5

Describe the location of the mouse (from upper-left corner of window)

VO-F5-F5-F5

Describe the selected item

VO-F6

Read everything in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-A

Read everything visible in the window or the Dock, or on 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

Search commands
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

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

Find the next font change 

VO-Command-O

Find the previous font change 

VO-Command-Shift-O

Find the next table 

VO-Command-T

Find the previous table 

VO-Command-Shift-T

Find the next underlined text 

VO-Command-U

Find the previous underlined text 

VO-Command-Shift-U

Find the next control 

VO-Command-J

Find the previous control 

VO-Command-Shift-J

Find the next different item 

VO-Command-D

Find the previous different item 

VO-Command-Shift-D

Find the next item that’s the same type as the current item 

VO-Command-S

Find the previous item that’s the same type as the current item 

VO-Command-Shift-S

Find the next graphic 

VO-Command-G

Find the previous graphic 

VO-Command-Shift-G

Find the next heading 

VO-Command-H

Find the previous heading 

VO-Command-Shift-H

Find the next link 

VO-Command-L

Find the previous link 

VO-Command-Shift-L

Find the next heading of the same level 

VO-Command-M

Find the previous heading of the same level 

VO-Command-Shift-M

Find the next plain text 

VO-Command-P

Find the previous plain text 

VO-Command-Shift-P

Find the next visited link 

VO-Command-V

Find the previous visited link 

VO-Command-Shift-V

Find the next misspelled word 

VO-Command-E

Find the previous misspelled word 

VO-Command-Shift-E

Text commands
Use these commands to read and edit text and tables. Before you can use most of 
these commands, you must interact with text in a text area.

Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press the Fn key when you press a function 
key.

Action

Command

Read all text from the VoiceOver cursor to the end of the text

VO-A

Select all text in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-Shift-A

Start and stop text selection in a text field (text selection tracking must be 
on)

VO-Return

Speak text attributes

VO-T

Add a hot spot in text

VO-Shift-1

Jump to a hot spot in text

VO-1

Read paragraph in VoiceOver cursor

VO-P

Read next paragraph

VO-Shift-Page Down

Read previous paragraph

VO-Shift-Page Up 

Read sentence in VoiceOver cursor

VO-S

Read next sentence 

VO-Command-Page Down

Read previous sentence

VO-Command-Page Up

Read line in VoiceOver cursor

VO-L

Read next line

VO-Down Arrow

Read previous line

VO-Up Arrow 

Read word in VoiceOver cursor

VO-W

Press twice to hear the word spelled; press a third time to hear the word 
spelled phonetically.

Read next word

VO-Right Arrow

Read previous word

VO-Left Arrow

Read character in VoiceOver cursor

VO-C

Press twice to hear the phonetic character.

Read next character

VO-Shift-Right Arrow

Read previous character

VO-Shift-Left Arrow

Move to first visible word

VO-Home

On a portable computer, press VO-Fn-Left Arrow.

Move to last visible word

VO-End

On a portable computer, press VO-Fn-Right Arrow.

Move to beginning of text, scrolling if necessary

VO-Shift-Home

On a portable computer, press VO-Shift-Fn-Left Arrow.

Move to end of text, scrolling if necessary 

VO-Shift-End

On a portable computer, press VO-Shift-Fn-Right Arrow.

Add new tab stop (in TextEdit only when the VoiceOver cursor is on a tab stop 
in the ruler)

VO-Space bar

Delete the current tab stop (in TextEdit only when the VoiceOver cursor is on a 
tab stop in the ruler)

VO-Delete

Interact with tab stop (in TextEdit only when the VoiceOver cursor is on a tab 
stop in the ruler)

VO-Shift-Down Arrow

Then use the Left and Right Arrow key to move the stop.

Reads the current word and character in the VoiceOver cursor

VO-F3

Reads the total number of lines and the number of visible lines in a document 

VO-F3-F3

Web commands
Use these commands to navigate and interact with webpages.

Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press the Fn key when you press a function 
key. 

Action

Command

Move to the next column

VO-Command-Y

Move to the previous column

VO-Command-Shift-Y

Move to the next frame

VO-Command-F

Move to the previous frame

VO-Command-Shift-F

Move to the next auto web spot

VO-Command-N

Move to the previous auto web spot

VO-Command-Shift-N

Move to the next web spot

VO-Command-]

Move to the previous web spot

VO-Command-[

Open the Web Item rotor 

VO-U

Read from the current location on a webpage to the end of the page 

VO-A

Read from the beginning of a webpage to the current location

VO-B

Read a link address (URL)

VO-Shift-U

Read the next sentence

VO-Command-Page Down

Read the previous sentence

VO-Command-Page Up

Read webpage statistics

VO-Shift-I

Remove a web spot

VO-Command-Shift-{

Set a web spot

VO-Command-Shift-}

Set the sweet spot

VO-Command-Shift-}-}

Turn the grouping of items within a table on or off

VO-=

VoiceOver standard gestures
If you’re using a Multi-Touch trackpad, you can use VoiceOver gestures. 
VoiceOver provides a set of standard gestures for navigating and interacting 
with items on the screen. You can’t modify this set of gestures.

Note:Gestures that don’t mention a specific number of fingers are single-finger 
gestures. 

Action

Gesture

General

Enable the Trackpad Commander and VoiceOver gestures

VO-Two-finger rotate clockwise

Disable the Trackpad Commander and VoiceOver gestures

VO-Two-finger rotate counterclockwise

Turn the screen curtain on or off 

Three-finger triple-tap

Mute or unmute VoiceOver

Three-finger double-tap

Navigation

Force the VoiceOver cursor into a horizontal or vertical line when you drag a 
finger across the trackpad 

Hold down the Shift key and drag a finger horizontally or vertically

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the next item

Flick right

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the previous item

Flick left

Move content or the scroll bar (depending on the Trackpad Commander setting) 

Three-finger flick in any direction

Go to the Dock

This gesture moves the VoiceOver cursor to the Dock wherever it’s positioned on 
the screen

Two-finger double-tap near the bottom of the trackpad

Go to the menu bar

Two-finger double-tap near the top of the trackpad

Open the Application Chooser 

Two-finger double-tap on the left side of the trackpad

Open the Window Chooser 

Two-finger double-tap on the right side of the trackpad

Jump to another area of the current application

Press Control while touching a finger on the trackpad

Interaction

Speak the item in the VoiceOver cursor or, if there isn’t an item, play a sound 
effect to indicate a blank area

Touch (includes tap or dragging)

Select an item

Double-tap anywhere on the trackpad

You can also split-tap (touch one finger and then tap with a second finger on 
the trackpad)

Start interacting with the item in the VoiceOver cursor

Two-finger flick right

Stop interacting with the item in the VoiceOver cursor

Two-finger flick left

Scroll one page up or down 

Three-finger flick up or down

Escape (close a menu without making a selection)

Two-finger scrub back and forth

Increase or decrease the value of a slider, splitter, stepper, or other control 

Flick up (increase) or flick down (decrease)

Text

Read the current page, starting at the top 

Two-finger flick up

Read from the VoiceOver cursor to the end of the current page

Two-finger flick down

Pause or resume speaking

Two-finger tap

Describe what’s in the VoiceOver cursor

Three-finger tap

Change how VoiceOver reads text (by word, line, sentence, or paragraph)

Press the Command key while touching a finger on the trackpad

Rotor

Change the rotor settings

Two-finger rotate 

Move to the previous item based on the rotor setting

Flick up

Move to the next item based on the rotor setting

Flick down

To customize other gestures by assigning VoiceOver commands to them, use the 
Trackpad Commander.

Assigning VoiceOver commands to gestures

If you need a reminder about what a gesture does, press VO-K to start keyboard 
help, and then use the gesture on the trackpad and listen to the description. 

Learning about keys, keyboard shortcuts, and gestures

New and changed VoiceOver commands in Mac OS X 10.6
VoiceOver in Mac OS X introduces several new and changed commands.

Note:If your keyboard has an Fn key, press the Fn key when you press a function 
key.

Action

Command

New

Turn the Keyboard Commander on or off

VO-Shift-K

Speak the location of the insertion point

VO-F4-F4

Turn on or off the grouping of items within a table

VO-=

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the next column (only when items within tables are 
not being grouped)

VO-Command-Y

Move the VoiceOver cursor to the previous column (only when items within tables 
are not being grouped)

VO-Command-Shift-Y

Next auto web spot

VO-Command-N

Previous auto web spot

VO-Command-Shift-N

Next web spot 

VO-Command-]

Previous web spot 

VO-Command-[

Delete web spot 

VO-Command-Shift-{

Set web spot 

VO-Command-Shift-}

Set sweet spot 

VO-Command-Shift-}-}

Next misspelled word 

VO-Command-E

Previous misspelled word 

VO-Command-Shift-E

Next sentence 

VO-Command-Page Down

Previous sentence (in documents and webpages) 

VO-Command-Page Up

Next page (documents only)

VO-Page Down

Previous page (documents only) 

VO-Page Up

Size of item in VoiceOver cursor 

VO-Command-F3

Position of item in VoiceOver cursor 

VO-Command-F3-F3

Read webpage statistics 

VO-Shift-I

Read an element’s help tag 

VO-Shift-H

Read an element’s VoiceOver hint 

VO-Shift-N

Open Web Item rotor 

VO-U

Open Hot Spot Chooser 

VO-[number key]-[number key]

Move a UI element 

VO-Command-`

Open resize UI element menu 

VO-Command-~

Changed

Open VoiceOver Online Help 

VO-?

Open Commands Help menu 

VO-H-H

VoiceOver adds support for gestures when using a Multi-Touch trackpad. You can 
use standard VoiceOver gestures, which you can’t change, and other gestures 
which you can customize by assigning VoiceOver commands to them.

About VoiceOver gestures

 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Steve Sparrow 
  To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2014 9:21 AM
  Subject: Re: protools playback engine issue


  Hey slau. sorry to be a pest, but is it possible to give me instructions on 
how to do this. I do not know how to route the mouse pointer to the voice over 
curser. How do i do a physical click. 
  Dumb question i know but well sorry about that.
   Thanks in advance mate.
  Steve
  , 
  > On 31 Dec 2014, at 2:10 am, Slau Halatyn <slauhala...@gmail.com> wrote:
  > 
  > Hi Steve,
  > 
  > Route the mouse pointer to the VoiceOver cursor and do a physical mouse 
click. There seems to be a problem with certain controls. See if that works. It 
should.
  > 
  > Slau
  > 
  > On Dec 30, 2014, at 11:07 AM, Steve Sparrow <i...@sparrowsound.com.au> 
wrote:
  > 
  >> Hi guys. Have just upgraded to yo semitics on the mac. Strange behaviour 
with protools 11 for some reason when i go in to the set up menu and select the 
playback engine, i can’t seem to see a list of all the audio devices available 
for protocols to play through. It will show me pro tools aggregate device, and 
some times air play. But when i v o space on the pop up button, i do not get 
the list of devices. So i can not select my pre songs audio interface. or 
anything else. Is there a way around this. I am aware that there is a new 
upgrade to protools, but have not worked out how to download this as yet.
  >> 
  >> I have no problem with selecting any device in pro tools 10.39. 
  >> any help would be very much appreciated.
  >> 
  >> Steve
  >> 
  >> -- 
  >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"Pro Tools Accessibility" group.
  >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
email to ptaccess+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
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  > 
  > -- 
  > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"Pro Tools Accessibility" group.
  > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
email to ptaccess+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
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