NVDA Commands Quick Reference
Getting started with NVDA
Basic NVDA commands
Name
Desktop key
Stop speech
Control
Pause Speech
shift
Instantly pauses speech.
Pressing it again will continue speaking where it left off (if pausing is supported by the current synthesizer)
NVDA Menu
NVDA+n
Pops up the NVDA menu to allow you to access preferences, tools, help, etc.
Toggle Speech Mode
NVDA+s
Toggles speech mode between speech, beeps and off.
Toggle Input Help Mode
NVDA+1
Pressing any key in this mode will report the key, and the description of any NVDA command associated with it
Quit NVDA
NVDA+q
Exits NVDA
Pass next key through
NVDA+f2
Tells NVDA to pass the next key press straight through to the active application, even if it is normally treeted as an NVDA key command
Toggle application sleep mode on and off
NVDA+shift+s
sleep mode disables all NVDA commands and speech/braille output for the current application.
This is most useful in applications that provide their own speech or screen reading features.
Press this command again to disable self voicing mode.
Reporting System Information
Report date/time
NVDA+f12
Pressing once reports the current time, pressing twice reports the date
Report battery status
NVDA+shift+b
Reports the battery status i.e. whether AC power is in use or the current charge percentage.
Report clipboard text
NVDA+c
Reports the Text in the clipboard if there is any.
Navigating with NVDA
Navigating with the System Focus
Report current focus
NVDA+tab
Report title
NVDA+t
Read active window
NVDA+b
Report Status Bar
NVDA+end
Navigating with the System Caret
Say all
NVDA+downArrow
Starts reading from the current position of the system caret, moving it along as it goes
Read current line
NVDA+upArrow
Reads the line where the system caret is currently situated.
Pressing twice spells the line.
Read current text selection
NVDA+Shift+upArrow
Reads any currently selected text
When within a table, the following key commands are also available:
Move to previous column
control+alt+leftArrow
Moves the system caret to the previous column (
staying in the same row)
Move to next column
control+alt+rightArrow
Moves the system caret to the next column (staying in the same row)
Move to previous row
control+alt+upArrow
Moves the system caret to the previous row (staying in the same column)
Move to next row
control+alt+downArrow
Moves the system caret to the next row (staying in the same column)
Browse Mode
Toggle browse/focus modes
NVDA+space
Toggles between focus mode and browse mode
Exit focus mode
escape
switches back to browse mode if focus mode was previously switched to automatically
Refresh browse mode document
NVDA+f5
Reloads the current document content (useful if certain content seems to be missing from the document.
Not available in Microsoft Word and Outlook.)
Find
NVDA+control+f
Pops up a dialog in which you can type some text to find in the current document
Find next
NVDA+f3
Finds the next occurrence of the text in the document that you previously searched for
Find previous
NVDA+shift+f3
Finds the previous occurrence of the text in the document you previously searched for
open long description
NVDA+d
Opens a new window containing a long description for the element you are on if it has one.
Single Letter Navigation
The following keys by themselves jump to the next available element, while adding the shift key causes them to jump to the previous element:
•
h: heading
•
l: list
•
i: list item
•
t: table
•
k: link
•
n: nonLinked text
•
f: form field
•
u: unvisited link
•
v: visited link
•
e: edit field
•
b: button
•
x: checkbox
•
c: combo box
•
r: radio button
•
q: block quote
•
s: separator
•
m: frame
•
g: graphic
•
d: landmark
•
o: embedded object
•
1 to 6: headings at levels 1 to 6 respectively
To move to the beginning or end of containing elements such as lists and tables:
Move to start of container
shift+comma
Moves to the start of the container (
list, table, etc.) where the caret is positioned
Move past end of container
comma
Moves past the end of the container (list, table, etc.)
where the caret is positioned
The Elements List
Browse mode elements list
NVDA+f7
Brings up the Elements list which contains links, headings and landmarks from the current document
Embedded Objects
Move to containing browse mode document
NVDA+control+space
Moves the focus out of the current embedded object and into the document that contains it
Application Specific NVDA Commands
Microsoft Word
Report current comment
NVDA+Alt+c
Reports the text of the comment at the position of the System Caret.
Set column headers
NVDA+shift+c
Pressing this once tells NVDA this is the first header cell in the row that contains column headers, which should be automatically announced when moving between columns below this row.
Pressing twice will clear the setting.
Set row headers
NVDA+shift+r
Pressing this once tells NVDA this is the first header cell in the column that contains row headers, which should be automatically announced when moving between rows after this column. Pressing twice will clear the setting.
Microsoft Excel
Set column headers
NVDA+shift+c
Pressing this once tells NVDA this is the first header cell in the row that contains column headers, which should be automatically announced when moving between columns below this row. Pressing twice will clear the setting.
Set row headers
NVDA+shift+r
Pressing this once tells NVDA this is the first header cell in the column that contains row headers, which should be automatically announced when moving between rows after this column. Pressing twice will clear the setting.
Report comment
NVDA+alt+c
Reports the comment on the current cell if any.
Microsoft PowerPoint
Toggle speaker notes reading
control+shift+s
When in a running slide show, this command will toggle between the speaker notes for the slide and the content for the slide.
This only affects what NVDA reads, not what is displayed on screen.
Object Navigation
Report current object
NVDA+numpad5
Reports the current navigator object.
Pressing twice spells the information, and pressing 3 times copies this object’s name and value to the clipboard.
Move to containing object
NVDA+numpad8
Moves to the object containing the current navigator object
Move to previous object
NVDA+numpad4
Moves to the object before the current navigator object
Move to next object
NVDA+numpad6
Moves to the object after the current navigator object
Move to first contained object
NVDA+numpad2
Moves to the first object contained by the current navigator object
Move to focus object
NVDA+numpadMinus
Moves to the object that currently has the system focus, and also places the review cursor at the position of the System caret, if it is showing
Activate current navigator object
NVDA+numpadEnter
Activates the current navigator object (similar to clicking with the mouse or pressing space when it has the system focus)
Move System focus or caret to current review position
NVDA+shift+numpadMinus
pressed once Moves the System focus to the current navigator object, pressed twice moves the system caret to the position of the review cursor
Report review cursor location
NVDA+numpadDelete
Reports information about the location of the text or object at the review cursor.
For example, this might include the percentage through the document, the distance from the edge of the page or the exact screen position.
Pressing twice may provide further detail.
Reviewing Text
Move to top line in review
shift+numpad7
Moves the review cursor to the top line of the text
Move to previous line in review
numpad7
Moves the review cursor to the previous line of text
Report current line in review
numpad8
Announces the current line of text where the review cursor is positioned.
Pressing twice spells the line. Pressing three times spells the line using character descriptions.
Move to next line in review
numpad9
Move the review cursor to the next line of text
Move to bottom line in review
shift+numpad9
Moves the review cursor to the bottom line of text
Move to previous word in review
numpad4
Moves the review cursor to the previous word in the text
Report current word in review
numpad5
Announces the current word in the text where the review cursor is positioned.
Pressing twice spells the word. Pressing three times spells the word using character descriptions.
Move to next word in review
numpad6
Move the review cursor to the next word in the text
Move to start of line in review
shift+numpad1
Moves the review cursor to the start of the current line in the text
Move to previous character in review
numpad1
Moves the review cursor to the previous character on the current line in the text
Report current character in review
numpad2
Announces the current character on the line of text where the review cursor is positioned.
Pressing twice reports a description or example of that character. Pressing three times reports the numeric value of the character in decimal and hexadecimal.
Move to next character in review
numpad3
Move the review cursor to the next character on the current line of text
Move to end of line in review
shift+numpad3
Moves the review cursor to the end of the current line of text
Say all with review
numpadPlus
Reads from the current position of the review cursor, moving it as it goes
Copy from review cursor
NVDA+f9
starts copying text from the current position of the review cursor. The actual copy is not performed until you tell NVDA where to copy to
Copy to review cursor
NVDA+f10
Copies from the position of the review cursor currently set with Copy from review cursor, to the review cursor’s current position.
After pressing this key, the text will be copied to the Windows clipboard
Report text formatting
NVDA+f
Reports the formatting of the text where the review cursor is currently situated
Review Modes
switch to next review mode
NVDA+numpad7
switches to the next available review mode
switch to previous review mode
NVDA+numpad1
switches to the previous available review mode
Navigating with the Mouse
Left mouse button click
numpadDivide
clicks the left mouse button once.
The common double click can be performed by pressing this key twice in quick succession
Left mouse button lock
shift+numpadDivide
Locks the left mouse button down.
Press again to release it. To drag the mouse, press this key to lock the left button down and then move the mouse either physically or use one of the other mouse routing commands
Right mouse click
numpadMultiply
Clicks the right mouse button once.
Right mouse button lock
shift+numpadMultiply
Locks the right mouse button down. Press again to release it.
To drag the mouse, press this key to lock the right button down and then move the mouse either physically or use one of the other mouse routing
commands
Move mouse to current navigator object
NVDA+numpadDivide
Moves the mouse to the location of the current navigator object and review cursor
Navigate to the object under the mouse
NVDA+numpadMultiply
Set the navigator object to the object located at the position of the mouse