Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Microsoft Planner
Applies ToMicrosoft Planner

This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Windows tools or features and Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Accessibility help & learning content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.

Use Microsoft Planner with your keyboard and a screen reader to explore and navigate the different views and move between them. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge and JAWS and NVDA in Chrome, but it might work with other screen readers and web browsers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Notes: 

  • New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

  • To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.

  • When you use Planner, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because Planner runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in a desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not Planner.

In this topic

Navigate the Planner main view

When you open the Planner app, you land on the Planner main view. It consists of a navigation pane on the left, the content pane to the right of the navigation pane, and the title banner at the top of the screen.

To navigate between the main landmarks in the Planner main view, press Ctrl+F6 or Shift+Ctrl+F6. The focus moves between the elements in the following order:

  • The navigation pane, which contains the New plan, Planner hub, and My tasks buttons, and the lists for your favorite and recent plans. You hear "Navigation landmark" when the focus moves to the navigation pane. To navigate inside the navigation pane, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab.

  • The main content area, which contains either the Planner hub page if no plan is open, or the currently opened plan. In the Planner hub, you can find and access all of your plans. You hear "Main landmark" when the focus moves to the content area. To move between the elements in the Plannerhub, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab. For instructions on how to navigate inside a plan, refer to Navigate inside a plan.

  • The title banner, which contains buttons for accessing the app launcher, settings, help, and your user profile. You hear "Planner, region landmark" when the focus moves to the banner. To move between the buttons on the banner, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab.

Navigate inside a plan

To navigate between elements of a plan that has been opened in the Planner main view, press the Tab key (forward) or Shift+Tab (backwards) until you hear the name of the element you want, and then press Enter to select it. The focus moves between the elements in the following order:

  • The Board, Charts, and Schedule tabs, which let you change the view of the plan. For more information, refer to Change the plan view.

  • The More button, which opens a list of other pages for the plan.

  • The Members of the plan button, which opens a list of all the members of the plan.

  • The Filter and Group by buttons, which can be used to filter and group the contents of a plan. For more information, refer to Use a screen reader to group and filter tasks on a board in Microsoft Planner.

  • The contents of the plan presented according to the chosen view tab.

Navigate inside a Board

On a Planner Board, you can create and manage task buckets and tasks. To navigate between the task buckets and arrange the buckets and tasks, do one or more of the following:

  • To move to the next or previous task bucket, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab.

  • To move the selected task up one position on the page, press Ctrl+Up arrow key.

  • To move the selected task down one position on the page, press Ctrl+Down arrow key.

  • To move the selected task bucket or column one position to the left on the page when the items on the page are grouped by buckets, press Ctrl+Shift+Less than sign (<).

  • To move the selected task bucket or column one position to the right on the page when the items on the page are grouped by buckets, press Ctrl+Shift+Greater than sign (>).

Change the plan view

When you select a plan, the Board view is displayed by default. You can change to the Chart or Schedule view to get a more graphical overview of your plan.

  1. In the plan, press the Tab key until you hear the view you want, for example, "Board tab" or "Chart tab."

  2. Press Enter to select and open the view.

See also

Use a screen reader to create a plan and add buckets in Microsoft Planner

Use a screen reader to group and filter tasks on a board in Microsoft Planner

Keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Planner

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.

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