Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word

In this topic

• Open Word for Mac

• Sign in to your Microsoft account

• Open a recent document

• Create a new blank document

• Save a document

• Read a document

• Navigate by headings

• Search a document

• Add page numbers

• Print documents

Open Word for Mac

1. To go to the Applications list in Finder, press Shift+Command+A.

2. Type M to go straight to applications that start with an "M," and then press the Tab key until you hear: "Microsoft Word application."

3. To open Word for Mac, press Command+Down arrow key.

You can now start a new blank document to add your text and other content or create your document using a template with predesigned formatting. For instructions, refer to Create a new blank document or Use a screen reader to work with templates in Word.

Sign in to your Microsoft account

Sign in to your Microsoft account to get the most out of the Word for Mac features and to take your documents with you wherever you go. You can also open Word without signing in.

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for Mac.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to sign in, press Shift+Command+P. You hear: "New from template."

2. You land in the templates view. Press the Tab key until you hear: "Sign in, account settings, menu button."

3. Press Spacebar. The Sign in dialog box opens. You hear: “Type your email or phone number.”

4. Type your email or phone number, and then press Return. VoiceOver announces: “Password, secure edit text.”

5. Type your password, and press Return. If you hear “Start using Word button,” press Spacebar to go to the application.

Open a recent document

All documents you have recently worked on can be found in one place so you can quickly pick up where you left off.

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for Mac.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to open another one, press Shift+Command+P. You hear: "New from template." 

2. You land in the templates view. Press the Tab key until you hear "Recent, radio button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to open the Recent list.

3. Press the Tab key until you hear “Entering recent files table,” followed by the name and details of the first document in the list. If the first document is not the one you want, press the Down arrow key until you find the right one.

4. Press Return to open the selected document.

Create a new blank document

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for Mac.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to start a new one, press Shift+Command+P. You hear: "New from template."

2. Press the Tab key until you hear: “Entering collection, collection one item selected, blank document.”

3. Press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key, and then press Control+Option+Spacebar. The blank document opens, and the focus moves to the editing area in the document body.

You can now start adding text and other content to the document. For instructions on how to insert and format text in a document, refer to Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word.

Save a document

Word automatically saves your document to OneDrive or SharePoint when AutoSave is turned on.

For instructions on how to save a copy of a document to your computer or as a PDF, refer to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.

Read a document

To use the text reading commands, the focus must be in the document body area.

• To read all text from the cursor location to the end, press Control+Option+A.

• To read the current paragraph, press Control+Option+P.

• To read the next or previous line, press the Down or Up arrow key.

• To read the next or previous word, press the Right or Left arrow key.

For the detailed list of keyboard shortcuts for reading text, refer to Chapter 4. Working with Text.

Navigate by headings

If you've used the heading styles in your document, you can use the Navigation Pane to quickly move from heading to heading.

Search a document

Use search to quickly find a certain word or element such as a graphic in your document.

Add page numbers

1. Press Command+F6 until you hear the name of the current tab, for example, "Home, selected, tab."

2. Press Control+Option+Right arrow key until you hear "Insert, tab," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.

3. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Page numbers, menu button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar. You hear: "Page number." Press Control+Option+Spacebar.

4. The Page Numbers dialog box opens. The focus is on the Position menu. To set the position of the page number on the page, press the Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Spacebar.

5. To set the alignment of the page number, press the Tab key until you hear the current alignment, followed by "Alignment." Press the Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Spacebar.

6. Press the Tab key until you hear: "Show number on first page, checked checkbox." If you don’t want the page number to show on the first page of your document, press Spacebar.

7. To add the page numbers to the document, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar. The page numbers are added, and the focus moves to the document body.

Print documents

If you need hard copies of your Word documents, you can easily print them. If you don't have immediate access to a printer, you can print the document to PDF and save it on your computer.

See also

Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word

Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word

Use a screen reader to check spelling and grammar in Word

Keyboard shortcuts in Word

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Word

In this topic

• Open Word for iOS

• Sign in to your Microsoft account

• Open a recent document

• Create a new blank document

• Save a document

• Read a document

• Search a document

• Add page numbers

• Print documents

Open Word for iOS

1. On your iPhone, locate the button for the Word for iOS app, and double-tap the screen. Word opens with the focus on the New tab.

You can now start a new blank document to add your text and other content or create your document using a template with predesigned formatting. For instructions, refer to Create a new blank document or Use a screen reader to work with templates in Word. 

Sign in to your Microsoft account

Sign in to your Microsoft account to get the most out of the Word for iOS features and take your documents with you wherever you go. You can also open Word without signing in.

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for iOS.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to sign in, swipe left or right until you hear "Close file," and then double-tap the screen. If you have unsaved changes, you're prompted to save your document. For instructions on how to save a document, refer to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.

2. Swipe left until you hear "Signed out, Navigation pane, button," and then double-tap the screen.

3. You hear: "Sign in." Double-tap the screen. Tap near the top of the screen with four fingers and swipe right until you hear: "Email, phone, or Skype, text field, required."

4. Double-tap the screen, and then use the on-screen keyboard to type your email address, phone number, or Skype address.

5. Tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Next button," and double-tap the screen. You hear "Enter password" or "Secure text field."

6. Double-tap the screen, and then use the on-screen keyboard to type your password.

7. Tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Sign in," and double-tap the screen.

Open a recent document

All documents you have recently worked on can be found in one place so you can quickly pick up where you left off.

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for iOS. You hear: "New heading." Tap near the bottom of the screen with four fingers, swipe left until you hear "Home tab," and then double-tap the screen.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to open another one, swipe left or right until you hear "Close file," and then double-tap the screen. If you have unsaved changes, you're prompted to save your document. For instructions on how to save a document, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word. You hear: "Home heading."

2. Swipe right until you hear the name of the document you want, and double-tap the screen to open it.

Create a new blank document

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for iOS. You hear: "New heading."

   • If you're already editing a document and want to start a new one, swipe left or right until you hear "Close file," and then double-tap the screen. If you have unsaved changes, you're prompted to save your document. For instructions on how to save a document, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word. You hear: "Home heading." Tap near the bottom of the screen with four fingers, swipe right or left until you hear "New tab," and double-tap the screen. You hear: "New heading."

2. Swipe right until you hear "Blank document," and double-tap the screen. The new blank document opens. The focus is on the document body. You hear: "Page one content." The on-screen keyboard opens.

   Note: If you can't access the editing area or open the on-screen keyboard, check the VoiceOver Rotor settings. For instructions, refer to Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word. 

   You can now start adding text and other content to the document. For instructions on how to insert and format text in a document, refer to Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word. 

Save a document

Word automatically saves your document to OneDrive or SharePoint when AutoSave is turned on. 

For instructions on how to save a copy of a document to your phone or as a PDF, refer to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.

Read a document

To use the text reading gestures in the Editing view, place the focus to the document body area.

• To read all text on a page, swipe right until you hear "Page," followed by the current page number and "Content," for example, "Page one, Content." VoiceOver starts reading the whole page.

• To read lines, place one finger on a page and drag it down. VoiceOver reads a line as you land on it.

• To change how the text is read, activate Rotor, and select, for example, Words or Characters. To read the text one word or character at a time, swipe up or down.

• To stop reading, tap the screen once with two fingers.

For the detailed list of gestures for reading text, refer to Learn VoiceOver gestures on iPhone.

Search a document

1. Tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Find button," and double-tap the screen. You hear: "Search, text field, is editing." The on-screen keyboard opens.

2. Use the on-screen keyboard to type your search words. VoiceOver announces the number of matches.

3. To move between the search results, tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Previous search result" or "Next search result," and then double-tap the screen.

4. To close the Search bar and move the focus to the search result in the document body, use two fingers to swipe a Z gesture. You hear: "Leaving search."

Add page numbers

1. Tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Show ribbon," and double-tap the screen. You hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Home tab."

2. Double-tap the screen, swipe left or right until you hear "Insert, tab," and double-tap the screen.

3. Swipe right until you hear "Page numbers, button," and double-tap the screen.

4. Swipe right you hear the page number option you want, and then double-tap the screen.

5. The header and footer pane opens with the on-screen keyboard activated. If you want to edit the page number, type the new page number. To exit the pane, swipe left or right until you hear VoiceOver read the document content, and then double-tap the screen.

Print documents

Print your Word documents directly from your iPhone to a printer that supports AirPrint. To learn more about AirPrint and the supported printers, refer to Use AirPrint to print from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

If you don't have immediate access to a printer, you can print the document to PDF and save it on your phone.

See also

Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word

Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word

Use a screen reader to check spelling and grammar in Word

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Word

In this topic

• Open Word for Android

• Sign in to your Microsoft account

• Open a recent document

• Create a new blank document

• Save a document

• Read a document

• Search a document

• Add page numbers

• Print documents

Open Word for Android

1. On your phone, locate the button for the Word for Android app, and double-tap the screen. Word opens with the focus on the Recent tab.

You can now start a new blank document to add your text and other content or create your document using a template with predesigned formatting. For instructions, refer to Create a new blank document or Use a screen reader to work with templates in Word. 

Sign in to your Microsoft account

Sign in to your Microsoft account to get the most out of the Word for Android features and take your documents with you wherever you go. You can also open Word without signing in.

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for Android.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to sign in, swipe left or right until you hear "Back button," and double-tap the screen. If you have unsaved changes, you're prompted to save your document. For instructions on how to save a document, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.

2. Swipe left until you hear "Sign in," and then double-tap the screen.

   Tip: If you're prompted to accept terms and conditions, swipe right or left until you hear "Accept," and then double-tap the screen.

3. You hear: "Get things done on the go, sign in." Swipe right until you hear "Sign in button," and double-tap the screen.

4. Swipe right until you hear: "Edit box, Email, phone, or Skype." Double-tap the screen, and then use the on-screen keyboard to type your email address, phone number, or Skype address. To close the on-screen keyboard, swipe down-then-left.

5. Swipe right until you hear "Next button," and double-tap the screen. You hear: "Password."

6. Swipe right until you hear "Editing, password," double-tap the screen, and then use the on-screen keyboard to type your password. To close the on-screen keyboard, swipe down-then-left.

7. Swipe right until you hear "Sign in," and then double-tap the screen.

Open a recent document

All documents you have recently worked on can be found in one place so you can quickly pick up where you left off.

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for Android.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to open another one, swipe left or right until you hear "Back button," and then double-tap the screen. If you have unsaved changes, you're prompted to save your document. For instructions on how to save a document, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.

2. Swipe right until you hear the name of the document you want, and double-tap the screen to open it.

Create a new blank document

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for Android.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to create a new one, swipe left or right until you hear "Back button," and then double-tap the screen. If you have unsaved changes, you're prompted to save your document. For instructions on how to save a document, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.

2. Swipe right until you hear "New button," and double-tap the screen.

3. Swipe right until you hear "Blank document," and double-tap the screen.

4. The new document opens. The focus is on the document body, and the on-screen keyboard is displayed. Use the on-screen keyboard to type text in your document. When you have finished, swipe down-then-left to close the keyboard.

For instructions on how to format text in a document, go to Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word.

Save a document

Word automatically saves your document to OneDrive when AutoSave is turned on.

For instructions on how to save a copy of a document to your phone, refer to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.

Read a document

To use the text reading gestures in the Editing view, place the focus to the document body area.

• To read all content on a page, swipe right to move to the first text box, image, or link of the page. TalkBack starts reading the content.

• To read the next text box, image, or link, swipe right.

• To change how the text is read, swipe up-then-down or down-then-up until you hear, for example, "Words" or "Characters." To read the text a word or a character at a time, swipe left or right.

• To stop reading, tap the screen once with one finger.

For the detailed list of all gestures for reading text, refer to Use the TalkBack menu & reading controls. 

Search a document

1. Swipe left or right until you hear "Find button," and double-tap the screen. You hear: "Editing, find, three periods." The on-screen keyboard opens.

2. Use the on-screen keyboard to type your search word or phrase. You hear the number of matching instances as you type. To close the on-screen keyboard, swipe down-then-left.

3. To move between the search results, swipe left until you hear "Find previous button" or "Find next button," and double-tap the screen.

4. To close the Find bar, swipe right or left until you hear "Close Find bar, button," and then double-tap the screen.

Add page numbers

1. Swipe left or right until you hear "More option button," and double-tap the screen. You hear: "Tab menu," followed by the currently selected tab, for example, "Home, selected."

2. Double-tap the screen. The tab menu opens. Swipe right or left until you hear "Insert tab," and double-tap the screen.

3. Swipe right until you hear "Page number menu," and double-tap the screen.

4. Swipe right until you hear the position for the page number you want, and then double-tap the screen.

5. The Header & Footer menu opens. If you want to change the page number options, swipe right until you hear "Page number menu," and double-tap the screen. Swipe right until you hear the option you want, and then double-tap the screen.

6. To close the Header & Footer menu, swipe left or right until you hear "Close header and footer, button," and double-tap the screen. To return to the document body, swipe left until TalkBack starts to read the document content.

Print documents

Print your document directly from your Android phone to a Wi-Fi printer. If you don't have immediate access to a printer, you can print the document to PDF and save it on your computer.

See also

Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word

Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word

Use a screen reader to check spelling and grammar in Word

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Word

In this topic

• Open Word for the web and sign in

• Open a recent document

• Open a document in the full version of Word

• Switch to the Editing view to make changes

• Create a new blank document

• Save a document

• Read a document

• Navigate by headings

• Search a document

• Add page numbers

• Print documents

Open Word for the web and sign in

Sign in to Word for the web and take your documents with you wherever you go.

1. In your browser, go to Office.com. The sign-in page opens.

2. Press the Tab key until you hear "Sign-in to your account," and then press Enter. The Pick an account menu opens.

3. Do one of the following:

   • To use an existing account to sign in, press the Tab key until you hear the account you want, and then press Enter.

   • To add a new account, press the Tab key until you hear "Use another account, button," and then press Enter. Type your email address, phone number, or Skype address, and then press Enter. Type your password, and press Enter.

4. The Microsoft Office Home page opens. Press the Tab key until you hear "App launcher," and then press Enter.

5. Press the Tab key until you hear "Link, Word," and press Enter.

6. Word for the web opens. You hear: "Link, create a new blank document." The focus is on the New blank document button.

You can now start a new blank document to add your text and other content or create your document using a template with predesigned formatting. For instructions, refer to Create a new blank document or Use a screen reader to work with templates in Word.

Open a recent document

All documents you have recently worked on can be found in one place so you can quickly pick up where you left off.

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word, and then press the Tab key until you hear "Open," followed by the name of the recent document you want, and press Enter to open it.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to open another one, press Alt+Windows logo key+F to open the File menu, and then press Shift+Tab until you hear "Recent," followed by the name of a recent document. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the document you want, and press Enter to open it.

2. Do one of the following:

   • If you hear "Document contents, editing," you can start adding your content to the document.

   • If you hear "Reading view" or "Not intended for user action" instead of "Document contents, editing," the document has opened in the Reading view where you can't make changes. To edit the document, you need to switch to the Editing view. For instructions, refer to Switch to the Editing view to make changes.

Open a document in the full version of Word

If you have the full desktop version of Word, it gives you many more options when working with your files. It's easy to open the full version from Word for the web.

1. Press Alt+Windows logo key+Z, M, and then O. The document opens in the desktop version.

2. Navigate back to Word for the web, and then press Ctrl+W to close the browser tab.

Switch to the Editing view to make changes

Sometimes Word for the web opens a document in the Reading view. Before you can make changes to the document, you need to switch to the Editing view.

1. In the Reading view, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear "Accessibility mode," press the Tab key until you hear "Edit document, button collapsed," and then press Spacebar.

2. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Edit document. Make quick changes right here using Word," and press Enter. The document opens in the Editing view, and you can start adding your content to the document.

Create a new blank document

1. Do one of the following:

   • Open Word for the web. The focus is on the option to create a new, blank document.

   • If you're already editing a document and want to start a new one, press Alt+Windows logo key+F to open the File menu, and then press the Tab key until you hear: "New blank document."

2. To select and open the blank document, press Enter. You hear the default name of the document, followed by "Editing." The focus moves to the editing area in the document body.

You can now start adding text and other content to the document. For instructions on how to insert and format text in a document, refer to Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word.

Save a document

Word for the web automatically saves your document to OneDrive as you work so you don't have to worry about saving. For instructions on how to rename your document or save a copy of the document to your device, refer to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.

Read a document

To use the text reading keyboard shortcuts in the Editing view, place the focus to the document body area.

• To start reading from where your cursor is with Narrator, press the SR key+Ctrl+R or the SR key+Down arrow key. With JAWS, press the SR key+Page up. With NVDA, press the SR key+Down arrow key.

• To read the current page with Narrator, press the SR key+Ctrl+I. 

• To read the current paragraph with Narrator, press the SR key+Ctrl+K. With JAWS, press Ctrl+5 on the numeric keypad.

• To read the next line with Narrator, press the SR key+O. With JAWS and NVDA, press the Down arrow key.

• To read the previous line with Narrator, press the SR key+U. With JAWS and NVDA, press the Up arrow key.

• To read the next word with Narrator, press the SR key+L or SR key+Ctrl+Right arrow key. With JAWS, press the SR key+Right arrow key. With NVDA, press Ctrl+Right arrow key.

• To read the previous word with Narrator, press the SR key+J or SR key+Ctrl+Left arrow key. With JAWS, press the SR key+Left arrow key. With NVDA, press Ctrl+Left arrow key.

• To stop reading, press Ctrl.

For detailed lists of the keyboard shortcuts for reading text, refer to the user guidance of your screen reader. With Narrator, refer to Chapter 4: Reading text. With JAWS, refer to JAWS Reading Commands. With NVDA, refer to NVDA User Guide. 

Navigate by headings

If you've used the heading styles in your document, you can use the Navigation Pane to quickly move from heading to heading.

1. To turn on the Navigation Pane, press Alt+Windows logo key+W, K. You hear: "Navigation, Search for."

2. Press Shift+Tab until you hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Find." Press the Left arrow key until you hear "Headings."

3. Press the Tab key to browse the list of headings. Your screen reader announces the headings as you move.

4. To move to the heading in the document body, press Enter. The focus moves to the beginning of the heading row.

Search a document

1. Press Ctrl+F. You hear: "This file results tab selected." The focus is on the search text field. Type your search words and press Enter.

2. To move the focus to the list of search results, press the Tab key until you hear "Showing this file, results for," followed by your search words. 

3. To browse the list of results, use the arrow keys. Your screen reader announces each matching result as you move on the list.

Add page numbers

1. Press Alt+Windows logo key+N, N, U. The Add to Header or Footer menu opens.

2. Press the Tab key until you hear the page number style option you want, and then press Enter.

3. The header and footer editing area opens. To exit the area and return to the document body, press Esc.

Print documents

If you need hard copies of your Word documents, you can easily print them. If you don't have immediate access to a printer, you can print the document to PDF and save it on your computer.

See also

Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word

Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word

Use a screen reader to check spelling and grammar in Word 

Keyboard shortcuts in Word

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Word