Use a screen reader with collections to stay organized in Microsoft Edge

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

Use collections in Microsoft Edge on Windows with your keyboard and a screen reader to keep track of your ideas on the web. We have tested it with Narrator, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques. You'll also learn how to pin the Collections menu, create, sort, share, export, and delete collections, how to add notes to a collection, and more.

You can use collections to stay organized whether you're shopping, planning a trip, collecting notes for research plans, or just want to pick up where you left off the last time you were browsing the internet.

Your collections sync across your signed-in devices, so if you use Microsoft Edge on multiple devices, the collections will always be up to date on all of them.

Notes:

To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
Make sure Narrator scan mode is off.

Pin the Collections menu

The Collections menu contains the list of your collections. By default, the menu opens as a floating pane on top of your browser window. When you move the focus away from the menu, it closes. To keep the menu permanently visible as a side pane for easy access, you can pin the menu to your browser window.

In Microsoft Edge, to open the Collections menu, press Ctrl+Shift+Y.
Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Sort," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Pin collections," and then press Enter.
If you want to close the pinned Collections menu, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Sort," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Close collections," and then press Enter. To reopen the menu, press Ctrl+Shift+Y.

Navigate the Collections menu

When you open the Collections menu, it shows either the list of your collections or the list of items within the most recently used collection depending on where you left off.

To navigate the Collections menu, do the following:
- To browse the list of collections, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the first collection in the list, and then press the Down arrow key. The collection names are announced as you move down in the list. To open a collection, press Enter.
- To browse the list of items within a collection, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the first item in the list, and then press the Down key. The item names are announced as you move down in the list.
- To navigate from the list of items back to the list of collections, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Back button," and then press Enter.
- To browse the controls and options above the list of collections or items, press the Tab key, Shift+Tab, or the Right and Left arrow keys. To select, press Enter.

Start a collection

In Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+Y. You hear: "Start new collection." If you hear "Collections document, next slide, button," press Enter to move through the introductory slides until you hear: "Start new collection."

Tip: If you already had a collection open, you need to navigate back to the list of collections. For instructions, go to Navigate the Collections menu.
Press Enter. You hear: "Collection name, edit." Type a name for the collection, and then press Enter.
To add the page you're currently on to the new collection, press the Tab key until you hear "Add current page," and then press Enter. The added webpage appears as a new item, also known as a card, in the collection.

Add content to a collection

After you've created a collection, you can quickly add new content to it. You can add webpages, links, images, or pieces of text. The added pieces of content appear as new items, also known as cards, in the collection.

Add webpages to a collection

In Microsoft Edge, go to the webpage you want to add to a collection.
Press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open the Collections menu.
Navigate to and open the collection where you want add content as instructed in Navigate the Collections menu.
Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Add current page," and then press Enter. The webpage is added to the collection.

Add links, images, or pieces of text to a collection

In Microsoft Edge, navigate to and select the piece of content you want to add to a collection.
With the focus on the selected content, press Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key. The context menu opens.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Add to collections," and then press Enter. A list of your collections opens.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the collection you want, and then press Enter. The selected piece of content is added to the collection.

Remove content from a collection

In Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open the Collections menu.
Navigate to the item you want remove as instructed in Navigate the Collections menu.
When the focus is on the right item, press Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key. The context menu opens.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Delete," and then press Enter. The selected item is removed from the collection.

Pick up where you left off

Use collections to quickly open webpages and other items you saved for later.

In Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open the Collections menu.
Navigate to and open the collection whose items you want to open as instructed in Navigate the Collections menu.
Do one of the following:
- To open all the items in a collection as tabs in a new window, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Add note," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Sharing and more," and then press Enter. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Open all," and then press Enter.
- To open an individual item in a new tab or window, press the Tab key until you hear the first item in the collection, and then press the Down arrow key until you hear the item you want. Press Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key. The context menu opens. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Open in new tab" or "Open in new window," and then press Enter.

Sort items in a collection

To quickly find what you're looking for, you can arrange the items, also known as cards, in your collections by their names, the date they were created, or when they were used.

In Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open the Collections menu.
Navigate to and open the collection whose items you want to sort as instructed in Navigate the Collections menu.
Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Add note," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Sharing and more," and then press Enter. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Sort by," and then press Enter.
Press the Down arrow key to browse the sorting options. To select an option, press Enter.
If you want to stop sorting the items, press the Tab key until you hear "Dismiss sort," and then press Enter.

Add notes to a collection

You can jot down your ideas to a note and add it to a collection.

In Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open the Collections menu.
Navigate to and open the collection where you want to add a note as instructed in Navigate the Collections menu.
Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Add note," and then press Enter. You hear: "Note editor."
Type your note. When you're done, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Save," and then press Enter. The note is saved and added to the collection.

Share a collection or an item

You can share a collection or individual items in a collection with others.

In Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open the Collections menu.
Navigate to and open the collection you want to share as instructed in Navigate the Collections menu.
Do one of the following:
- To share the entire collection, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Add note," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Sharing and more," and then press Enter. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Copy all," and then press Enter. This action copies all the items in the collection.
- To share a single item in the collection, press the Tab key until you hear the first item in the collection, and then press the Down arrow key until you hear the item you want. Press Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key. The context menu opens. Press the Down arrow key until you hear either "Copy" to copy the item or "Copy link" to copy the item URL.
Paste the copied items or URL to an email or chat message, for example, and then send the message.

Export a collection or an item

You can export an entire collection or individual items to a Word document, an Excel worksheet, or a OneNote notebook.

In Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open the Collections menu.
Navigate to and open the collection you want to export as instructed in Navigate the Collections menu.
Do one of the following:
- To export an entire collection, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Add note," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Sharing and more," and then press Enter. Press the Down arrow key until you hear either "Send to Excel," "Send to Word," or "Send to OneNote," and then press Enter.
- To export one or multiple items within a collection, press the Tab key until you hear the first item in the collection. To browse the items in the collection, press the Down arrow key. To select an item to be exported, press Spacebar. With at least one item selected, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Share selection," followed by the number of selected items, and then press Enter. Press the Down arrow key until you hear either "Send to Excel," "Send to Word," or "Send to OneNote," and then press Enter.
The collection or the items are exported to the web version of the selected app. You can now edit the exported items in the app.

Delete a collection

In Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open the Collections menu.
Navigate to the collection you want to delete as instructed in Navigate the Collections menu.
When the focus is on the right collection, press Shift+F10 or the Windows menu key. The context menu opens. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Delete collection," and then press Enter.

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