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Use a screen reader with notifications in OneNote

This article is for people with visual or cognitive impairments 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 OneNote for iOS with VoiceOver, the built-in iOS screen reader, to receive and read notifications on any additions and changes that others make to your shared notebooks. You'll also learn how to turn notifications on or off. Notifications can help you keep up with the changes as they happen.

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.

  • This topic assumes that you are using the built-in iOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, visit Apple accessibility.

  • Notifications are currently only available for notebooks stored on OneDrive.

In this topic

Select the type of notifications you want to receive

You can select which type of notifications you want to receive when a shared notebook has been changed by another user. In the OneNote for iOS notification settings, you can select to receive a banner, a badge, or both.

A banner notification is a short message that is displayed on the screen when the notification arrives, and it disappears automatically after a few seconds. VoiceOver reads the banner contents when the banner pops up.

A badge notification is a number on a small red dot displayed on the upper-right corner of the app icon on the device home screen. VoiceOver announces the badge as you navigate to the app on the home screen, for example: "OneNote, two new items."

  1. In OneNote, tap near the bottom of the screen with four fingers, swipe left until you hear "Notebooks, tab," and double-tap the screen. The focus moves to the Notebooks tab.

  2. Tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Notifications, button," and then double-tap the screen. The Notifications view opens.

  3. Swipe right until you hear: "Notification settings, button." Double-tap the screen. The Notification Settings view opens.

  4. Swipe right until you hear: "Banner notifications, switch button." To turn the banner notifications on or off, double-tap the screen.

  5. Swipe right until you hear: "Badge app icon, switch button." To turn the badge notifications on or off, double-tap the screen.

  6. To close the Notification Settings view, swipe left until you hear "Close, button," and double-tap the screen. You land in the Notifications view. To close the Notifications view, double-tap the screen.

    Tip: You can also draw a Z-shape with two fingers to close a view.

Turn notifications on or off

  1. In OneNote, tap near the bottom of the screen with four fingers, swipe left until you hear "Notebooks, tab," and double-tap the screen. The focus moves to the Notebooks tab.

  2. Tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Notifications, button," and then double-tap the screen. The Notifications view opens.

  3. Swipe right until you hear: "Notification settings, button." Double-tap the screen. The Notification Settings view opens.

  4. Swipe right until you hear the name of the notebook whose notifications you want to turn on or off, and then double-tap the screen to switch the notifications on or off.

  5. To close the Notification Settings view, swipe left until you hear "Close, button," and double-tap the screen. You land in the Notifications view. To close the Notifications view, double-tap the screen.

Read notifications

  1. In OneNote, tap near the bottom of the screen with four fingers, swipe left until you hear "Notebooks, tab," and double-tap the screen. The focus moves to the Notebooks tab.

  2. Tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Notifications, button," followed by the number of unviewed notifications. Double-tap the screen. The Notifications view opens.

  3. Swipe right until you hear VoiceOver read the first notification. To go to the next notification, swipe right.

  4. To open the updated notebook, double-tap the screen when on a notification.

See also

Use a screen reader to read pages in OneNote

Use a screen reader to share and collaborate on notebooks in OneNote

Basic tasks using a screen reader with OneNote

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate OneNote

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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