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Introduction to using a screen reader in Word

If you use a screen reader, like Narrator or JAWS in Windows, use your keyboard to navigate Word, and the screen reader will announce to you where you are.

Open a recent document

  1. Press Alt+F, and then O.

  2. Press Tab once to go to the list of recent documents, and then press Tab twice more to open the list.

  3. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the document you want, and then press Enter.

Create a new blank document

  1. Press Ctrl+N.

  2. You will hear the default name of the document (like, "Document 1"), followed by "Editing."

Save a document

Press Ctrl+S.

Tips: 

  • Save to a different location by pressing Shift+Tab three times, and then pressing the Up or Down arrow until you hear the location you want. Then press Enter.

  • Save the file with a new name by pressing Tab until you hear, "File name," and the name of the file. Type the name you want, and press Enter.

Read a document

With the focus in the main document, use the following keyboard combinations. To stop reading the document, press Ctrl.

To read this...

Press this

From the cursor location to the end

Caps Lock+M

Current paragraph

Caps Lock+Ctrl+L

Next or previous line

Down or Up arrow key

Next or previous word

Ctrl+Right or Ctrl+Left arrow key

Search for a word

  1. Press Ctrl+F. You hear: "Navigation, Search a document."

  2. Type your search words. The list of search results is updated as you type.

  3. Press Tab until you hear, "Search results list," followed by the first result.

  4. Press the Down arrow key to move through the list.

Print documents

Press Ctrl+P. To print with the default settings, press Enter.

Tips: To change the print settings, press Tab to move through the options.

  • Within each list of options, press Tab and use the Down and Up arrow keys to move from one option to the next. To select an option, press Enter.

  • To print with the new settings, press Tab until you hear, "Print button," and then press Enter.

Explore more

For more screen-reader instructions, including steps for using Word in Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, see Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word

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