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 Access with your keyboard and a screen reader to explore and navigate the different views and move between them. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.
Notes:
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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.
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To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
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Switch between views
In addition to the main view, Access has the following commonly used views:
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The File menu, which contains options, for example, for creating a new database, and opening or saving an existing database.
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To open the File menu, press Alt+F. You hear: "File, info."
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To navigate the File menu, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the menu item you want, and then press Enter to open the tab with further options.
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To navigate inside the further options tab, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear the option you want.
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To exit the File menu and return to the main view, press Esc.
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The Options window, which contains Access settings, such as personalization, proofreading, and language preferences.
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To open the Options window, press Alt+F, T. You hear: "Access options window." The focus is on the option categories pane.
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To navigate the option categories, press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the category you want.
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To move the focus to the options of the selected category, press the Tab key.
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To navigate the options, press the Up and Down arrow keys until you hear the option you want and then press Enter to select it.
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To exit the Options window and return to the main view, press the Tab key until you hear "OK," and press Enter. To return to the main view without making changes, press Esc.
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Use Tell Me
To find an option or perform an action quickly, use the Search text field. To learn more about the Search feature, go to Find what you need with Microsoft Search.
Note: Depending on the Microsoft 365 version of you are using, the Search text field at the top of the app window might be called Tell Me instead. Both offer a largely similar experience, but some options and search results can vary.
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Select the item or place in your document, presentation, or spreadsheet where you want to perform an action. For example, in an Excel spreadsheet, select a range of cells.
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To go to the Search text field, press Alt+Q.
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Type the search words for the action that you want to perform. For example, if you want to add a bulleted list, type bullets.
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Press the Down arrow key to browse through the search results.
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When you've found the result that you want, press Enter to select it and to perform the action.
See also
Use a screen reader to start Access
Use a screen reader to create tables in Access desktop databases
Use a screen reader to create a query in Access desktop databases
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.
