Office 2016 and Microsoft 365 offer a host of keyboard shortcuts that let users create, communicate, and express themselves. Here is a partial list of resources geared toward users who rely on screen readers and other assistive technologies.
Note: This topic assumes that JAWS users have turned off the Virtual Ribbon Menu feature.
In this topic
Tell Me feature
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook all include Tell Me: a quick, easy way to access features and functions in one or two steps.
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Press Alt+Q from any Office product to go to the Tell Me box.
You'll hear, "Tell me." Focus changes to the text field in the Tell Me box.
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Type your question or search string, and then press Enter.
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To move through the list of results, use the Up or Down Arrow key. You'll hear each result as focus moves to it.
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To select one of the result commands, press Enter. Focus returns to the editing area.
Office support website
The Office support website, Microsoft 365 help & learning, and the Make your content accessible to everyone are huge repositories of information. This includes step-by-step instructions for using all current Office products.
Search tips for support.office.com
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Use quotation marks around a word or phrase to search for that exact phrase, including case and spacing:
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For example, “Excel for the web” finds documents that contain the exact phrase “Excel for the web,” but documents about Excel 2016 or Word for the web will not be listed.
Excel for the web (without the quotes) searches for documents that contain any of these words:
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excel, Excel, and Excel for the web
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excellent
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Excel or Online somewhere in the document
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“screen reader” finds documents that contain the exact phrase “screen reader,” but documents about Excel 2016 that mention the screen or refer to a “reader,” as in “the reader of the document,” will not be listed.
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Use AND (all capital letters) to find documents that contain all listed words or phrases:
For example, “Excel for the web” AND “screen reader” finds documents that contain the exact phrase “Excel for the web” and the exact phrase “screen reader.” Documents that only contain one of those phrases aren’t in the search results.
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Use OR (all capital letters) to find documents that contain any one of the listed words or phrases (but not all listed phrases):
For example, “Excel for the web” OR “screen reader” finds documents that contain the exact phrase “Excel for the web”, or the exact phrase “screen reader.” Documents that contain both “Excel for the web” and “screen reader” aren’t in the search results. .
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.
