This article is for people with visual or cognitive impairments who use a screen reader program such as Microsoft's Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with the 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 home or Fixes or workarounds for recent office issues.
Use Word with your keyboard and a screen reader to explore and navigate the different views and move between them. We've 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.
In this topic
Explore a document
Use the Narrator scan mode
To navigate the content of your document by elements, you can use the Narrator scan mode. To turn on the scan mode, press the SR key+Spacebar.
With the scan mode enabled, you can use the Up and Down arrow keys and keyboard shortcuts to navigate your document and cycle between paragraphs, other elements, areas, and landmarks. For detailed information on how to use the Narrator scan mode, refer to Chapter 3: Using scan mode.
To find the JAWS cursor that suits your needs, refer to So Many Cursors, So Little Time, Understanding Cursors in JAWS. To learn how to use the NVDA Browse mode which is also optionally available for Word, refer to 6. Browse Mode.
Use Read Mode
Read Mode is designed to make reading text easier and includes reading tools such as Read Aloud.
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To enable Read Mode, press Alt+W, F.
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Do one or more of the following:
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To access the Read Mode toolbar, press Alt, and then press the Tab key until you hear the name of the menu you want, and then press Enter to select it. Press the Down arrow key to move down on the list of available options, and press Enter to select an option.
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To use Read Aloud, press Alt+W, R. To access the reading controls, press the Tab key until you reach the option you want, and then press Enter to select it.
Tip: For the best results, it might be helpful to turn off your screen reader when you use Read Aloud.
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To exit Read Mode, press Esc.
Use the Immersive Reader view
With Immersive Reader, you can improve focus, declutter the text you're reading, read scanned texts more easily, and decode complex texts.
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To turn on Immersive Reader, press Alt+W, L, 2.
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To access the Immersive Reader ribbon and options, press Alt. You hear: "Immersive, Immersive Reader, tab." Press the Tab key to move between the options on the ribbon and press Enter to select an option.
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To turn off Immersive Reader, press Alt+W, L, 2.
Navigate between floating shapes
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To quickly move the focus to the first floating shape such as a text box or a chart, press Ctrl+Alt+5.
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To cycle between the floating shapes, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab.
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To return to the normal navigation, press Esc.
Zoom in or out
Zoom in to get a close-up of your document or zoom out to get an overview of the page at a reduced size.
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Press Alt+W, Q. You hear “Zoom dialog” or “Zoom window.”
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Press the Tab key until you reach the Percent spinner, and then type a percentage or use the Up or Down arrow key to change the percentage.
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Press the Tab key until you reach the OK button and press Enter.
Use Search
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 version of Microsoft 365 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.
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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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Once 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 insert and change text in Word
Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities
What's new in Microsoft 365: Release notes for Current Channel
Use Word for Mac with your keyboard and VoiceOver, the built-in MacOS screen reader, to explore and navigate the different views and move between them.
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 macOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, go to VoiceOver Getting Started Guide.
In this topic
Navigate the main view
When you open a Word document for editing, you land on the main view. To navigate the main view, press F6 (forward) and Shift+F6 (backward). The focus moves through the following elements in the main view, in order:
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The main content area, which shows the document content. This is where you edit the document. When the focus is on the content area, you hear the page you're on, followed by the location of the text insertion point.
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The status bar at the bottom of the screen, which contains document statistics such as page count, word count, text language, and the zoom level. When the focus moves to the status bar, you hear the current page number, followed by the total number of pages, for example, "Page six of fourteen." To browse the options on the status bar, press Control+Option+Right or Left arrow key.
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The quick access toolbar at the top of the screen, which contains, for example, the AutoSave, Print, and Undo buttons and the name of the document. You hear "Autosave" when the focus moves to the quick access toolbar. To move between the options on the toolbar, press Control+Option+Right or Left arrow key.
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The row of ribbon tabs, which includes tabs such as Home, Insert, Review, View, and the Share and Comments buttons. When the focus moves to the ribbon tabs, you hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Home, selected tab."
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To navigate the row of ribbon tabs, press Control+Option+Right or Left arrow key until you hear the name of the tab or control you want, and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select it and display the ribbon.
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The ribbon containing the options specific to the currently selected tab is located below the row of ribbon tabs. To navigate from the row of ribbon tabs to the ribbon, press the Tab key until you hear the ribbon you're entering and the first option on the ribbon. For example, with the View tab selected, you hear: "Entering View tab commands scroll area." To navigate between the options on the ribbon, press Control+Option+Right or Left arrow key.
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Navigate between views
In addition to the main view, Word has the following commonly used views and areas:
Word start page
When you open the Word app, you land on the start page. On the start page, you can create a new document, browse templates, open an existing document, and access your account info. The start page consists of a tab pane on the left and the contents of a selected tab on the right.
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To navigate the tab pane, press the Tab key. To display the tab contents, press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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To navigate from the tab pane to the content pane of the selected tab, press the Tab key until you hear: "Entering scroll area." To browse the available sections in the content pane, press Control+Option+Right arrow key. To interact with a section, press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key. To stop interacting with a section, press Control+Option+Shift+Up arrow key.
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To navigate to the start page from the main view, press Shift+Command+P.
The app menu bar
The app menu bar contains additional options and controls, for example, for editing text and formatting tables. You can also access the File menu with options to start a new document or open an existing one.
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To move the focus to the app menu bar, press Control+Option+M.
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To browse the options on the menu bar, press Control+Option+Right arrow key.
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To exit the menu bar, press Esc.
The Word Preferences window
In the Word Preferences window, you can access Word settings such as AutoCorrect and ribbon options.
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To open the Word Preferences window, press Command+Comma (,).
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To navigate the window, press the Tab key. To select a setting, press Spacebar. The setting dialog box opens. To navigate within a setting dialog box, press the Tab key or the arrow keys.
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To close the Word Preferences window and return to your document, press Esc.
Explore a document
To navigate around a Word document, you can use the keyboard shortcuts, the VoiceOver features such as rotor, or the Navigation Pane.
Use the keyboard shortcuts
One of the quickest ways to move around in a document is to use the keyboard shortcuts. For a full list of keyboard shortcuts for navigating a document, refer to the "Navigate the document" section in Keyboard shortcuts in Word.
Use the VoiceOver rotor, Quick Nav, or Item Chooser
You can use the VoiceOver features such as rotor, Quick Nav, or Item Chooser to navigate directly to an item, for example, a section heading or link.
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To open the rotor, press Control+Option+U. For more info, refer to Use the VoiceOver rotor on Mac.
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To open the Item Chooser, press Control+Option+I. For more info, refer to Use the VoiceOver Item Chooser to navigate on Mac.
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To activate Quick Nav, press the Left and Right arrow keys at the same time. For more info, refer to Use VoiceOver Quick Nav in apps and webpages on Mac.
Use the Navigation Pane
Use the Navigation Pane to quickly navigate between parts of the document such as headings.
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To turn on the Navigation Pane, press Command+F6 until you hear the name of the current ribbon tab. Press Control+Option+Right arrow key until you hear "View, tab," and press Control+Option+Spacebar. Press the Tab key until you hear "Navigation pane, toggle button," and press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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To move the focus to the navigation pane, press Command+F6 until you hear: "Thumbnails pane, selected."
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Press Control+Option+Right arrow key until you hear "Document map, tab," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Press Control+Option+Right arrow key until you hear "Table," and then press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key to open the headings table.
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To move between the headings, press the Down or Up arrow key until you find the heading you want, and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to move the focus to the beginning of the heading in the document body.
See also
Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word
Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities
What's new in Microsoft 365: Release notes for Current Channel
Use Word for iOS with VoiceOver, the built-in iOS screen reader, to explore and navigate the different views and move between them.
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.
In this topic
Navigate the main view
When you open a Word document for editing, you land on the main view. It contains the following main elements:
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The top menu bar, which contains options such as Close file, Share, and File.
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To move the focus to the top menu bar, tap near the top of the screen with four fingers. You hear the name of the document. Then swipe right once. The focus is now on the top menu bar. To browse the available options, swipe right repeatedly.
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The document content area, which appears under the top menu and takes up the majority of the screen.
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To move the focus to the content area, swipe right or left until you hear the name of the document, followed by the file extension, for example "Docx" and the current page. VoiceOver starts to read the page content.
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The quick toolbar, which appears at the bottom of the screen when you've selected an editable element in the content area. It contains document formatting options for the selected element.
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To go to and navigate the quick toolbar, select an editable element in the document, and swipe right until you reach the toolbar buttons.
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The ribbon menu, which pops up from the bottom of the screen and contains tabs with different sets of tools and options. The ribbon options specific to the selected tab are displayed below the tab name.
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To go to the ribbon menu, tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Show ribbon," and double-tap the screen. You hear the currently selected tab.
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To switch to another tab, double-tap the screen, swipe left or right until you hear the name of the tab you want, and then double-tab the screen.
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To navigate the ribbon options, swipe left or right.
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Explore a document
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To explore the text of a document, swipe right or left until you hear VoiceOver announce the currently open page, followed by "Content." Swipe up or down to change the screen reader navigation mode, for example, to headings, paragraphs, lines, or words, and then swipe right or left to navigate.
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Use the VoiceOver rotor to choose how you want to move through a document when you swipe up or down. For example, if you choose "Words," the focus moves through the document word by word with each swipe.
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To use the rotor, rotate two fingers on your phone screen as if you're turning a dial. You hear the first rotor option. Keep rotating your fingers until you hear the option you want, and lift your fingers to select the option. To navigate by the selected element, swipe up or down.
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To scroll through a document, swipe up or down with three fingers. When you lift your fingers off the screen, VoiceOver announces the page you're on.
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Use the Mobile view to simplify the page layout, which could make it easier to read and edit text on your phone's screen. Swipe left or right until you reach the Mobile view button, and then double-tap the screen. To return to the Print view, swipe left until you hear "Print view," and double-tap the screen.
Use VoiceOver with an external keyboard
If you use VoiceOver with an external keyboard and you want to use keyboard shortcuts to navigate and edit your document, make sure Quick Nav is turned off. To turn Quick Nav off, on your external keyboard, press the Left and Right arrow keys simultaneously. To turn Quick Nav back on, press the Left and Right arrow keys again.
For the keyboard shortcuts, refer to Keyboard shortcuts in Word.
See also
Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word
Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities
What's new in Microsoft 365: Release notes for Current Channel
Use Word for Android with TalkBack, the built-in Android screen reader, to explore and navigate the different views and move between them.
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 Android screen reader, TalkBack. To learn more about using TalkBack, go to Android accessibility.
In this topic
Navigate the main view
When you open a Word document for editing, you land on the main view. It contains the following main elements:
-
The top menu bar, which contains buttons such as More options to open the ribbon, Search, Undo, and Menu to open options for saving and sharing, for example.
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To go to the top menu bar from the document content, swipe left until you hear "Menu."
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To navigate the top menu, swipe left and right.
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The main content area, which appears under the top menu and takes up the majority of the screen. To move the focus to the content area, swipe right until you hear the name of the document and its file extension, for example, "Docx."
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The quick toolbar, which appears at the bottom of the screen when you've selected an editable element in the content area. It contains document formatting options for the selected element.
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To go to and navigate the quick toolbar, select an editable element in the document, and swipe right until you reach the toolbar buttons.
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The ribbon, which pops up from the bottom of the screen and contains tabs with different editing tools and options.
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To go to the ribbon, slide one finger near the top of the screen until you hear "More options, button," and double-tap the screen. You hear the currently selected ribbon tab. The ribbon options specific to the selected tab are displayed below the tab name.
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To switch to another tab, double-tap the screen, swipe left or right until you hear the name of the tab you want, and double-tab the screen.
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To navigate the ribbon options, swipe left or right.
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Explore a document
To explore the text of a document, swipe right or left until you hear the screen reader announce the currently open page, followed by "Content." You can change the screen reader navigation mode, also known as the reading control, for example, to headings, paragraphs, lines, or words. The gestures to change the mode depend on the Android version of your phone. For more information, refer to Use TalkBack gestures.
See also
Use a screen reader to insert and change text in Word
Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities
What's new in Microsoft 365: Release notes for Current Channel
Use Word for the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to explore and navigate the different views and move between them. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge and JAWS and NVDA in Chrome, but it might work with other screen readers and web browsers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.
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.
-
To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
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When you use Word for the web with a screen reader, switch to the full screen mode. Press F11 to toggle the full screen mode on and off.
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When you use Word for the web, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because Word for the web runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not Word for the web.
In this topic
Explore a document
Use zoom
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Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear the current page number followed by the total number of pages in the document, for example, "Page one of three."
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To zoom in, press the Tab key until you hear "Zoom in," and press Enter. You hear the new zoom percentage, for example, "90 percent." To zoom out, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Zoom out," and press Enter.
Use Search
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 insert and change text in Word
Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in Word
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word
Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities
What's new in Microsoft 365: Release notes for Current Channel
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.
