Welcome to Working with Copilot in Microsoft 365, a series of training modules designed to help blind users get the most out of Microsoft Copilot, produced for Microsoft by the National Federation of the Blind. My name's Jonathan Mozen, and I'll be your guide as we explore the power of Copilot together. Whether you want to draft documents, summarize emails, generate content, or interact with Copilot can be a powerful tool in your workflow.
Please note this audio file contains chapter marks. If you're using an app or device that supports chapters, you'll be able to skip forward and back to sections within this audio tutorial.
Throughout this series, I'll use Microsoft Narrator, the screen reader built right into Windows to demonstrate what I'm describing. But most of the keyboard commands I cover in this series relate to Copilot itself, not to Narrator. The application commands will work the same way, whether you're using Narrator, JAWS, NVDA, or any other screen reader. I've chosen Narrator for one simple reason. It's built into every copy of Windows and requires no additional purchase or installation. That means you can follow along on virtually any Windows computer you have access to, including work computers, library machines, or borrowed devices without needing to install anything.
This first module is dedicated entirely to getting you up to speed with Narrator so that when we turn our attention to Copilot and subsequent modules, you'll feel comfortable and confident navigating the environment.
What is Narrator?
Narrator is Microsoft's built-in screen reader for Windows. It's been part of Windows for many years, but in recent times it's evolved significantly from a basic accessibility tool into a genuinely capable full-featured screen reader with particular strengths in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
If you use JAWS or NVDA regularly, you'll find several concepts in Narrator that are familiar. A modifier key used in all commands, a browse or scan mode for navigating web content and documents, reading commands that move by character, word, line, sentence and paragraph, and a rich set of keyboard shortcuts. You'll also find some differences in how Narrator approaches certain tasks, and this module will walk you through all of them.
Starting and stopping Narrator
You can toggle Narrator on and off by pressing the Windows key plus Control plus Enter.
Narrator window heading level 1. Scan. Welcome to Narrator. This is Narrator Home, where you can get help, access your settings, and learn about new features. Narrator is a screen reader that describes aloud what's on your screen, so you can use that information to navigate your device. To start or stop Narrator, press the Windows logo key and Control and Enter.
Explore the sections below to get started. Narrator Guide, button, view the complete Narrator Guide online, Alt G. View the complete Narrator guide online. What's New? button. Get an overview of new and updated features. Alt W. Get an overview of new and updated features. Settings button. Customize Narrator. Press Windows Logo key and Control and Enter. Access settings anytime. Alt S. Customize Narrator. Press Windows Logo key and Control and Enter access settings anytime. Feedback button. Help improve Narrator. Press Narrator key and Alt and F to give feedback anytime. Alt F. Help improve Narrator. Press Narrator key and Alt and F to give feedback anytime. Quick Start button. Learn the basics of Narrator. Alt Q.
When Narrator starts, by default, it opens at Narrator Home, a central hub where you can access Settings, launch a built-in quick start tutorial and find documentation. You can also configure Narrator to start automatically when you sign into Windows. You can set this up in Narrator settings by pressing the Windows key plus Control plus N for Narrator.
The Narrator key
Like JAWS and NVDA, Narrator uses a dedicated modifier key in most of its commands. By default, both the Caps Lock key and the Control key function as the Narrator key. You can use either interchangeably. Throughout this module, I'll just refer to it as the Narrator key.
If you prefer to designate only one of these keys as your Narrator key, you can make that change in Narrator settings. Windows key plus Control plus N. This is useful, for example, if you use Insert for other purposes or want to reclaim Caps Lock for its original function.
Choosing a voice
Narrator comes with several voices built in. and recent versions have introduced high definition natural voices that are noticeably more human sounding than older synthesized voices. Natural voices process text on demand and don't require an internet connection after the initial download. You can preview any voice before downloading it, so you can get a sense of how it sounds before committing.
Let's take a look at that now. To change the voice, we'll press Windows Control N To open Narrator settings.
Settings window, Narrator, toggle switch, on.
I'm going to press the tab key until I get to the choose a voice option.
Show more settings, button, collapsed. Keyboard shortcut for Narrator, toggle switch, on. Narrator home group, show more settings, button. What's new in Narrator, button, open. Complete guide to Narrator, button, open. Choose a voice, Microsoft Sonia, Natural, English, United Kingdom, combo box, collapsed.
Now that I've tabbed to this combo box, I can use the up and down arrow key to make another choice. Microsoft Andrew, Natural HD English, United States, 6 of 25.
Microsoft Deva, Natural HD English, United States, 7 of 25.
Microsoft David, English, United States, 8 of 25. You may have a different number of voices on your system from mine and there may be additional voices that you may wish to install. I'm going to up arrow first of all though to get back to Sonia.
Microsoft Ava, Natural HD English, United States, 7 of 25, selected.
Microsoft Andrew, Natural HD English, United States, 6 of 25, selected. Microsoft Sonia, Natural, English, United Kingdom, 5 of 25, selected. I'll press the tab key. Show more settings, button, collapsed. Add natural voices group, add button.
If you press the space bar to activate this button, you'll be able to download additional natural voices and preview them before you do. You can also adjust the speed, pitch and volume of selected voices from this same settings area, allowing you to tailor the experience to exactly how you prefer to listen.
And the nice thing is that you don't have to go into narrator settings to do any of this. For quick, on-the-fly adjustment during a session without opening settings, here are the keys to press. To speed up narrator speech, hold down the narrator key and press the equals key. My Sonia speech rate is currently set to 55%, and when I press the narrator key with the equals key, you'll find it.
Increases in 5% increments. Speed increase to 60%. Speed increase to 65%. Speed increase to 70%. Speed increase to 75%.
I'm going to take the speech back to 55%. To do that, I hold down the narrator key and press the minus key.
Speed decrease to 55%.
As you hear, you can press those keys rapidly to get to the speed you want. If you wish to adjust the volume, hold down the control key with these commands. So narrator control equals and narrator control minus.
Scan mode
Narrator's browse mode. If you're a JAWS user, scan mode has some similarities to the virtual cursor mode, while NVDA users will recognize some aspects of browse mode. In Narrator, scan mode gives you a cursor that can navigate through web-based content like you were navigating a document. But scan mode goes even further. It's available anywhere in Windows.
Scan mode activates automatically when you open a web page in Microsoft Edge or open an e-mail, but you can toggle it on and off from anywhere by pressing narrator key with space. I'm not in scan mode right now, so when I press narrator with space it will toggle it on.
Scan.
When I press it again it will toggle it off. Narrator key with space.
Scan off.
But I'm going to leave scan mode on for the moment because I'd like to take you through some of the commands that you can use in scan mode.
Scan.
To demonstrate scan mode, I'm on a page that you may want to add to your favorites in Microsoft Edge. It's at aka.ms/askma. That's aka.ms/askma all joined together. Ask MA stands for Ask Microsoft Accessibility. It's an AI tool that can answer many of your questions relating to the accessibility features in Microsoft products.
So I have that page open now in Microsoft Edge and I've enabled scan mode. When you use the up and down arrow key with scan mode active, you'll navigate by items or paragraphs. If I press down arrow now, you'll hear this.
Enter question, edit, ask me anything about Microsoft accessibility, Alt and Q.
And I'll press the up arrow.
Enter question, space, space, ask me anything about Microsoft accessibility and I will assist you. Feel free to ask follow-up questions as needed.
So I'm moving up the page and scan mode is speaking those items.
When a document is well structured, it can be handy to navigate by headings, whether that document is on the web or in Microsoft Word. To do that, while scan mode is active, press the H key to navigate to the next heading and shift with H to navigate to the previous one.
No next heading.
Narrator handily tells me that there are no more headings on the page at this point, but if I press shift with H, I'll navigate up to the previous heading.
Bingo-powered accessibility discoverability tool, heading level 2.
As you become familiar with a web page, you may know the heading level of any particular heading you're looking for. If that's the case, you can use the numbers 1 through 6. If you press them on their own, you'll navigate to the next heading at that level. If you use shift, you'll navigate to the previous heading at that level.
For example, I know that towards the top of this page, there's a heading level 1, so I'll press the shift key with the number 1.
Ask Microsoft Accessibility. Heading level 1.
I'm going to go to the top of this page in scan mode by pressing Control Home. M. And now I'm going to press L to see if there are any lists on this page.
Products list of four.
If there are multiple lists on the page, then Shift with L will take me to the previous list.
There is a comprehensive set of commands in scan mode. Let's go through some more of them. I and Shift plus I will move to the next and previous item. T and Shift plus T pertain to tables, and I'll be talking a lot more about tables later in this module. B and Shift with B navigate by button. E and Shift with E by edit field. That's a very handy one.
For example, we're on the Ask Microsoft accessibility site. I'll press E now.
Ask me anything about Microsoft Accessibility Group. Enter question. Edit. Ask me anything about Microsoft Accessibility. Alt and Q. Press space to edit.
Another very handy command is that F and Shift with F will navigate you to the next and previous form field of any type on the page. K and Shift with K navigate by link. N and shift with N will skip past a block of links and move to the block of text. Getting into the habit of using this command can really speed you up on busy web pages. G and shift with G navigate you to the next or previous graphic. D or shift with D navigate by landmark.
To complete a form you'll need to exit browse mode. Let's have a look at how that works. I'll go to the top of the page.
Exit list.
And now I will press E to navigate to the edit field.
Ask me anything about Microsoft Accessibility Group. Enter question. Edit.
I'll press enter.
Insertion point before. Scan off.
I can type my query into this edit field and when I'm done I can press narrator with space to turn scan mode back on.
Scan.
Pressing Narrator with the F5 key will show a list of all landmarks on the page. Narrator with F6 shows a list of headings and Narrator with F7 shows a list of links.
Tools to help you learn Narrator
Before diving into reading commands, there are two features that every new Narrator user should know about. The first is called Input Learning Mode and you can activate it by pressing the narrator key with the number one. You must use the number one on the number row unless Num Lock is on.
When input learning mode is enabled, you can press any key or key combination on your keyboard and Narrator will announce what that key does without actually executing the command. NVDA and JAWS work exactly the same way with exactly the same command. So this is a feature you're probably familiar with. I'll press the Narrator key with one now.
Input learning on.
Narrator confirms that I'm in input learning mode. It also remembered that I invoked it from scan mode. That means that when I press any keys it will tell me what they do based on scan mode being active.
Down arrow, jump to next text or item. Up arrow, jump to previous text or item. T, jump to next table.
If you invoke this mode without scan mode being active you'll get a different series of responses. Input learning mode is invaluable when you're getting started. You can explore the keyboard freely and hear what each command does without accidentally activating anything. When you've finished exploring, press Narrator Key with 1 again to turn it off.
Let's have a look at another way of getting some great help. How often have you forgotten a command for your screen reader, but you know it's there somewhere? Narrator Key plus F1 opens Narrator's searchable command list, where you can browse or search for any command by name. I'll press that key now, the Narrator key, with F1. And of course, F1 is the standard Microsoft command for help.
Search all commands window. Search list, edit. Scan off. Teaching tip is shown. Teaching tip is shown.
Narrator handily told me that it has turned scan mode off, and that means that I'm ready to type what I'm looking for into this edit field. Let's say that I want to speed up my speech and I've forgotten how. I'm going to type the word speed into this edit field. I have done that and now I'll press the tab key.
Search list list increase voice speed narrator plus plus one of two decrease voice speed narrator plus minus two of two selected.
So just by typing speed and pressing tab I got the commands I needed. But you can actually execute the command from the search list. I currently have decrease speed focused. That means if I press enter it will actually slow the speech down.
Scan speed decreased to 50%.
I pressed enter on the command, it executed the command and exited the help. I'll speed the speech back up again and as we now know we do that by pressing the narrator key with the equal sign.
Speed increased to 55%.
If you get into the habit of using Narrator with F1, you'll find there's a very handy tool for making the most out of Microsoft's built-in screen reader.
Continuous reading and item navigation keys
Narrator key with down arrow starts reading from the current position. This command works in scan mode or when you're in a text document. If you prefer, you can use Narrator control R for read to do the same thing. Pressing Narrator Control I will read the current page, and you can stop reading it anytime by tapping the Control key.
Narrator with right and left arrow move to the next and previous item respectively. To hear the current item that has focus, you can press Narrator with Tab, and sometimes you just need your screen reader to say it again. If you need Narrator to repeat the last thing it said, press Narrator with X.
For example, I'm still on the Ask Microsoft Accessibility web page and I'll press down arrow to move to the next item.
Search landmark.
If I didn't quite catch what that said, I can press narrator with X.
Search landmark.
And it repeated the last phrase. Pressing narrator with W for window will read the title and contents of the current window. Narrator with B or Narrator Control Home will go to the beginning of the text, while Narrator with E or Narrator Control End will go to the end of the text.
Reading by character, word, line, sentence and paragraph
These are critical navigation commands and there's logic to the way they are structured in Narrator. To read the previous, current and next lines, press Narrator with U, I&O respectively. If you prefer, you can also use Narrator with up arrow to read the current line.
Narrator with J, K, and L reads the previous, current, and next word respectively. As an alternative, you can use Narrator with left arrow, numpad 5, and right arrow respectively.
Narrator with M. comma, and period read the previous, current, and next characters respectively, while narrator with Ctrl and M, comma, and period read the previous, current, and next sentence respectively. Narrator with Ctrl J, K, and L will read the previous, current, and next paragraphs respectively.
Reviewing content on the web
When working in Microsoft Edge, which is the recommended browser for Microsoft 365 and Copilot, Narrator provides several tools that help you quickly orient yourself on a web page.
If you press Narrator with S, you'll get a page summary. Let's try that now on the page that we have open.
Six landmarks, 13 links, no headings.
I'm going to press that command twice quickly.
Narrator with S. Page summary window, close, button. Heading level one. Page contains three of four, 6 landmarks, 13 links. No headings. Heading level one. Popular links. No popular links available.
On some websites you will find popular links and they can help you get to key points on a busy website. I'll press Escape to dismiss this dialogue.
Ask Microsoft Accessibility. Personal Microsoft Edge window.
By pressing Narrator with Control plus D, you can read the title of a link without actually activating the link. Or if you're on an image, it will describe the image for you. I'm going to try that by going to the top of the page with Control Home.
Link M.
And now I will press Tab.
Link, Accessibility.
Let's see what happens if I press Control Shift D for Delta.
Getting page title, Accessibility Technology and Tools, Microsoft Accessibility.
Narrator also reads web pages automatically starting from the top when you open them, just as JAWS and NVDA do.
Customizing Verbosity
Like JAWS and NVDA, Narrator allows you to control how much detail it provides when reading text and interacting with controls. Narrator offers 5 verbosity levels ranging from minimal to very detailed. A lower verbosity level means fewer interruptions and faster reading. A higher level gives you more information about formatting, styles, and document structure.
Narrator Key V cycles forward through verbosity levels. Narrator Key Shift V moves you back. Let's try that now. I'll press narrator key with V.
4, some text details. 5, all text details. 1, text only. 2, some control details. 3, all control details.
And now I'm back at verbosity level 3, which is the one I've been using for this tutorial.
You can also make finer-grained adjustments in Narrator settings, including configuring how much information Narrator gives you about formatting, punctuation, and context. For example, you can configure whether Narrator reads capital letters at a higher pitch, announces text color and font information, or reads punctuation aloud.
When you're working with Copilot responses, which can include formatted text, numbered lists, headings, and tables, Having the verbosity turned to a level that gives you structured information without being overwhelming will make a significant difference to your experience. We'll revisit verbosity in the context of working with Copilot output in later modules.
By default, the verbosity is set to level 3, which provides a good balance for getting the information you need most.
Navigating tables
Microsoft 365 documents and Copilot responses frequently include tables, So it's worth getting comfortable with Narrator's table navigation before we move into the Copilot modules. Most of these work when scan mode is off, but some require scan mode on.
To demonstrate these commands, I have the Narrator user guide open. It is a comprehensive set of documentation which will go into much more depth than we have time to do here. So do check out this user guide.
As I mentioned earlier, to move to a table when you're in scan mode, you can press the letter T for table.
Table of contents region, table, columns, chapter what's in it, 19 by 2.
By holding down Control and Alt and using the left and right arrows, I can move around the cells on this row of the table.
Chapter, column header, column header chapter, row 1 of 19, column 1 of 2. What's in it, column header, column header what's in it, column 2 of 2?
Narrator is able to tell me what the column is, but also that this is the column header row at the top of the table. I can navigate rows and go down one row by pressing Control-Alt-Down Arrow.
An overview of Narrator including how to start and stop it. Row 2 of 19.
If I've moved some way down the table and want to get to the top, I can press Control-Alt-Home to get to the top of the table. Similarly, Control-Alt-End will get me to the end of the table. I'll try that now.
A list of Narrator update history. Row 19 of 19.
Control Alt Comma will move to the first cell on a row and Control Alt Period to the last cell on a row. If you add Shift to those commands you'll get to the first and last cell respectively on the current column.
Speech Recap and reviewing what was said
One of Narrator's most useful features for working with lengthy Copilot responses is Speech Recap. This feature allows you to review up to 500 of the most recently spoken strings, which is helpful if you want to review something that Narrator said.
As I mentioned previously, Narrator with X speaks the last thing that Narrator said. Narrator Control X will copy the last thing Narrator said to the clipboard. This is extremely useful if you want to paste something into an e-mail or a Word document.
Narrator Alt X opens Speech Recap. This lets you review the history and see live transcriptions. The speech recap window can also be snapped to a corner of the screen to provide a live transcription of narrator's speech as it happens. This is particularly useful for sighted colleagues, access technology trainers, or anyone who's hard of hearing and wants a visual text track alongside audio.
Other useful features
AI-powered image descriptions
On Copilot Plus PCs, machines running AI-capable hardware from Qualcomm, Snapdragon, AMD, or Intel, Narrator can generate rich contextual descriptions and images using local AI models. This means when you encounter an image, chart, or graph, you can press Narrator key plus CTRL plus D to receive a detailed description covering people, objects, colors, text, and numbers in the image.
Crucially, all processing happens on device and no data is sent to the cloud.
Screen Curtain
Screen Curtain, which is available by pressing the Narrator key plus C, completely blacks out your display while Narrator continues to operate normally. This is ideal when working with sensitive content in a shared environment, such as reading private emails in a public space. Image description and other Narrator features continue to work while Screen Curtain is active.
Be sure to stay up to date
Windows Narrator is updated monthly, delivering incremental improvements to screen reading behavior, reliability, and accessibility. To get the latest enhancements, keep Windows up to date via Settings, Windows Update, providing feedback to Microsoft.
Microsoft actively solicits feedback on Narrator from users. When Narrator is running, press the Narrator key plus Alt plus F for feedback to open the feedback hub and submit comments or report issues directly to the Narrator development team.
Given how rapidly Narrator has been improving, we can have high confidence that user feedback genuinely shapes the product.
Summary and what comes next
In this module you've learned how to start and start Narrator, configure your voice and read speed, navigate using scan mode, read content by unit, use speech recap to review what was said, navigate tables and customize verbosity settings.
Microsoft has made significant investments in Narrator's compatibility with Microsoft 365, working directly with the blind community to improve the experience across Word, Outlook and other applications.
And now that you're well-grounded in narrator basics, we can move on to copilot.