Use Word with your keyboard and a screen reader to share your documents. 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. When you share your files from OneDrive or SharePoint, you can invite people to view or edit the document or send the file as an email attachment, straight from your document.
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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This topic assumes that you have logged in to your Microsoft account and OneDrive is thus available.
Share a document via OneDrive or SharePoint
Sign in to your Microsoft account in Word and save your documents to OneDrive or SharePoint, so you can share them with others. For instructions on how to sign in, go to the "Sign in to your Microsoft account" section in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word. For instructions on how to save your document to an online location, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.
By saving your documents to OneDrive or SharePoint, you can also control who edits your file, make sure everyone sees the latest changes straight away, and access your documents on any of your devices. You can easily upload both older and newer documents to OneDrive or SharePoint.
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Open the document you want to share.
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To open the Share pane, press Alt+Z, S. You hear: "People to share with, editable combo box."
Note: If you haven't saved your document to OneDrive or SharePoint, you're prompted to do so now.
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Type the email address or name of the person you want to share the document with, and then press Enter. Repeat for other contacts you want to share the document with.
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To add an optional message, press the Tab key. You hear: "Enter your optional message here, editing." Type a message to the recipients.
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To define who the sharing link works for, press Shift+Tab until you hear the current option, for example, "Only people in your organization with the link can view and edit." Then press Enter. You hear: "Link settings page." Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the access group option you want.
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By default, the people you share the document with can edit it. If you want them to be able to only view the document, press the Tab key until you hear "Other settings, checked, Allow editing, checkbox," and then press Spacebar.
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To save the access settings and exit the Link Settings page, press the Tab key until you hear "Apply, button," and then press Enter. You hear: "Send link, page."
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To share your document, press the Tab key until you hear “Send button,” and then press Enter.
Share a copy of your document by email
With Word, you can easily email a copy of your document to share with others. You can send the copy in the original format or as a PDF. Word converts your document to a PDF automatically, and attaches your file to your default email app, for example, Outlook.
If you want to save your document as a PDF, for instructions, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.
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Open the document you want to share.
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To open the Share pane, press Alt+Z, S. You hear: "People to share with, editable combo box."
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Send a copy, button collapsed," and then press Enter.
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Press the Down arrow key until you hear the file type option you want, for example, "PDF, menu item," and then press Enter.
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Word opens a new email message by using your default email client, with a PDF or Word copy of your document already attached. The focus is on the To field. Type the email address.
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To type a message, press the Tab key until you hear "Message," followed by the document name, and "Message, editing." Type your message.
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To send the message, press Alt+S.
Work together in a shared document
Word offers you two kinds of co-authoring: regular and real-time co-authoring. Both let multiple people collaborate and work together on documents. There is one key difference between them:
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Regular co-authoring is when you and others simultaneously work on a document without locking each other out. Paragraphs that someone else is working on are locked. When you save, you can see the changes that others have made since the last time you saved.
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Real-time co-authoring is where two or more people type at the same time and automatically see everyone’s text changes as they happen. If you co-author with someone who's using a version that supports only regular co-authoring, you’ll see that they’re in the document, but you won’t see their changes until they save the document.
When you use Word to work with a shared document, you don’t need to change anything about the way you work. Your co-authors can just follow the link you sent, and your document will open in their version of Word or on Word for the web. If they’re also using Word or Word for the web and have agreed to automatically share changes, their work is shown as it happens, and you can use your screen reader to read the modified text without waiting until the others save the document.
Screen reader announcements
When you are using a screen reader while collaborating on a document in Word, you hear announcements when certain events happen:
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When you hear “Unsynchronized change,” it means that one author is editing a paragraph (with regular co-authoring), but has not saved the changes yet. The area is locked for the co-author.
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When you hear “Editing locked change,” it means that another author has locked this area, typically a paragraph, and you can’t edit it.
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When you hear “External change,” it means that one author has just saved the document and the co-author has added new content to it. In regular co-authoring, the area is highlighted in green for a sighted person.
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When you hear “Conflicting change,” it means that one author has a paragraph that conflicts with a change that the co-author has made. This area is highlighted in red for a sighted person.
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When you hear “Author,” it means that one author is currently located in that paragraph (with real-time co-authoring). This helps the co-author to avoid creating a conflict by editing the same area.
Tip: When you start working on a document with someone else, a dialog box appears asking what kind of a co-authoring experience you want. Press F6 to navigate to the dialog box.
Use Word for Mac with your keyboard and VoiceOver, the built-in macOS screen reader, to share your documents. When you share your files from OneDrive or SharePoint, you can invite people to view or edit the document or send the file as an email attachment, straight from your document.
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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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.
Share a document via OneDrive or SharePoint
Sign in to your Microsoft account in Word for Mac and save your documents to OneDrive or SharePoint, so you can share them with others. For instructions on how to sign in, go to the "Sign in to your Microsoft account" section in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word. For instructions on how to save your document to an online location, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.
By saving your documents to OneDrive or SharePoint, you can also control who edits your file, make sure everyone sees the latest changes straight away, and access your documents on any of your devices. You can easily upload both older and newer documents to OneDrive or SharePoint.
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In the document you want to share, press F6 until you hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Home tab."
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Press Control+Option+Right arrow key repeatedly until you hear "Share, menu button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to select. You hear: "People to share with, combo box. Enter a name or email address." The focus is on the contacts text field.
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Type the email address of the person you'd like to share the document with. If you already have the person's contact information stored, you can just type their name and press Return.
To share with more than one person, use semicolons to separate the names or email addresses.
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To add a message, press the Tab key once and type a message.
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To assign permissions, press the Tab key until you hear the currently selected option, such as “Only the people you specify will have access to edit,” and then press Control+Option+Spacebar. Press the Down or Up arrow key until you hear the permission option you want. If you don’t want people to edit the document, press the Tab key until you hear: "Allow editing, checked, checkbox." To uncheck the checkbox and assign viewing permissions only, press Control+Option+Spacebar.
To apply the changes in permissions, press the Tab key until you hear “Apply, button" and press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Press the Tab key repeatedly until you hear "Send, button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to select the button and send the invite.
Share a link to your document
You can copy the link to your document and paste it into another shared file, for example, a PowerPoint presentation.
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Press F6 until you hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Home tab."
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Press Control+Option+Right arrow key repeatedly until you hear "Share, menu button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to select. You hear: "People to share with, combo box. Enter a name or email address."
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Copy link, button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar. The link dialog box opens.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Copy, button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Paste the link to, for example, another shared file.
Share a copy of your document by email
You can also email a copy of your document or send it as a PDF directly from Word.
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Press F6 until you hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Home tab."
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Press Control+Option+Right arrow key repeatedly until you hear "Share, menu button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to select. You hear: "People to share with, combo box. Enter a name or email address."
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Send a copy," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Press Control+Option+Down arrow key until you hear the file format option you want, and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Your default email client creates a new email message with a copy of the Word file attached or a PDF copy of the document inserted. The focus is on the To field. Type the email address of the recipient.
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Press the Tab key to move to the other fields below, such as Cc and Subject.
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To send the message, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Send, button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to select the button and send the message.
Share a link to your document by email
You can email a link to your document straight from Word.
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Press F6 until you hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Home tab."
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Press Control+Option+Right arrow key repeatedly until you hear "Share, menu button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to select. You hear: "People to share with, combo box. Enter a name or email address."
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Mail button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Your default email client creates a new email message with a link to your document inserted in the message body. The focus is on the To field. Type the email address of the recipient.
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Press the Tab key to move to the other fields below, such as Cc and Subject.
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To send the message, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Send, button," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to select the button and send the message.
Work together in a shared document
When you use Word for Mac to work with a shared document, you don’t need to change anything about the way you work. Your co-authors can just follow the link you sent, and your document will open in their version of Word or on Word for the web.
To refresh the document with the updates made by other authors, press Command+S.
Check out a document
If you want to lock a document for your updates only, you can check out the file. When a file is checked out to you, others cannot update it or see the edits you've made until you've saved and checked in the document.
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With the document open, press Control+Option+M. You hear: “Menu bar Apple.”
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Press the Tab key until you hear "File," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Check out," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Edit the document, and when you're done, press Control+Option+M.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "File," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Check in," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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You hear: "Version comments." Type a short description of your updates. When you're done, press the Tab key until you hear "Check in," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
Block other authors
You can prevent other authors from changing specific sections of the document.
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In the document, select the section which you don't want others to edit.
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Press Control+Option+M. You hear: “Menu bar Apple.”
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Tools," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Block authors," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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To unblock authors, press Control+Option+M.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Tools," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Unblock all my blocked areas," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.
Use Word for iOS with VoiceOver, the built-in iOS screen reader, to share your documents. Save your file to OneDrive or SharePoint, and invite people to view or edit the document you shared. If you'd like to email the document as a PDF or Word document instead, you can do that straight from Word for iOS.
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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This topic assumes that you are using the built-in iOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, visit Apple accessibility.
Share a document via OneDrive or SharePoint
Sign in to your Microsoft account in Word for iOS and save your documents to OneDrive or SharePoint, so you can share them with others. For instructions on how to sign in, go to the "Sign in to your Microsoft account" section in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word. For instructions on how to save your document to an online location, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.
By saving your documents to OneDrive or SharePoint, you can also control who edits your file, make sure everyone sees the latest changes straight away, and access your documents on any of your devices. You can easily upload both older and newer documents to OneDrive or SharePoint.
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In your Word document, swipe right or left until you hear: "Share, button." Double-tap the screen to select and open the menu. VoiceOver announces: "Share, heading."
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The Share menu opens. Swipe right until you hear "Invite People, button," and double-tap the screen to select.
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The Invite People dialog box opens. Swipe right until you hear: "Type names or email addresses, text field." Double-tap the screen to select the field and start typing.
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Use the on-screen keyboard to type the email address of the person you'd like to share the document with. When done, navigate to the return key at the lower-right corner of the screen, and double-tap to select.
Tip: If you already have the person's contact information stored, you can just swipe right to pick the person from your Contacts. VoiceOver announces: "Add contact, button." Double-tap the screen to select the button and go to your Contacts. Swipe right repeatedly to cycle through your contact list, or use the Search at the top. When on the contact you want to add as recipient, double-tap the screen.
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If you want the recipient to be able to view the document but not edit it, swipe right until you hear "Can Edit," and double-tap the screen to remove the editing rights.
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To send the invitation, swipe left or right until you hear "Send, button," and double-tap the screen.
The invitation is sent, and you return to the Share menu.
Share a copy of your document by email
You can also email a copy of your document or send it as a PDF directly from Word for iOS.
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In your Word document, swipe right or left until you hear: "Share, button." Double-tap the screen to select and open the menu. VoiceOver announces: "Share, heading."
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The Share menu opens. Swipe right until you hear "Send a Copy, button," and double-tap the screen to select. You hear: "Share, Back button."
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The Send a Copy menu opens. Swipe right until you hear "Format," followed by the currently selected file format, for example, "Word Document, button."
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If you want to change the file format, double-tap the screen. Swipe right until you hear the file option you want, and then double-tap the screen to select. The focus returns to the Send a Copy menu.
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Swipe right until you hear the app you want to use for sending the file. To select an option, double-tap the screen.
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If needed, swipe right until you land on the To field, and double-tap the screen to select the field.
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Use the on-screen keyboard to type the email address of the person you'd like to share the document with.
Tip: If you already have the person's contact information stored, you can just swipe right to pick the person from your Contacts. VoiceOver announces: "Add contact, button." Double-tap the screen to select the button and go to your Contacts. Swipe right repeatedly to cycle through your contact list, or use the Search at the top. When on the contact you want to add as recipient, double-tap the screen.
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To change the email subject, swipe right until you hear "Subject," and double-tap the screen to select. Type another subject using the on-screen keyboard. When done, navigate to the return key at the lower-right corner of the screen, and double-tap to select.
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To add a message, swipe right and double-tap the screen. Type your message using the on-screen keyboard. When done, navigate to the return key at the lower-right corner of the screen, and double-tap to select.
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When done, swipe left repeatedly until you hear "Send, button," and double-tap the screen to send the document.
Use Word for Android with TalkBack, the built-in Android screen reader, to share your documents. When you share your files from OneDrive, you can invite people to view or edit the document or send the file as an email attachment, straight from your document.
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.
Share a document via OneDrive
Sign in to your Microsoft account in Word for Android and save your documents to OneDrive, so you can share them with others. For instructions on how to sign in, go to the "Sign in to your Microsoft account" section in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word. For instructions on how to save your document to an online location, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.
By saving your documents to OneDrive, you can also control who edits your file, make sure everyone sees the latest changes straight away, and access your documents on any of your devices. You can easily upload both older and newer documents to OneDrive.
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Open the document you want to share in Word for Android.
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Swipe left until you hear "Not checked, Share, switch," and then double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right until you hear "Invite people to this file, edit box," and then double-tap the screen.
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Use the on-screen keyboard to type the email address of the person you'd like to share the document with.
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Swipe down-then-left to close the keyboard.
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To add a message, swipe right until you hear "Include a message (optional), edit box," double-tap the screen, and then use the on-screen keyboard to type your message.
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To assign permissions, swipe right until you hear "Checked, can edit, checkbox." By default, your collaborators can edit the document you share. If you want them to only be able to view the document, double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right until you hear "Share button," and then double-tap the screen.
Share a copy of your document by email
You can also email a copy of your document or send it as a PDF directly from Word for Android.
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Open the document you want to share in Word for Android.
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Swipe left until you hear "Not checked, Share, switch," and then double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right until you hear "Share as attachment button," and then double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right until you hear "Document button" or "PDF button," depending on which file format you want to share. Double-tap the screen to select the format.
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Swipe right until you find the email app you want to use for sharing, for example, "Outlook" or "Gmail," and then double-tap the screen.
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Use the on-screen keyboard to type the email address of the person you'd like to share the document with.
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Swipe down-then-left to close the keyboard.
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Swipe right until you hear "Send," and then double-tap the screen.
Tip: You can also use these instructions to send a PDF copy to your own email address, or to save the PDF in your Google Drive.
Use Word for the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to share your documents. 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. When you share your files from OneDrive, you can invite people to view or edit the document, so you can work together at the same time.
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, 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.
Share a document via OneDrive
Sign in to your Microsoft account in Word for the web and save your documents to OneDrive, so you can share them with others. For instructions on how to sign in, go to the "Open Word for the web and sign in" section in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Word. For instructions on how to save your document to an online location, go to Use a screen reader to save a document in Word.
By saving your documents to OneDrive, you can also control who edits your file, make sure everyone sees the latest changes straight away, and access your documents on any of your devices. You can easily upload both older and newer documents to OneDrive.
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While editing a document in Word for the web, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear "List of Microsoft services."
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Share, button," and then press Enter.
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To assign permissions, press the Tab key until you hear the currently selected permission option, for example, "Only people who already have access can use this link." Then press Spacebar. You hear: "Link settings page." Use the Down and Up arrow keys to select the option you want.
To control the editing rights, press the Tab key until you hear "Other settings, checked, Allow editing checkbox." If you don't want anyone else editing the document, press Spacebar.
To apply the changes in permissions, press the Tab key until you hear "Apply, button," and then press Enter.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "People to share with, editable combo-box," and then type the email address of the person you'd like to share the document with. To share with more than one person, use semicolons to separate the email addresses.
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To add a message, press the Tab key until you hear "Add a message, optional," and then type your message.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Share button," and then press Enter.
Share a link to your document
You can copy the link to your document and paste it into another shared file, for example, a PowerPoint presentation.
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In your Word for the web document, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear "List of Microsoft services."
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Share button," and then press Enter. You hear: "Dialog, Share."
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Other ways to share link. Copy link, button," and then press Spacebar. You hear: "Link created." The focus is in the link text field.
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Press the Tab key once. You hear "Copy button," and then press Spacebar. You hear: "Link copied."
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To close the link window, press Alt+C. The focus returns to the document body.
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Paste the link to, for example, another shared file.
