Screen Reader Cheat Sheets

You can pull these cheat sheets up on your phone while you're practicing your screen reader on your computer

Jump to NVDA

Jump to VoiceOver with QuickNav

Jump to VoiceOver Standard interaction

NVDA Cheat Sheet

Operational

Turn on / off - control + alt + n / NVDA + q

NVDA key - insert, or caps lock if set

moving - up or down to move from element to element

Perform default action - enter

next/prev interactive element - tab/ shift-tab

next/prev element of a certain type - single key, or shift-single key

Single-key navigation

tap the key to go to the next of an element type. shift + single key takes you to the previous

Single keys:

  • h, 1-6: Heading, H1 - H6
  • d: Landmark
  • k: Link
  • b: Button
  • f: Form Field
  • t: Table | down to enter a table cell, then control + alt + arrow keys to navigate table cells
  • l: List | i: List Item
  • g: Graphic/Image

VoiceOver for Mac - QuickNav navigation

activate or deactivate QuickNav - left + right

next or previous element - right or left

next/previous rotor type element - down / up

change rotor type - up + right, or up + left

activate the current element - up + down

enter an element - down + right

exit an element - down + left

Single-key navigation

Go to next/previous element of type by pressing the single key/ shift + key

Single keys

  • h, 1-6: Heading, H1 - H6
  • l: Link
  • b: Button
  • c: Checkbox
  • j: Control (e.g form element)
  • g: Image - if image is in a link, you need to move past before you can jump to next image
  • x: List - right, left to navigate list items
  • f: Form Field - up-down to enter field, right-left to turn QuickNav off to be able to type, tab to next field
  • t: Table - left-right to turn QuickNav off, VO + arrows to move around table

VoiceOver for Mac - standard navigation

Operational

Turn on in Settings > Accessibility > Voiceover, or command-f5 or command-triple-click fingerprint sensor

VO key - control + option, or caps lock

VO lock - VO + semicolon locks it on for one-handed use

open rotor - VO + u, then arrows to navigate, and enter to jump to the component

moving - VO+left or right to move from element to element

Perform default action - VO + shift + space

enter an element - VO + shift + down

leave an element - VO+shift + up

next/prev interactive element - tab/ shift + tab

next/prev element of a certain type - VO + command + single key/VO + command + shift + key:

Single keys:

  • h: Heading
  • l: Link
  • j: Control (like form element)
  • g: Image - if image is in a link, you need to move past before you can jump to next image
  • x: List - VO + right/left to navigate list items