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Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts / Hotkeys in Windows 10

Here you will find entire Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 10. When you enable this Ease of access tool, it reads the elements pursuing your cursor. Microsoft wants to make it easier for you to learn and use Narrator, so the company provides a new Standard keyboard layout for Narrator via Insider build 17692.

Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts / Hotkeys will be effective after next big release of Windows 10. Moreover, these will be useful for the users who are currently running their system with Windows Insider.

Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts Hotkeys in Windows 10

Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 10

Narrator lets you use either the Caps lock or Insert keys as your modifier key. Windows 10 includes Change View commands mapped to the Narrator key + Page up and Page down keys. This is a new hotkey of this Ease of access tool. You can use Change View by pressing Narrator key + Control + Up arrow and Down arrow. Move Next and Move Previous is as usual.

You will use new Scan Mode’s Primary and Secondary Action commands. You have the ability to execute Primary Action by pressing Enter or Spacebar. In addition, complete Secondary Action by simply adding a Shift key to each of those keys (Shift + Enter or Shift + Spacebar). You’ll see this change regardless of the keyboard layout you select.

Narrator’s page, paragraph, line, word and character commands are available with modifications in Standard keyboard layout. In addition, many of the commands have moved to be more mnemonic. Some also come with alignment to keystrokes that are more familiar to screen reader users.

You can use the numeric keypad to issue Narrator commands.

You will see commands for Narrator, including List of Links, List of Headings, List of Landmarks and Narrator Find in the following table.

For the selection of text, Several Scan Mode keyboard commands work.

Several of Narrator’s keyboard commands for moving to Links, Headings, and Tables are deprecated from the Standard keyboard layout. These also function in Scan Mode and Change View. You will notice deprecated ”Move to last item in containing area” command.

To keep your keyboard layout the same, go to Settings > Ease of Access > Narrator, and choose the Legacy layout. This will revert Narrator to the experience that shipped in the Windows April 2018 update Version 1803. Note that new Narrator commands in this release will not be available in the Legacy keyboard layout if keystrokes for legacy commands conflict with those used in our new Narrator features.

When you upgrade to this version of Windows and turn on Narrator, a dialog will pop up that gives you some information about the changes. Check the box next to “Do not show this again” if you don’t want to see it again.

Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts / Hotkeys on Windows 10

Caps lock and Insert keys work as your Narrator key. If you’re using a 106 Japanese keyboard, then the NonConvert and Insert keys will replace it. You might have in your mind that earlier the Control and Alt keys were used as Narrator’s modifier keys.

Narrator settings changes

Narrator settings include new heading “Choose keyboard settings.” You can get to it in Scan Mode by using the H key to move to the heading.

Select keyboard layout

This setting allows you to choose your Narrator keyboard layout.  If you want to return to the keyboard layout prior to Windows 10 April 2018 update, select the Legacy layout.

Select Narrator modifier key

This setting allows you to determine the keys used as Narrator’s modifier key. The following options are available:

  • Caps lock and Insert (the default setting)
  • Insert
  • Caps lock

If you’re using a 106 Japanese keyboard, the settings are:

  • NonConvert and Insert (the default setting)
  • Convert
  • Insert
  • NonConvert

Note: If you choose the Legacy keyboard layout, this setting won’t be available. The Caps lock key works and you can use Ctrl + Alt Narrator key modifier for Japanese keyboard when in the Legacy.

The Standard keyboard layout

The next few sections tell you more about how Narrator’s Standard keyboard layout differs from the previous (now called Legacy). We’ll review the most common keys used in Narrator throughout these sections.

Note: When describing keystrokes for commands in the tables throughout this document, we’ll refer to the Narrator key simply as Narrator. You’ll also notice this in the Narrator + F1 dialog that shows all of Narrator’s commands.

Input learning

Press Narrator key + 1 to turn on input learning. From here, you can try keys on the keyboard to learn their new functions easily.

Move Next, Move Previous, and Change View.

Many of you use Narrator’s Move Next, Move Previous, and Change View commands. The Change View commands have changed. The new ones are as follows:

CommandKey 1Key 2
Change ViewNarrator + Page up or Page downNarrator + Ctrl + Up arrow or  Down arrow

For Voice settings, Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts / Hotkeys in Windows 10

The following changes have been made to control Narrator’s speech settings:

CommandKey 1Key 2
Increase voice volumeNarrator + Ctrl + Plus sign (+)Narrator + Ctrl + num pad Add
Decrease voice volumeNarrator + Ctrl + Minus sign (-)Narrator + Ctrl + num pad Subtract
Increase verbosity modeNarrator + V
Decrease verbosity modeNarrator + Shift + V
Toggle character readingNarrator + 2

Scan mode Changes

Scan mode’s Primary and Secondary Action commands –

CommandKey 1Key 2
Primary ActionEnterSpacebar
Secondary ActionShift + EnterShift + Spacebar

General purpose commands

CommandKey 1Key 2
Exit NarratorNarrator + Q
Toggle Search ModeNarrator + Ctrl + Enter
Read Current Time and DateNarrator + F12
Describe Image Using an Online ServiceNarrator + Control + D
Toggle Developer ModeNarrator + Ctrl + F12
Pass keys to applicationNarrator + 3
Move Narrator Cursor to System CursorNarrator + Open square bracket ([)Narrator + num pad Subtract
Set Focus to ItemNarrator + Single quote (‘)Narrator + num pad Add
Jump to Linked ItemNarrator + A
Jump to Annotated ContentNarrator + Shift + A
Navigate to parent (when structural navigation is provided)Narrator + Alt + Up arrow
Navigate to next sibling (when structural navigation is provided)Narrator + Alt + Right arrow
Navigate to previous sibling (when structural navigation is provided)Narrator + Alt + Left arrow
Navigate to first child (when structural navigation is provided)Narrator + Alt + Down arrow

General reading commands

CommandKey 1Key 2
Read ItemNarrator + TabNarrator + num pad 5
Read Item Spelled OutNarrator + Tab twice quicklyNarrator + num pad 5 twice quickly
Repeat PhraseNarrator + X
Read from cursorNarrator + Down arrow
Start reading documentNarrator + Control + R
Move to beginning of textNarrator + Control + BNarrator + Control + Home
Move to end of textNarrator + Control + ENarrator + Control + End
Read DocumentNarrator + C
Read text from start to cursorNarrator + Shift + JNarrator + Alt + Home

Character, Word, Line, Paragraph and Page Reading commands

CommandKey 1Key 2
Read Current CharacterNarrator + Comma (,)Num pad 5
Read Previous CharacterNarrator + MLeft arrow
Read Next CharacterNarrator + Period (.)Right arrow
Read Current WordNarrator + KNarrator + num pad 5
Spell Current WordNarrator + K twice quicklyNarrator + num pad 5 twice quickly
Read Previous WordNarrator + JNarrator + Ctrl + Left arrow
Read Next WordNarrator + LNarrator + Ctrl + Right arrow
Read Current LineNarrator + INarrator + Up arrow
Read Previous LineNarrator + U
Read Current LineNarrator + O
Read Current ParagraphNarrator + Ctrl + K
Read Previous ParagraphNarrator + Ctrl + J
Read Next ParagraphNarrator + Ctrl + L
Read Current PageNarrator + Ctrl + I
Read Previous PageNarrator + Ctrl + U
Read Next PageNarrator + Ctrl + O

Table-reading behavior

Here are the new keystrokes for reading tables when you’re not using scan mode:

CommandKey 1Key 2
Jump to Next Cell in Current RowCtrl + Alt + Right arrow
Jump to Previous Cell in Current RowCtrl + Alt + Left arrow
Jump to Next Cell in Current ColumnCtrl + Alt + Down arrow
Jump to Previous Cell in Current ColumnCtrl + Alt + Up arrow
Jump to First Cell in TableCtrl + Alt + Home
Jump to Last Cell in TableCtrl + Alt + End
Read Current Row HeaderCtrl + Alt + Shift + Left arrow
Read Current RowCtrl + Alt + Shift + Right arrow
Read Current Column HeaderCtrl + Alt + Shift + Up arrow
Read Current ColumnCtrl + Alt + Shift + Down arrow
Read Which Row and Column Narrator is inCtrl + Alt + Shift + Forward slash (/)Ctrl + Alt + Shift + num pad 5
Jump to Table CellCtrl + Alt + Page up
Jump to Cell ContentsCtrl + Alt + Page down

Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts / Hotkeys in Windows 10

These hotkeys will work whether scan mode is on or off:

CommandKey
List of LinksNarrator + F7
List of HeadingsNarrator + F6
List of LandmarksNarrator + F5
Narrator FindNarrator + Ctrl + F
Continue Find NextNarrator + F3
Continue Find PreviousNarrator + Shift + F3

Narraator Scan mode hotkeys in Windows 10

You can select content while in scan mode and copy it to the Windows clipboard. The following Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts / Hotkeys in Windows 10 will work while you’re using scan mode:

CommandKey
Select or deselect character at Narrator focusShift + Left or Right arrow
Select or deselect word at Narrator focusCtrl + Shift + Left or Right arrow
Select or deselect line at Narrator focusShift + Up or Down arrow
Select or deselect paragraph at Narrator focusCtrl + Shift + Up or Down arrow
Select to beginning or end of current lineShift + Home or End
Select to beginning or end of documentCtrl + Shift + Home or End
Select or deselect PageShift + Page up or Page down
Mark BlockF9
Select BlockF10
Select allCtrl + A
Read selectionNarrator + Shift + Down arrow
Copy selection to clipboardCtrl + C
Paste SelectionCtrl + V
Cut SelectionCtrl + X

That’s all from Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts / Hotkeys in Windows 10

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