NVDA Screen Reader keyboard shortcuts for Windows
Learn how to use the keyboard shortcuts for the NVDA Screen Reader
On macOS, the sequence of keyboard shortcuts is important for the screen reader to function correctly. Therefore, ensure you press the shortcuts in the order specified in the following tables.
When you enable Screen Reader, the NVDA screen reader’s keyboard layout is set to the desktop layout by default. To use the keyboard shortcuts in the following tables, you must change the keyboard layout to the laptop layout using the NVDA menu.
To change the keyboard layout to the laptop layout in NVDA, follow these steps:
- Open the NVDA menu.
- Go to Preferences > Settings > Keyboard.
- From the Keyboard layout drop-down, select laptop. Then, click OK.
The following video demonstrates how to change the keyboard layout to a laptop using the NVDA menu:
To know more, refer to the NVDA documentation.
The following is the list of supported NVDA shortcuts in Live:
- Basic system navigation commands
- Basic NVDA commands
- Navigating with system focus
- Navigating with system caret
- Object navigation
- Reviewing text
- Review modes
- Navigating with the mouse
- Browse mode
Basic system navigation commands
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Move system focus to next object | Tab | Tab |
| Move system focus to the previous object | Shift + Tab | Shift + Tab |
| Activate current object in focus | Spacebar / Enter | Spacebar / Enter |
Basic NVDA commands
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Stop speech | Command | Ctrl |
| Pause Speech | Shift | Shift |
| NVDA Menu | Control + Right Option + N | Insert + N |
| Toggle Speech Mode | Control + Right Option + S | Insert + S |
| Toggle Input Help Mode | Control + Right Option + 1 | Insert + 1 |
| Quit NVDA | Control + Right Option + Q | Insert + Q |
| Toggle application sleep mode on and off | Control + Right Option + Shift + Z | Insert + Shift + Z |
Navigating with system focus
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Report current focus | Control + Right Option + Tab | Insert + Tab |
| Report title | Control + Right Option + T | Insert + T |
| Read active window | Control + Right Option + B | Insert + B |
| Report Status Bar | Unsupported | Insert + Shift + End |
Navigating with system caret
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
| Say all | Control + Right Option + A | Insert + A |
| Read current line | Control + Right Option + L | Insert + L |
| Read current text selection | Control + Right Option + Shift + S | Insert + Shift + S |
| Report text formatting | Control + Right Option + F | Insert + F |
| Move to previous column | Unsupported | Ctrl + Alt + Left arrow |
| Move to next column | Unsupported | Ctrl + Alt + Right arrow |
| Move to previous row | Control + Right Option + Left Option + Up arrow | Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow |
| Move to next row | Control + Right Option + Left Option + Down arrow | Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow |
Object navigation
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
| Report current object | Control + Right Option + Shift + O | Insert + Shift + O |
| Move to containing object | Control + Right Option + Shift + Up arrow | Insert + Shift + Up arrow |
| Move to previous object | Unsupported | Insert + Shift + Left arrow |
| Move to next object | Unsupported | Insert + Shift + Right arrow |
| Move to first contained object | Control + Right Option + Shift + Down arrow | Insert + Shift + Down arrow |
| Move to focus object | Control + Right Option + Shift + Backspace | Insert + Shift + Backspace |
| Activate current navigator object | Unsupported | Insert + Enter |
| Move System focus or caret to current review position | Control + Right Option + Shift + Backspace | Insert + Shift + Backspace |
| Report review cursor location | Control + Right Option + Shift + Delete | Insert + Shift + Delete |
Reviewing text
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
| Move to top line in review | Unsupported | Insert + Control + Home |
| Move to previous line in review | Control + Right Option + Up arrow | Insert + Up arrow |
| Report current line in review | Control + Right Option + Shift + . | Insert + Shift + . |
| Move to next line in review | Control + Right Option + Down arrow | Insert + Down arrow |
| Move to bottom line in review | Unsupported | Insert + Ctrl + End |
| Move to previous word in review | Unsupported | Insert + Ctrl + Left arrow |
| Report current word in review | Unsupported | Insert + Ctrl + . |
| Move to start of line in review | Unsupported | Insert + Home |
| Move to previous character in review | Unsupported | Insert + Left arrow |
| Report current character in review | Control + Right Option + . | Insert + . |
| Move to next character in review | Unsupported | Insert + Right arrow |
| Move to end of line in review | Unsupported | Insert + End |
| Say all with review | Control + Right Option + Shift + A | Insert + Shift + A |
| Select then copy from review cursor | Unsupported | Insert + F9 |
| Select then copy to review cursor | Unsupported | Insert + F10 |
| Move to marked start for copy in review | Unsupported | Insert + Shift + F9 |
| Report text formatting | Unsupported | Insert + Shift + F |
Review modes
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
| Switch to next review mode | Unsupported | Insert + Page up |
| Switch to previous review mode | Unsupported | Insert + Page down |
Navigating with the mouse
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
| Left mouse button click | Unsupported | Insert + [ |
| Left mouse button lock | Unsupported | Insert + Ctrl + [ |
| Right mouse click | Unsupported | Insert + ] |
| Right mouse button lock | Unsupported | Insert + Ctrl + ] |
| Move mouse to current navigator object | Unsupported | Insert + Shift + M |
| Navigate to the object under the mouse | Unsupported | Insert + Shift + N |
Browse mode
| NVDA action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Toggle browse/focus modes | Unsupported | Insert + Space |
| Exit focus mode | Unsupported | Escape |
| Refresh browse mode document | Unsupported | Insert + F5 |
| Find | Unsupported | Insert + Control + F |
| Find next | Unsupported | Insert + F3 |
| Find previous | Unsupported | Insert + Shift + F3 |
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