VoiceOver text commands on Mac
Use VoiceOver text commands to perform actions such as reading and editing text and tables. Before you can use most of these commands, you must interact with text in a text area. VO represents the VoiceOver modifier that you press with additional keys to enter VoiceOver commands. By default, you can press Control and Option together or just press Caps Lock.
Note: By default, when you use a function key (F1 through F12) in a VoiceOver command, you must also press the Fn key. Depending on your Mac, you can change this behaviour so that you don’t have to press the Fn key. See Change function key behaviour for VoiceOver.
You can also enter VoiceOver commands that use a function key by using the Fn key and a number key instead of the Fn key and a function key. For example, to open VoiceOver Utility, you can press VO-Fn-8 (instead of VO-Fn-F8).
Action | Command |
|---|---|
Read the contents of the VoiceOver cursor | VO-A |
Select all text in the VoiceOver cursor | VO-Shift-A |
Start and stop text selection in a text field (text selection tracking must be on) | VO-Return |
Speak text attributes | VO-T |
Jump to a hot spot in text | VO-[hot spot number] For example, VO-1 or VO-9. |
Read the paragraph in the VoiceOver cursor | VO-P |
Read the next paragraph | VO-Shift-Page Down |
Read the previous paragraph | VO-Shift-Page Up |
Read the sentence in the VoiceOver cursor | VO-S |
Read the next sentence | VO-Command-Page Down |
Read the previous sentence | VO-Command-Page Up |
Read the line in the VoiceOver cursor | VO-L |
Read the next line | VO-Down Arrow |
Read the previous line | VO-Up Arrow |
Read the word in the VoiceOver cursor | VO-W |
Spell the word in the VoiceOver cursor alphabetically | VO-W-W |
Spell the word in the VoiceOver cursor phonetically | VO-W-W-W |
Read the next sentence | VO-Right Arrow |
Read the previous word | VO-Left Arrow |
Read the character in the VoiceOver cursor | VO-C |
Read the character in the VoiceOver cursor phonetically | VO-C-C |
Move to the first visible word | VO-Shift-Home On some keyboards, press VO-Fn-Left Arrow. |
Move to the last visible word | VO-Shift-End On some keyboards, press VO-Fn-Right Arrow. |
Move to the beginning of text, scrolling if necessary | VO-Home On some keyboards, press VO-Shift-Fn-Left Arrow. |
Move to the end of text, scrolling if necessary | VO-End On some keyboards, press VO-Shift-Fn-Right Arrow. |
Add a new tab stop in TextEdit (the VoiceOver cursor must be on a tab stop in the ruler) | VO-Space bar |
Delete the current tab stop in TextEdit (the VoiceOver cursor must be on a tab stop in the ruler) | VO-Delete |
Interact with a tab stop in TextEdit (the VoiceOver cursor must be on a tab stop in the ruler) | VO-Shift-Down Arrow Then use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys to move the stop. |
Reads the current word and character in the VoiceOver cursor | VO-Fn-F3 |
Reads the total number of lines and the number of visible lines in a document | VO-Fn-F3-F3 |
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