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Test accessibility using Screen Reader on desktop

Learn how to enable and configure the Screen Reader feature on BrowserStack Live desktop devices.

You can test the accessibility of your website using Screen Readers on BrowserStack Live desktop devices. This feature helps you understand how people with visual impairments who rely on screen readers experience your website.
BrowserStack Live supports NVDA and JAWS screen readers on Windows devices and VoiceOver on macOS devices.

JAWS is available on Windows 11 devices with a BrowserStack Pro plan. To learn more about plans that include JAWS support, see the BrowserStack pricing page. If you have a Pro plan and cannot access JAWS, contact BrowserStack support.

Supported operating systems and browsers

Windows Version Browsers Supported screen readers
Windows 10 Chrome
Firefox
Internet Explorer
Opera
Yandex
Edge (v17 onwards)		 NVDA only
Windows 11 Chrome
Firefox
Opera
Yandex
Edge (v17 onwards)		 NVDA
JAWS
macOS Version Browsers Supported screen readers
macOS Tahoe Chrome
Safari (v19)		 VoiceOver
macOS Sequoia Chrome
Safari (v18)		 VoiceOver
macOS Sonoma Chrome
Safari (v17)		 VoiceOver
macOS Ventura Chrome
Safari (v16)		 VoiceOver
macOS Monterey Chrome
Safari (v15)		 VoiceOver
macOS Big Sur Chrome
Safari (v14)		 VoiceOver
macOS Catalina Chrome
Safari (v13)		 VoiceOver

Enable Screen Reader

Ensure that your system audio is turned on.

  1. Log in to the Live dashboard.
  2. On the Live dashboard, select the Windows device and browser combination to start your test session.
  3. On the Live toolbar, click Screen Reader. An active Live test session with the Screen Reader settings menu open.
  4. In the Screen Reader panel, select NVDA from the screen reader options.
  5. Switch the Screen Reader toggle to on to enable NVDA. NVDA starts providing audio descriptions for all website actions, including pointing, clicking, and keyboard navigation.
    To configure NVDA settings, see Configure Screen Reader settings.
    The Screen Reader settings menu with the toggle switched on to enable NVDA.

JAWS is available on Windows 11 devices only. If all JAWS-enabled machines are currently in use, you will see a message indicating that you should try NVDA or check back later.

  1. Log in to the Live dashboard.
  2. On the Live dashboard, select a Windows 11 device and browser combination to start your test session.
  3. On the Live toolbar, click Screen Reader. An active Live test session with the Screen Reader settings menu open.
  4. In the Screen Reader panel, select JAWS from the screen reader options.
  5. Switch the Screen Reader toggle to on to enable JAWS. JAWS starts providing audio descriptions for all website actions, including pointing, clicking, and keyboard navigation.
    To configure JAWS settings, see Configure Screen Reader settings.
    The Screen Reader settings menu with the toggle switched on to enable JAWS.
  1. Log in to the Live dashboard.
  2. On the Live dashboard, select the device combination to start your test session.
  3. On the Live toolbar, click Screen Reader. Accessing Screen Reader

  4. To enable Screen Reader, switch the Screen Reader toggle to on. VoiceOver starts providing audio descriptions for all website actions, including pointing, clicking, and keyboard navigation.
    Toggling on Screen Reader

    After Screen Reader is enabled, VoiceOver Utility opens automatically. You can click on the browser on which you want to test your website to bring it to front.
    To configure VoiceOver settings, see Configure Screen Reader settings.

Supported keyboard shortcuts for Screen Reader

  • For a comprehensive set of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate and interact with websites and applications, refer to Screen Reader keyboard shortcuts.

Configure Screen Reader settings

If you are using macOS to test a Windows machine on BrowserStack or are using a keyboard that doesn’t have the Insert key, see Basic NVDA commands for alternate keyboard shortcuts.

To configure NVDA settings:

  1. Enable screen reader.
  2. Press the Insert + N shortcut to open the NVDA menu.
  3. Navigate to Preferences > Settings to open the NVDA Settings menu.
  4. In the NVDA Settings menu, navigate to the setting you want to configure.
    You can configure settings related to speech, braille, vision, keyboard, and more. For more information about all available NVDA menu functionalities, refer to the NVDA user guide.

The following example video starts after step 2 and demonstrates how to change the language through the NVDA menu:

If you are using macOS to test a Windows machine on BrowserStack or are using a keyboard that doesn’t have the Insert key, use Control + Right Option instead. For example, to open the JAWS menu, press Control + Right Option + J.

To configure JAWS settings:

  1. Open the JAWS settings by pressing Insert + J to open the JAWS menu. The settings open in a new window.
    The JAWS menu window.
  2. Click on the Help option in the JAWS top menu bar.
  3. In the Help menu, navigate to Startup Wizard to open the JAWS Startup Wizard application.
    The Startup Wizard option in the JAWS Help menu.
  4. Configure specific JAWS parameters by clicking Next to move through the options such as speech and braille preferences, verbosity settings, and JAWS startup options.
    The JAWS Startup Wizard window where you can configure various JAWS settings.
  5. After you finalize your selections, click Finish on the final screen to apply the settings.
    The final screen of the JAWS Startup Wizard with the Finish button highlighted.

For more detailed information on configuring JAWS, refer to the JAWS documentation.

To configure VoiceOver settings, follow theses steps:

  1. Enable screen reader.
    The VoiceOver Utility window opens automatically once the screen reader is enabled.
  2. Use the VoiceOver Utility to configure settings such as verbosity, speech, sound, and more. For detailed information on the VoiceOver Utility, refer to the VoiceOver user guide.

Do not close the VoiceOver Utility window during an ongoing session.
If you close it during a session, you must disable and re-enable the screen reader to open the VoiceOver Utility again.
It is recommended to keep the VoiceOver Utility running in the background while testing and bring it to the forefront whenever needed.

The following example video demonstrates how to bring the VoiceOver Utility to the forefront and change the VoiceOver language:

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