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VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts for macOS
Learn about VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts for accessibility testing on BrowserStack Live.
VoiceOver is the built-in screen reader on macOS that provides a comprehensive set of keyboard shortcuts to navigate and interact with websites and applications.
For instructions on how to enable VoiceOver on BrowserStack Live, see Test accessibility using Screen Reader on desktop.
Keyboard layout configuration
When using VoiceOver on BrowserStack Live, if you are using a Windows device or keyboard to test a BrowserStack macOS machine, use Right Control + Alt as an alternative to the Control + Option key combination.
For example, to open the VoiceOver Utility:
- On a macOS keyboard, press
Control + Option + F8. - On a Windows keyboard, press
Right Control + Alt + F8.
Supported VoiceOver shortcuts
- General commands
- Navigation commands
- Interaction commands
- Orientation commands
- Web commands
- Text commands
General commands
| VoiceOver action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Lock and unlock the VoiceOver modifier | Control + Option + ; | Right Ctrl + Alt + ; |
| Open VoiceOver Utility | Control + Option + F8 | Right Ctrl + Alt + F8 |
| Read the VoiceOver hint for the current item | Control + Option + Shift + N | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N |
| Close a menu or rotor, stop an action or exit a mode | Esc | Esc |
| Open the Verbosity rotor | Control + Option + V | Right Ctrl + Alt + V |
| Increase magnification of the item in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + } | Right Ctrl + Alt + } |
| Decrease magnification of the item in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + { | Right Ctrl + Alt + } |
| Temporarily hide or show the VoiceOver cursor and the caption or braille panels | Control + Option + Command + F11 | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left Ctrl + F11 |
| Hide or show the caption panel only | Control + Option + Command + F10 | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left Ctrl + F10 |
| Resize or move the caption panel | Control + Option + Shift + F10 | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F10 |
| Cycle through settings (such as voice, rate, pitch, volume, language and braille table) in the rotor | Control + Option + Shift + Command + Right arrow / Left arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left Ctrl + Right arrow / Left arrow |
| Change the current setting for voice, rate, pitch, volume, language and braille table in the rotor | Control + Option + Shift + Command + Up arrow / Down arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left Ctrl + Up arrow / Down arrow |
Navigation commands
| VoiceOver action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Move the VoiceOver cursor up | Control + Option + Up arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow |
| Move the VoiceOver cursor down | Control + Option + Down arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow |
| Move the VoiceOver cursor to the left | Control + Option + Left arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left arrow |
| Move the VoiceOver cursor to the right | Control + Option + Right arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Right arrow |
| Move the window containing the VoiceOver cursor to the front, making it the active window | Control + Option + Shift + F2 | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F2 |
| Open the Item Chooser | Control + Option + I | Right Ctrl + Alt + I |
| Open the VoiceOver rotor | Control + Option + U | Right Ctrl + Alt + U |
| Move the VoiceOver cursor to the mouse pointer | Control + Option + Shift + F5 | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F5 |
Interaction commands
| VoiceOver action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Start interacting with an item | Control + Option + Shift + Down arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Down arrow |
| Stop interacting with an item | Control + Option + Shift + Up arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Up arrow |
| Perform the default action for the item in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + Space bar | Right Ctrl + Alt+ Space bar |
Orientation commands
| VoiceOver action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Hear a description of the item in the VoiceOver cursor, including the item’s current state, such as whether a tickbox is selected, or the per cent value of a slider | Control + Option + F3 | Right Ctrl + Alt + F3 |
| Hear the dimensions of the current item and the section of the screen where it’s located | Control + Option + Command + F3 | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left Ctrl + F3 |
| Hear a description of the item that has keyboard focus, including its current state, such as whether a tick-box is selected, or the per cent value of a slider | Control + Option + F4 | Right Ctrl + Alt + F4 |
| Read the selected item | Control + Option + F6 | Right Ctrl + Alt + F6 |
| Read the contents of the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + A | Right Ctrl + Alt + A |
| Repeat the last spoken phrase | Control + Option + Z | Right Ctrl + Alt + Z |
| Copy the last spoken phrase to the clipboard | Control + Option + Shift + C | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + C |
Web commands
| VoiceOver action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Move to the next column | Control + Option + Command + Y | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left Ctrl + Y |
| Move to the previous column | Control + Option + Command + Shift + Y | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left Ctrl + Y |
| Move to the next frame | Control + Option + Command + F | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left Ctrl + F |
| Move to the previous frame | Control + Option + Command + Shift + F | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left Ctrl + F |
| Read from the current location on a web page to the end of the page | Control + Option + A | Right Ctrl + Alt + A |
| Read from the beginning of a web page to the current location | Control + Option + B | Right Ctrl + Alt + B |
| Read a link address (URL) | Control + Option + Shift + U | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + U |
Text commands
| VoiceOver action | Live shortcut for macOS keyboard users | Live shortcut for Windows keyboard users |
|---|---|---|
| Read the contents of the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + A | Right Ctrl + Alt + A |
| Select all text in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + Shift + A | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + A |
| Start and stop text selection in a text field (text selection tracking must be on) | Control + Option + Return | Right Ctrl + Alt + Return |
| Read the paragraph in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + P | Right Ctrl + Alt + P |
| Read the sentence in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + S | Right Ctrl + Alt + S |
| Read the line in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + L | Right Ctrl + Alt + L |
| Read the next line | Control + Option + Down arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow |
| Read the previous line | Control + Option + Up arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow |
| Read the word in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + W | Right Ctrl + Alt + W |
| Spell the word in the VoiceOver cursor alphabetically | Control + Option + W + W | Right Ctrl + Alt + W |
| Read the next sentence | Control + Option + Right arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Right arrow |
| Read the previous word | Control + Option + Left arrow | Right Ctrl + Alt + Left arrow |
| Read the character in the VoiceOver cursor | Control + Option + C | Right Ctrl + Alt + C |
| Move to the first visible word | Control + Option + Shift + Home | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Home |
| Move to the last visible word | Control + Option + Shift + End | Right Ctrl + Alt + Shift + End |
| Move to the beginning of text, scrolling if necessary | Control + Option + Home | Right Ctrl + Alt + Home |
| Move to the end of text, scrolling if necessary | Control + Option + End | Right Ctrl + Alt + End |
Additional resources
For more information about using screen readers on BrowserStack Live:
- Screen Reader keyboard shortcuts overview
- NVDA keyboard shortcuts for Windows
- JAWS keyboard shortcuts for Windows
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