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Announcements, Verbosity category, VoiceOver Utility on Mac
Use the Announcements pane of the Verbosity category in VoiceOver Utility to specify when you want VoiceOver to announce certain events, such as when a modifier key is pressed, and when to speak certain text, such as labels in dialogs.
To open VoiceOver Utility, press Command-F5 to turn VoiceOver on, then press VO-F8.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier. See Use the VoiceOver modifier.
Option | Description |
---|---|
Announce when mouse cursor enters a window | Hear when the pointer goes to a window. This setting is useful if you use the mouse pointer independently of the VoiceOver cursor and keyboard focus. |
Announce when a modifier key is pressed | Hear when you press a modifier key. This setting is useful while you learn VoiceOver commands and want to confirm the keys you press. |
Announce when the Caps Lock key is pressed | Hear when you press the key that makes all letters uppercase. This setting is useful if you press the key inadvertently and are typing everything in uppercase. To be able to use the Caps Lock key for typing uppercase letters when the VoiceOver modifier is set to Caps Lock, quickly press the Caps Lock key twice. |
Speak header when navigating across a table row | Hear header text in a table row. This setting is useful for identifying the type of content in a row. |
Automatically speak text in dialog boxes | Hear labels and other text in dialogs. |
When status text changes under VoiceOver cursor | Click the pop-up menu, then choose how you want to hear changes in status text (such as the percentage complete of an app installation): Play Tone, Speak Text, or Do Nothing. |
When progress indicator changes under VoiceOver cursor | Click the pop-up menu, then choose how you want to hear progress indicator changes: Play Tone, Speak Update, or Do Nothing. |
When number of rows change under VoiceOver cursor | Click the pop-up menu, then choose how you want to hear that rows are being added or removed: Play Tone, Speak Update, or Do Nothing. |
When system dialogs are displayed | Click the pop-up menu, then choose how you want to be notified that system dialogs (such as alerts) are being displayed: Play Tone, Speak & Play Tone, or Do Nothing. If you choose Play Tone or Speak & Play Tone, VoiceOver notifies you every 30 seconds that a system dialog is displayed. You can quickly access system dialogs using the Window Chooser (press VO-F2-F2). |
Speak size and position in | Click the pop-up menu, then choose how you want to hear size and position: Inches, Millimeters, or Points. |
Speak text under mouse after delay | Drag the slider toward Short or Long to specify how many seconds you want VoiceOver to wait before it speaks the text that’s under the pointer. |