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The Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) is open during regular business hours, Monday-Friday, from 8:00am-5:00pm (except for University Holidays and Closures, and periodic department training/in-service events). The SDRC may be reached at 951-827-3861 or sdrc@ucr.edu. If you need to register for services, please visit this webpage. If you would like to request an appointment with a disability specialist, please go to the Appointment Request Form. If you plan to come to the SDRC offices or Testing Center (at Student Services Building), please read this information before you go.

Student Disability Resource Center

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VoiceOver

VoiceOver provides many ways to read text on Mac/iOS devices. The VoiceOver modifier is a key or set of keys you press with one or more other keys to enter VoiceOver commands. You can set the VoiceOver modifier to be the Caps Lock key or the Control and Option keys pressed at the same time.

VoiceOver commands are represented as VO-key, where VO represents the VoiceOver modifier specified in the General category of VoiceOver Utility. For example, the VoiceOver command VO-Shift-M means to press the VoiceOver modifier along with the Shift and M keys at the same time. Depending on the VoiceOver modifier you’re using, you press Caps Lock-Shift-M or Control-Option-Shift-M.

When the VoiceOver modifier is locked, you don’t have to press it, making it easier to enter VoiceOver commands. For example, to enter VO-Shift-M you would press just the Shift and M keys at the same time. To lock the VoiceOver modifier, press VO-; (press it again to unlock the modifier).

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.

Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier.

To Read Do This
From the top (“Read All”) Press VO-A, or flick up with two fingers. You don’t need to interact with the document.
From the VoiceOver cursor to the bottom Press VO-A, or flick down with two fingers. You must first interact with the document.
A paragraph Press VO-P. To move to the next or previous paragraph, press VO-Shift-Page Down or VO-Shift-Page Up.
A line Press VO-L. To move to the next or previous line, press VO-Down Arrow or VO-Up Arrow.
A sentence Press VO-S. To move to the next or previous sentence, press VO-Command-Page Down or VO-Command-Page Up.
A word Press VO-W. To hear the word spelled, press VO-W again. To hear it spelled phonetically, press VO-W again. To move to the next or previous word, press VO-Right Arrow or VO-Left Arrow.
A paragraph, line, sentence, or word using gestures Press the Command key while touching a finger on the trackpad; repeat until you hear the setting you want to use.
A character Press VO-C. To hear the character spoken phonetically, press VO-C again. To move to the next or previous character, press Right Arrow or Left Arrow. If “Use phonetics” is selected in VoiceOver Utility, characters are read phonetically, as in “a alpha n november t tango.”

When you use the Down Arrow key to move from one line of text to the next, VoiceOver speaks the line where the insertion point is located. If you press the Down Arrow key at the first line of a document, VoiceOver won’t read the line because the insertion point has moved to the next line. To hear the first line of text in a document, press VO-Down Arrow.

The orientation commands VO-F4-F4 and VO-F5-F5-F5 can be useful in determining the insertion point’s location in a document.

To assign commands to keys that let you fast forward and rewind text when you use Read All, open VoiceOver Utility (press VO-F8 when VoiceOver is on), then click Commanders.