Primary Hot Keys For Getting Started With NVDA Screen Reader

The following NVDA Hot keys are the primary ones you'll need to get started using NVDA. This list was created by Accessible Devices. You may simply tap the P key to read each hot key. (When using either Jaws or Window Eyes) If using a recent version of NVDA use Control plus Down Arrow.

Note: NVDA in the following Hot Keys stands for the Insert Key.

Basic Hot Keys

Control plus Alt plus N opens NVDA.

NVDA plus q closes NVDA.

NVDA plus N opens the settings menu.

NVDA plus Control plus G opens General Settings.

NVDA plus Control plus C saves Configuration.

NVDA plus Control Opens Rotor Dialogue (Use right and left Arrow keys to move through the various options. Use the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the setting.) Be sure to save configuration using the Hot Key above.

NVDA plus F12 Reads the current time. (Press twice quickly to read the date.)

NVDA plus F11 Opens System Tray. (You must install the System Tray Add On for this to work.)

NVDA plus 1 Turns Keyboard help on and off.

NVDA plus F2 Passes next command through without taking any action.

NVDA + B Reads the entire foreground window (useful for reading a dialog box)

Other Useful Hot Keys

Internet Navigation

In recent versions of NVDA Control Plus Up or Down Arrow will move you up or down by paragraph.

H Headings Quick Key 1-6 Headings level 1-6

L List Quick Key

I List Item Quick Key

T Table Quick Key

F Form Quick Key

B Button Quick Key

Enter or NVDA + Space (in a form element) Enter Forms Mode Exit Forms Mode

Tab Navigate to Next form Control

Shift + Tab Navigate to Previous Form Control

Spacebar Select and Deselect Checkboxes

First letter Select Element in Combo Box

X next Checkbox

C next Combo Box

R next Radio Button

Enter (in forms mode) Submit Form

Tab Jump to next link/form element

K Next link

Shift + Tab Jump to previous link/form element

NVDA + F7 Elements List - lists page links, headings, and landmarks

U Unvisited Link Quick Key

V Visited Link Quick Key

Miscellaneous

NVDA+shift+b Reports the battery status i.e. whether AC power is in use or the current charge percentage.

NVDA+c Reports the Text in the clipboard if there is any.

NVDA plus P Activates the punctuation and symbol rotor. This controls how many of these are spoken. Repeatedly pressing the key cycles through, None, Some, Most, All.

NVDA+t Reports the title of the currently active window. Pressing twice will spell the information. Pressing three times will copy it to the clipboard

Progress Bar Hot Key

NVDA+u This option controls how NVDA reports progress bar updates to you. It has the following options: Off: Progress bars will not be reported as they change. Speak: This option tells NVDA to speak the progress bar in percentages. Each time the progress bar changes, NVDA will speak the new value. Beep: This tells NVDA to beep each time the progress bar changes. The higher the beep, the closer the progress bar is to completion. Beep and speak: This option tells NVDA to both beep and speak when a progress bar updates.

Report background progress bars This is an option that, when checked, tells NVDA to keep reporting a progress bar, even if it is not physically in the foreground. If you minimize or switch away from a window that contains a progress bar, NVDA will keep track of it, allowing you to do other things while NVDA tracks the progress bar. (Look in Preferences Menu under Object Presentation for this Checkbox.)

Search Command Hot Keys

NVDA+control+f Pops up a dialog in which you can type some text to find in the current document

NVDA+f3 Finds the next occurrence of the text in the document that you previously searched

NVDA+shift+f3 Finds the previous occurrence of the text in the document you previously searched

Reviewing Text Hot Keys

We suggest using your arrow keys to read the folowing material.

Hot keys for LapTop keyboard are shown first, Desk Top second, explanation of action third.

shift+numpad7
NVDA+control+home
Moves the review cursor to the top line of the text

numpad7
NVDA+upArrow
Moves the review cursor to the previous line of text

numpad8
NVDA+shift+.
Announces the current line of text where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice spells the line. Pressing three times spells the line using character descriptions.

numpad9
NVDA+downArrow
Move the review cursor to the next line of text

shift+numpad9
NVDA+control+end
Moves the review cursor to the bottom line of text

numpad4
NVDA+control+leftArrow
Moves the review cursor to the previous word in the text

numpad5
NVDA+control+.
Announces the current word in the text where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice spells the word. Pressing three times spells the word using character descriptions.

numpad6
NVDA+control+rightArrow
Move the review cursor to the next word in the text

shift+numpad1
NVDA+home
Moves the review cursor to the start of the current line in the text

numpad1
NVDA+leftArrow
Moves the review cursor to the previous character on the current line in the text

numpad2
NVDA+.
Announces the current character on the line of text where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice reports a description or example of that character. Pressing three times reports the numeric value of the character in decimal and hexadecimal.

numpad3
NVDA+rightArrow
Move the review cursor to the next character on the current line of text

shift+numpad3
NVDA+end
Moves the review cursor to the end of the current line of text

numpadPlus
NVDA plus Down Arrow
Reads From current position to the end of document.

NVDA+f9
NVDA+f9
starts copying text from the current position of the review cursor. The actual copy is not performed until you tell NVDA where to copy to

NVDA+f10
NVDA+f10
Copies from the position of the review cursor currently set with Copy from review cursor, to the review cursor's current position. After pressing this key, the text will be copied to the Windows clipboard

NVDA+f
NVDA+f
Reports the formatting of the text where the review cursor is currently situated
Note: numpad keys require numlock key to be turned off to work properly.

Table Navigation Hot Keys

NVDA recognizes a table automatically. The following Hot Keys work while within a table.

T Table Quick Key
Next Cell (Down Arrow)
Previous Cell (Up Arrow)
When within a table, the following key commands are also available:

Move to previous column control+alt+leftArrow
Moves the system caret to the previous column (staying in the same row)

Move to next column control+alt+rightArrow
Moves the system caret to the next column (staying in the same row)

Move to previous row control+alt+upArrow
Moves the system caret to the previous row (staying in the same column)

Move to next row control+alt+downArrow
Moves the system caret to the next row (staying in the same column)

Setting Row and Column Headers To Be Announced

Set column headers
NVDA+shift+c
Pressing this once tells NVDA this is the row that contains column headers, which should be automatically announced when moving between columns below this row. Pressing twice will clear the setting.

Set row headers
NVDA+shift+r
Pressing this once tells NVDA this is the column that contains row headers, which should be automatically announced when moving between rows after this column. Pressing twice will clear the setting.

Mouse Key Review Mode

The following hot keys have been tested with version 2014.3

press numpad insert plus numpad 7.
Do you hear screen review? If so, don't issue the command again.

If you don't hear screen review, issue the command again. If you still don't hear it, issue the command
numpad insert plus numpad 1
until you hear it. Once this is set, screen review will be used until you change it, even if you shut down NVDA and run it again, screen review will still be used.

Use the following commands to move around the screen:
numpad 7 back one line
numpad 8 read current line
numpad 9 move down one line.
numpad 4 move to previous item such as a word.
Numpad 5 read current item,such as a word.
Pressing 5 twice quickly will spell the word.
Pressing 5, three times quickly will spell the word phonetically.
Numpad 6 move to next item, such as a word.

Numpad 1 2 and 3, move left by character, read current character and read next character.
Pressing 2 twice quickly will pronounce the character phonetically.

Shift numpad 7 move to top of screen.
Shift numpad 9 move to end of screen.

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Updated on ... May 18, 2017