Windows Ten Basic Narrator Hot Keys

The hot keys found on this page apply to Windows 10 April 2018 and later versions

General Action Keys

Press this key To do this
Windows logo key + Ctrl + Enter
Start or exit Narrator
Windows logo key + Ctrl + N
Open Narrator settings
Caps lock + F1
Show Narrator commands list
Caps lock + F2
Show commands for current item
Caps lock + Enter
Do primary action
Caps lock + Shift + Enter
Open search mode
Caps lock + A
Change verbosity mode
Caps lock + Ctrl + Plus (+)
Increase verbosity
Caps lock + Ctrl + Minus (-)
Decrease verbosity
Caps lock + Alt + Plus (+) or Minus (-)
Change punctuation mode
Caps lock + Z
Lock the Narrator key (Caps Lock) so you don't have to press it for every keyboard shortcut
Caps lock + X
Have Narrator ignore the next keyboard shortcut you use
Caps lock + F12
Turn keystroke reading off or on
Caps lock + Shift + F12
Turn keystroke reading off or on
Caps lock + Page up or Page down
Increase or decrease voice volume
Caps lock + Plus (+) or Minus (-)
Increase or decrease voice speed
Caps lock + Num lock
Turn mouse mode on or off
Caps lock + C
Read current date and time
Press Caps lock twice in quick succession
Turn Caps lock on or off

Reading Commands

To do this press:
Caps lock + M
Start reading document
Ctrl
Stop reading
Caps lock + Spacebar
Start or exit scan mode
Caps lock + Right arrow
Move to next item
Caps lock + Left arrow
Move to previous item
Caps lock + Up or Down arrow
Change view
Caps lock + S
Read item spelled out
Caps lock + W
Read window
Caps lock + R
Start reading
Caps lock + Close square bracket (])
Read text from start to cursor

Scan Mode

Press This Key To Do This
Caps lock + Spacebar
Start or exit scan mode

Scan mode basics

To turn scan mode on and off, press Caps lock + Spacebar.
When turned on, use the Up arrow key and Down arrow key to navigate apps and webpages. Press the spacebar to activate an item that you want to use, such as a button in an app, a link in a webpage, or a text box.

Scan mode turns on automatically when you use Microsoft Edge to browse the web. It also turns on automatically when you open any Windows app where you turned it on before.

If you turn scan mode off for an app, it will remain off for that app until you turn it on again.

Navigation

When scan mode is turned on, use the following keys to navigate apps and webpages.

Press this key To do this
Up arrow and Down arrow
Move to the next or previous paragraph of text or control in an app or webpage
Note Scan mode automatically turns off in edit fields so you can enter text. Press up or down arrow again to leave the edit field and resume scan mode.

Right arrow and Left arrow
Move to the next or previous character in an app or webpage

Spacebar
Activate an item that you want to use, such as a button or text box
Enter
If supported, do secondary action on an item
Home and End
Move to the start or end of a line of text in an app or webpage

Ctrl + Home and Ctrl + End
Move to the beginning or end of text
Ctrl + Left arrow and Ctrl + Right arrow

Move to the next or previous word
Ctrl + Up arrow and Ctrl + Down arrow
Move to the next or previous line
B or Shift + B
Move to the next or previous button
C or Shift + C
Move to the next or previous combo box
D or Shift + D
Move to the next or previous landmark
E or Shift + E
Move to the next or previous edit field
Note Scan mode won’t turn off automatically when navigating by edit field. Narrator will tell you to press space to edit if you want into type into the edit field.

F or Shift + F
Move to the next or previous form field
H or Shift + H
Move to the next or previous heading
I or Shift + I
Move to the next or previous item
K or Shift + K
Move to the next or previous link
R or Shift + R
Move to the next or previous radio button
X or Shift + X
Move to the next or previous check box
T or Shift + T
Move to the next or previous table
P or Shift + P
Move to the next of previous paragraph
Number keys 1 to 9 or Shift + number keys 1 to 9
Move to the next or previous heading level 1 through 9
Scan mode will turn off when you switch to a different app. You'll hear a sound from your PC indicating that scan mode is turned off. Press Caps lock + Spacebar to turn it on again.

Working with tables

Scan mode can help make moving through tables easier and supports common keys found in other screen readers for table

You can also use these keys to interact with tables when scan mode is turned off.

Tables

To do this press
Caps lock + F10
Read current row header
Caps lock + F9
Read current column header
Caps lock + F8
Read current row
Caps lock + F7
Read current column
Caps lock + F5
Read current row and column location
Caps lock + F6
Jump to table cell
Caps lock + Shift + F6
Jump to cell contents
Caps lock + F3
Jump to next cell in current row
Caps lock + Shift + F3
Jump to previous cell in current row
Caps lock + F4
Jump to next cell in current column
Caps lock + Shift + F4
Jump to previous cell in current column

Created on ... May 06, 2018