NVDA from NV Access is a free text to speech tool Microsoft Windows machines. It stands for Non-Visual Desktop Access. It will not work on iOS machines. Many use this tool to listen to content.
Here are some simple commands to get you started using NV Access:
Note: documentation refers to the NVDA key. The default NVDA key is the insert key. It can be changed to Caps lock when installing NVDA the first time
- Control + Alt + n to run NVDA
- NVDA + q to close NVDA
- Numpad + +to start reading at the top of the page
- NVDA + down arrow to start reading at the current position
- h moves us forward through a document by headings, shift + H moves us backward through headings
- Control stops speech
- shift pauses speech, hitting shift again continues where you left off
- l moves us forward by links, shift + L moves us backward through links
- up arrow or down arrow navigates by line
- NVDA key + space to switch into a special mode (i.e. while focused on a form control). Do the same exit the mode.
- F5 for a page refresh or Ctrl + F5 for a hard page refresh. If you get lost, this is how you can start over.
- NVDA + Ctrl + up arrow or down arrow controls the rate of speech increase/decrease