PDF version of this manual.

Note: This manual comes from the Orca software online documentation available here: https://gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/orca/help/index.html, to allow users to search the documentation more easily.

Sommaire

Getting Started

Welcome to Orca

Orca is a free, open source, flexible, and extensible screen reader that provides access to the graphical desktop via speech and refreshable braille.

Orca works with applications and toolkits that support the Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface (AT-SPI), which is the primary assistive technology infrastructure for Linux and Solaris. Applications and toolkits supporting the AT-SPI include Gtk+, Qt, Java Swing, LibreOffice, Gecko, WebKitGtk, and Chrome/Chromium.

Launching Orca

To launch Orca:

  • The method for configuring Orca to be launched automatically as your preferred screen reader will depend upon which desktop environment you use.
  • To toggle Orca on and off in GNOME, press Super+Alt+S.
  • Type orca, along with any optional parameters, in a terminal window or within the Run dialog and then press Return.

Load-Time Options

The following options can be specified when launching Orca in a terminal window or within the Run dialog:

  • -h, –help: Show the help message
  • -v, –version: Show the version of Orca
  • -s, –setup: Set up user preferences
  • -u, –user-prefs=dirname: Use dirname as the alternate directory for user preferences
  • -e, –enable=option: Force use of option, where the option can be one of the following:
    • speech
    • braille
    • braille-monitor
  • -d, –disable=option: Prevent the use of an option, where the option can be one of the following:
    • speech
    • braille
    • braille-monitor
  • -p, –profile=filename: Import a profile from a given Orca profile file
  • -r, –replace: Replace a currently-running Orca
  • -l, –list-apps: Print the known running applications
  • –debug: Send debug output to debug-YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS.out
  • –debug-file=filename: Send debug output to the specified file

Orca Configuration

If you want to configure Orca, get into the Preferences dialog by pressing Orca Modifier+Space from within any accessible application. Alternatively, you can type orca followed by either -s or –setup in a terminal window or within the Run dialog and then press Return.

The Orca Modifier

Orca has a special modifier key that works like Shift, Ctrl, and Alt. It is designed specifically for performing Orca commands and doing so without introducing conflicts with the commands of the applications you are accessing.

Which key the “Orca Modifier” is bound to will, by default, depend on whether you are using Orca’s Laptop keyboard layout or its Desktop keyboard layout:

  • If you are using the Laptop layout, the default Orca Modifier will be CapsLock
  • If you are using the Desktop layout, the Orca Modifier will be both Insert and KP_Insert, the latter being the same key as KP_0.

If you want to maintain your current keyboard layout but select a different modifier key, you can do so by performing the following steps:

Changing the Orca Modifier

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog by pressing Orca Modifier+Space. Alternatively, you can start Orca with the preferences dialog open from a terminal: type orca -s and press Return.
  2. Move to the Key Bindings page.
  3. Move to the Screen Reader Modifier Key(s) combobox.
  4. Arrow to the desired modifier. The available options are:
    • Insert, KP_Insert
    • KP_Insert
    • Insert
    • Caps_Lock
  5. Press the Apply button.

Learn Mode

In Learn Mode, Orca will announce each keystroke you pressed along with any associated Orca command that keystroke is bound to. In this mode, you can also get a list of shortcuts containing all the Orca commands you can use.

Using Learn Mode

  1. Get into Learn Mode by pressing Orca Modifier+H.
  2. Press any key or keystroke. Orca will announce the keys and any associated command.
  3. Press Esc to exit Learn Mode.

Getting a List of Shortcuts

  1. Get into Learn Mode by pressing Orca Modifier+H.
  2. Press F2 if you want a list of shortcuts that apply Orca-wide, or press F3 if you want a list of shortcuts that are specifically for the application with focus.
  3. Press Up or Down to examine the contents of the list.
  4. Press Esc to exit the list.

Keyboard Layout

Orca has two keyboard layouts: Desktop (i.e. with a numeric keypad) and Laptop. The layout you choose impacts which key is used as the Orca Modifier.

  • If you are using the Laptop layout, the default Orca Modifier will be CapsLock
  • If you are using the Desktop layout, the Orca Modifier will be both Insert and KP_Insert, the latter being the same key as KP_0.

The layout also determines the keystrokes associated with a number of Orca’s commands, especially in the areas of Flat Review, Where Am I, and Say All.

Changing Your Keyboard Layout

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog by pressing Orca Modifier+Space.
  2. Move to the Keyboard Layout group of radio buttons.
  3. Arrow to the desired layout.
  4. Press the Apply button.

CapsLock in Laptop Layout

Orca has two keyboard layouts: Desktop and Laptop. The layout you choose impacts which key is used as the Orca Modifier. If you are using the Laptop layout, the default Orca Modifier will be CapsLock. If you are using Orca’s Laptop Layout and want to lock or unlock CapsLock, you can do so by either pressing CapsLock twice (requires at-spi2 version 2.32 or later), or by performing the following steps:

Toggling CapsLock in Laptop Layout

  1. Press the Bypass command, Orca Modifier+BackSpace, to tell Orca that the next command should be ignored.
  2. Press CapsLock to toggle its locked state.

Keybindings

Orca has many commands, some of which are bound to a keystroke, others of which are unbound. You can bind, rebind, and unbind Orca’s commands by following the steps below.

Binding an Unbound Command

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog by pressing Orca Modifier+Space.
  2. Move to the Key Bindings page.
  3. Arrow to the cell which contains the command you want to assign a keystroke to.
  4. Arrow once to the right. This will place focus in the Key Binding column. Press Return.
  5. Press the desired key combination.
  6. Press Return to confirm the new combination. The new keystroke will be saved and the check box in the last column (the Modified column) will indicate that the key binding has been modified.
  7. Press the Apply button.

Changing Existing Bindings

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog by pressing Orca Modifier+Space.
  2. Move to the Key Bindings page.
  3. Arrow to the cell which contains the binding you which to change and press Return.
  4. Press the desired key combination.
  5. Press Return to confirm the new combination. The new keystroke will be saved and the check box in the last column (the Modified column) will indicate that the key binding has been modified.
  6. Press the Apply button.

Restoring Original Bindings

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog by pressing Orca Modifier+Space.
  2. Move to the Key Bindings page.
  3. Arrow to the modified column associated with the key binding.
  4. Uncheck the checkbox by pressing Space.
  5. Press the Apply button.

Unbinding Bound Commands

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog by pressing Orca Modifier+Space.
  2. Move to the Key Bindings page.
  3. Arrow to the cell which contains the binding you which to delete and press Return.
  4. When prompted for the new keybinding, press Delete or BackSpace. You will be told that the key binding has been removed.
  5. Press Return to confirm.
  6. Press the Apply button.

Profiles

Orca’s profiles allow you to save and load multiple configurations so that you can quickly access the settings you need.

Saving a New Profile

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog box.
  2. Change whatever settings you wish.
  3. On the General page, press the Save As button.
  4. Type the new profile name in the resulting Save Profile As dialog box.
  5. Press the OK button in the Save Profile As dialog box.

Loading an Existing Profile

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog box.
  2. On the General page, select the profile to load from the Active Profile combo box.
  3. Press the Load button.
  4. You will be asked to confirm. Press the Yes button.
  5. Press the OK button.

Changing an Existing Profile

  1. Follow the steps described above to load the profile you wish to change.
  2. Follow the steps described above to save a new profile.
  3. When prompted for the new profile name, type the same name as current profile. When you press the OK button, you will be told there is a name conflict.
  4. Press the Yes button to confirm you wish to overwrite the existing profile with the new settings.

Changing the Start-up Profile

  1. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog box.
  2. On the General page, select the profile to load from the Start-up Profile combo box.
  3. Press the OK button. The next time you launch Orca, the newly-selected profile will be used.

Reading Documents and Web Pages

Documents

To read the contents of any document, use the application’s built-in caret navigation mode. As you navigate within the text of the document, Orca will present your new location. As a result, you are likely already familiar with how to read a document using Orca. For instance:

  • Use Left and Right to move and read by character.
  • Use Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right to move and read by word.
  • Use Up and Down to move and read by line.
  • Use Shift in combination with the above commands to select and unselect text.

Enabling Caret Navigation in an Application

Not all applications have caret navigation enabled by default. For many GNOME applications, caret navigation can be toggled on and off by pressing F7.

In addition to reading a document by caret navigation, you may find it helpful to read, spell, and obtain the Unicode value for the current text. You can do these things through Orca’s Flat Review feature.

Finally, in order to have Orca speak the entire document from your present location, use the Say All command. It, along with a more complete listing of Orca’s commands for accessing document text, can be found in the Reading Commands guide.

Text Attributes

The term “text attributes” refers to all of the font, style, alignment, and other formatting associated with a given character or series of characters.

Obtaining Formatting Information

When you press Orca Modifier+F, Orca will speak known text attribute information about an object. In addition, Orca will optionally indicate text attributes in braille by “underlining” them as you navigate a document.

Because the number of text attributes is large, and not everyone cares about every attribute, the Text Attributes page of the preferences dialog allows you to customize which text attributes Orca will present in speech, along with the order in which they should be presented, and which ones Orca will indicate in braille.

Because the Text Attributes page is also part of the application-specific settings, you can customize text attribute presentation on an as-needed basis for each application you use.

Identifying Misspelled Words

Most applications and toolkits indicate that a word is misspelled by underlining that word with a red, squiggly line. The presence of this line is typically exposed to assistive technologies as a text attribute. As a result, you will find spelling errors amongst the text attributes you can choose. By default, the spelling error attribute is enabled for both speech and braille and will therefore be presented along with any other attributes whose indication you have enabled.

In addition to accessing the presence of spelling errors as a text attribute, if you have key echo and/or word echo enabled and type a word which is misspelled, when the spelling error indication appears, Orca will announce “misspelled” so that you can immediately go back and correct the error.

Finally, when you are navigating within a document and the caret moves into a word which is misspelled, Orca will announce the presence of the spelling error.

Structural Navigation

Orca’s Structural Navigation feature allows you to navigate amongst elements in a document. The types of elements by which you can navigate include:

  • Headings and other text blocks
  • Form controls
  • Links
  • Lists and list items
  • Landmarks, separators, and anchors
  • Tables and table cells

A full list of individual elements and their associated keybindings can be found in Structural Navigation Commands.

Supported Applications

Currently, Structural Navigation is fully implemented for web content, including the help content you are reading now. Orca’s Structural Navigation support for table cells has also been implemented for OpenOffice Writer and LibreOffice Writer. Implementing the remainder of the Structural Navigation objects to these office suites requires changes to be made by their respective developers. Implementing any Structural Navigation features within Evince will require a similar effort on the part of its developers.

Don’t Forget To Toggle Structural Navigation On!

Depending on where you are, it may be necessary for you to explicitly toggle Structural Navigation on before you can use it.

When Toggling Structural Navigation On Is Required

In web pages, explicitly toggling Structural Navigation on is generally unnecessary because your interaction with the document largely consists of reading its content. Thus there is no question as to whether the ‘H’ you just pressed was meant to be a writing command or a navigation command.

On the other hand, in editable documents such as those found in OpenOffice and LibreOffice, it is far more difficult for Orca to accurately predict what you expect to have happen as a result of pressing ‘H’. Therefore, before you can use any Structural Navigation command in an editable document, you must first toggle Structural Navigation on by pressing Orca Modifier+Z. When you are finished navigating and ready to resume writing, press Orca Modifier+Z again to toggle Structural Navigation off.

Available Settings

In addition to the aforementioned commands, Orca has a number of configurable options available specifically for applications in which there is structural navigation support.

Configuring Structural Navigation

  1. Give focus to an application for which Orca has Structural Navigation support.
  2. Get into the Orca Preferences dialog box for the current application by pressing Ctrl+Orca Modifier+Space.
  3. Navigate to the last page of the dialog box which should be named according to the name of your current application.
  4. Examine and change the settings as you see fit.
  5. Press the OK button.

Tables

Orca provides several features specifically designed to improve access to tables found in web pages and other documents: configurable cell versus row reading, Structural Navigation and Dynamic Headers.

Cell Versus Row Reading

Consider the process of examining the list of messages in your Inbox. In order to have Orca announce the sender, subject, date, and presence of attachments you would need Orca to speak the row. On the other hand, when navigating amongst rows in a spreadsheet, hearing the full row may not be desired if for no other reason than the sheer number of cells in each row. Thus in that case, you would want Orca to only speak the cell with focus. Similar situations occur in document tables.

Orca allows you to customize whether only the cell should be read, or if the full row should be, for GUI tables, document tables, and spreadsheets. Because these settings are independent of one another, you do not have to choose one table reading mode to fit multiple types of tables.

You can set each of Orca’s table reading preferences Orca wide as well as on an application-by-application basis. How to do each is described in the guide on Orca’s preferences dialogs. The settings can be found on the Speech page.

Lastly, there is also an Orca command which allows you to toggle cell versus row reading on the fly for the currently-active table: Orca Modifier+F11.

Structural Navigation

Orca’s table Structural Navigation commands make it possible for you to quickly locate tables, jump immediately to a table’s first or last cell, and move to the next cell in any direction.

As you navigate amongst and within tables using Structural Navigation, Orca will announce additional details to help you understand your position, such as the dimensions of the table you just entered and the fact that you have reached the edge of the table in the direction you are moving.

In addition, Orca provides configurable presentation options which work in conjunction with Structural Navigation and allow you to control whether or not cell coordinates are presented, multiple cell spans are indicated, and cell headers are announced.

Don’t Forget To Toggle Structural Navigation On!

Depending on where you are, it may be necessary for you to explicitly toggle Structural Navigation on before you can use it. To learn more, read when toggling Structural Navigation on is required.

Dynamic Headers

Many of the tables you will encounter while reading have cells which serve as the header for a row or a column. Whether or not the creator of that table correctly marked those cells as headers is hard to say. In many cases, the text was simply formatted to be larger and/or bold. And even if the table is correctly marked up, that is no guarantee that the application or toolkit exposes that text as header information to assistive technologies. Orca’s Dynamic Header support makes it possible to overcome these challenges.

Setting Column Headers

  1. Move to the row which contains all of the column headers.
  2. Press Orca Modifier+R to tell Orca that the current row is the one with the headers.

Setting Row Headers

  1. Move to the column which contains all of the row headers.
  2. Press Orca Modifier+C to tell Orca that the current column is the one with the headers.

Having set either the column headers or the row headers, you should find that as you navigate amongst the cells, Orca will present each header that has changed. Or to put it another way, Orca will not present the column header over and over again as you move up or down within the current column. Likewise, it will not present the row header over and over again as you move left or right within the current row. However, if you change rows and there are row headers, the header associated with the new row will be presented. And if you change columns and there are column headers, the header associated with the new column will be presented.

To clear headers, simply double-click the command you used to set them. Thus double-clicking Orca Modifier+R tells Orca there are no column headers. Double-clicking Orca Modifier+C tells Orca there are no row headers.

Filling out forms

When interacting with web pages and other documents using Orca, you are interacting with the document itself; not a buffered copy of that document. Orca’s browse and focus modes let you switch between reading and filling out forms.

Navigating Amongst Form Fields

To navigate amongst form fields, you have several options:

  • Use Tab and Shift+Tab to navigate amongst focusable objects, regardless of type.
  • Use Orca’s structural navigation commands for forms.
  • Depending on the form and the application, you may also be able to use the arrow keys to navigate to a given form field.

In order to use Orca’s caret navigation or structural navigation commands to navigate to a form field, you must be in browse mode. If you are in focus mode, you can switch to browse mode by pressing Orca Modifier+A.

Exiting Form Fields

To exit a form field, you have several options:

  • Use Tab/Shift+Tab if you wish to leave the currently-focused form field and move to the next/previous focusable object, regardless of type.
  • Use Orca’s structural navigation commands for forms to move to the next or previous form field.
  • Depending on the form and the application, you may also be able to use the arrow keys to navigate out of a given form field.

In order to use Orca’s caret navigation or structural navigation commands to exit a form field, you must be in browse mode. If you are in focus mode, you can switch to browse mode by pressing Orca Modifier+A.

Live Regions

A live region is a dynamically-updated portion of a web page, such as a table of sports statistics, a list of current stock prices, a log from a chat, or an alert displayed by the page you are reading. While live regions appear quite frequently, fully accessible web pages with live regions are encountered less often. This problem is actively being addressed by a number of organizations.

Live Region Politeness Levels

Live regions have an associated “politeness” level which is set by the author as a means to convey the importance of the information and to suggest when users should be informed by their assistive technology of updates made within that region. Live regions can be “off”, “polite”, or “assertive” to the point of being “rude.”

Orca’s Support for Live Regions

Because you might not agree with the politeness level specified by the author whose page you are viewing, Orca provides a number of live region commands which allow you to modify the level of any or all of the regions on a page. In addition, you can:

  • Turn live region support on or off
  • Jump to the next and previous live region spatially
  • Jump to the last live region which presented information
  • Review the last nine live region messages which were presented

Reviewing and Interacting with Screen Contents

Where Am I

In addition to dedicated commands for reading the title bar and the status bar, Orca provides two context-sensitive Where Am I commands: Basic Where Am I and Detailed Where Am I. Basic Where Am I is implemented for all objects. Detailed Where Am I is implemented just for those objects for which there is a significant amount of information you may wish to know, but likely will not wish to know all of the time.

The best way to become familiar with what Where Am I will present is to give the Where Am I commands a try. However, to give you a better idea of the context-sensitive nature of Orca’s Where Am I feature, consider the following:

For most widgets, you will at least be told the label and/or name, the type or role of the widget, and the mnemonic and/or accelerator key if they happen to exist. In addition:

  • If the widget is text, and you perform a basic Where Am I, you will be told the current line if no text is selected. If text is selected, however, a basic Where Am I will tell you what text is selected. A detailed Where Am I within the text will also include the text attributes.
  • If the widget can be checked, as is the case with checkboxes and radio buttons, the checked state will be included.
  • If the widget is a list or list-like object, such as a combo box, radio button group, or page tab list, the position of the current item will be included.
  • If the widget is hierarchical, such as a tree, and you are on an expandable node, you will be told if that node is expanded or not. And if it is expanded, you will also be told how many children it contains. In addition, the nesting level will also be provided.
  • If the widget is a progress bar or a slider, you will be told the current percent.
  • If the widget is an icon within an icon group, a basic Where Am I will include the object you are in, the item you are on, and the number of items which are selected. In a detailed Where Am I, you will also be told which items are selected.
  • If you are on a link, the type of link (same site, different site, FTP link, etc.) will be included.
  • If you are in a table cell, the coordinates of that cell and the cell headers will be included.
  • If you are in the spell checker of an application where Orca provides enhanced support, a basic Where Am I will repeat the error respecting your spell check preferences. A detailed Where Am I will cause Orca to present the full details of the error.

And so on. Again, the goal of Orca’s Where Am I is to provide you with the details you are most likely interested in knowing about the object you are currently in. To give Where Am I a try, see the list of Where Am I commands.

Flat Review

Orca’s Flat Review feature allows you to spatially review the contents, both text and widgets, of the active window. In this mode, Orca treats the window as if it were a two-dimensional sheet of text, eliminating any notion of widget hierarchy or other logical grouping within the window.

The “flattened” contents, also known as the Flat Review context, can be navigated by line, by word, by character, and by object. In addition, you can perform a left-click or right-click on the object being reviewed. Finally, you can use Orca Find, a Flat-Review-based feature to search the active window’s contents.

Because the Flat Review context is a spatial representation of the active window’s contents, it is created when you first enter Flat Review and only contains those objects which are visible. As a result, you will not be able to use Flat Review to access items which are in the window but currently off-screen. In addition, if the window’s contents change of their own accord, the Flat Review context will not automatically be updated. You can cause a new context to be built by toggling Flat Review off and back on.

Finally, Flat Review by its nature is a mode that cannot be used at the same time that Orca is tracking focus. Thus if you are in Flat Review and then use the application’s navigation commands to move the caret or to give focus to another object, you will automatically leave Flat Review.

Orca Find

Orca’s Find feature is a Flat-Review-based search designed to help you quickly locate objects that are visible on-screen within the current window.

Activating Orca Find

To open the Orca Find dialog, use the following command based on your chosen keyboard layout:

  • Desktop: KP Delete
  • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Left Bracket

For a list of additional tasks you can perform, see the Orca Find commands

When you activate Orca Find, you will be placed in a dialog box.

Here you can specify the following items:

  • The text to find
  • The location from which to begin the search, which can either be the current location or the top of the windowDefault value of Start from: Current location
  • Whether or not capitalization should be taken into account when seeking a matchDefault value of Match case: not checked
  • Whether or not to limit matches to those which match the entire word or phraseDefault value of Match entire word only: not checked
  • Whether Find should look down and/or to the right for the next match or up and/or to the left.Default value of Search backwards: not checked
  • Whether or not Find should wrap around to the top/bottom of the window if there is no match found from the starting location in the direction of the search.Default value of Wrap around: checked

Having performed a search, you can quickly search for the next or previous match without having to return to the Orca Find dialog box.

Because it is a Flat Review feature, when there is a match, Flat Review will automatically be activated and the matching item or text will become the current review item. Note that focus within the application will not be modified, nor will the caret be repositioned. If you need to accomplish either, please see Orca’s Mouse/Pointer-Related Commands.

Mouse Review

Orca’s Mouse Review feature causes Orca to present the object under the mouse pointer. Unlike Orca’s Flat Review feature, Mouse Review is not limited to the active window; instead, Orca will attempt to identify what accessible object, if any, is visually under the pointer as you move the mouse. If you have moved the pointer over an accessible object with information to present, Orca will present that object and its information to you.

Because enabling Mouse Review causes Orca to listen for, and then process, all changes in the position of the Mouse Pointer, this feature is disabled by default. To have it always enabled, check the Speak object under mouse checkbox found on the General page of Orca’s Preferences dialog. In addition, you will find an unbound command named Toggle mouse review mode on the Key Bindings page of that same dialog box. By binding this command, as described in the Introduction to Key Bindings, you can enable and disable Mouse Review on an as-needed basis.

Default Settings and Keybindings Are Independent of One Another

Note that you can choose to have Mouse Review always enabled or not and still toggle it on and off by binding and using the Toggle mouse review mode command. It is not necessary to enable it in order to toggle it because settings and keybindings are independent of one another.

Notifications

The GNOME Desktop includes a “notification area” which can be used by applications to present information to the user. Examples of notifications include incoming chat messages, the details associated with the song your media player is starting to play, and warnings that your battery level is getting low.

Because notifications are intended to present information to users without interrupting what the user is doing, these messages tend to appear and disappear relatively quickly. They are also not focusable. While Orca will present these messages to you as they come in, it is far too easy to interrupt Orca’s announcement accidentally by continuing to type or to change focus. For this reason, Orca has three commands which you can use to access previously-displayed notification messages:

  • Present the last (most recent) notification message
  • Present the previous notification message
  • Present list of all notification messages

The first two commands are designed mainly for quick access to a message you just received. The last command is the most powerful as it stores your notification message history.

When you enter the list of notification messages, you will be told the size of the list and prompted with the following choices:

  • Press H for help.
  • Use Up, Down, Home or End to navigate in the list.
  • Press Escape to exit.
  • Press Space to repeat the last message read.
  • Press one digit to read a specific message.

Note that the most recently-received message is at the top of the list.

Each of Orca’s notification review commands is unbound by default. You can bind any or all of them to the shortcut or shortcuts you choose. How to do so is described in the Introduction to Key Bindings.

Bookmarks

Orca’s Bookmarks support allows you to indicate that an object is of interest. It includes the following features:

  • You are not limited to a single object: You can set up to six bookmarks per environment. You can also save bookmarks so that they will persist from Orca session to Orca session.
  • Having set a bookmark you can navigate to it later, and do so regardless of whether or not you have chosen to permanently save the bookmarks associated with your current environment. Navigation can be based on the number of the bookmark should you wish to jump directly to a specific item. Alternatively, you can navigate to the next or previous bookmark just like you can a Structural Navigation object.
  • Bookmarkable objects can be widgets within an application or objects on the web page you are reading. Which environment you are in determines what happens as you navigate amongst bookmarks: If you are in web content, the caret will be moved to the bookmark so that you can continue reading; otherwise, Flat Review will be activated with the bookmark becoming the current review item.

The specific keybindings associated with each of the above tasks can be found in Bookmark Commands.

Orca’s Commands

Controlling and Learning to Use Orca

Commands for Controlling Orca

The following commands can be used to get into Orca’s Preferences dialogs, toggle Orca on and off, and bypass Orca commands to avoid shortcut conflicts within the application being accessed.

  • Toggle Orca on and off in GNOME: Super+Alt+S.
  • If you are using Orca in another desktop environment in which there is no command to toggle Orca on and off, you may find the command to quit Orca helpful. This command is unbound by default. Please see Modifying Keybindings for information on how to bind unbound commands.
  • Orca Preferences dialog: Orca Modifier+Space.
  • Orca’s Preferences dialog for the focused application: Ctrl+Orca Modifier+Space.
  • Pass the next command on to the current application: Orca Modifier+BackSpace

Commands for Learning to Use Orca

In Learn Mode, Orca will announce each keystroke you pressed along with any associated Orca command that keystroke is bound to. In this mode, you can also get a list of shortcuts containing all the Orca commands you can use.

  • Enter Learn Mode: Orca Modifier+H
  • Exit Learn Mode: Esc

Where Am I Commands

Orca’s Where Am I feature gives you context-sensitive details about your present location. For instance, in tables, Where Am I will give you details about the table cell you are in, but in text it will present the current line along with any text which happens to be selected. The full list of what you can expect Orca to present can be found in the Introduction to Where Am I.

Orca provides the following Where Am I commands:

  • Perform basic Where Am I:
    • Desktop: KP Enter
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Return
  • Perform detailed Where Am I:
    • Desktop: KP Enter (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Return (double-clicked)

In addition to the dedicated Where Am I commands, Orca has additional commands related to obtaining information about your present location:

  • Present the title bar:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP Enter
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Slash
  • Present the status bar:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP Enter (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Slash (double-clicked)
    • Present size and location of current object in pixels: (Unbound)

Time, Date, and Notification Commands

The following commands can be used to obtain the current time and date and to review previously-displayed notification messages:

Obtaining the Time and Date

  • Present the time: Orca Modifier+T
  • Present the date: Orca Modifier+T (double-clicked)

Reviewing Notification Messages

Orca has three unbound commands for accessing previously-displayed notification messages. Please see Modifying Keybindings for information on how to bind these commands to keystrokes.

  • Present the last (most recent) notification message: (Unbound)
  • Present the previous notification message: (Unbound)
  • Present the next notification message: (Unbound)
  • Present list of all notification messages: (Unbound)

Profile Commands

Profiles allow you to save and load multiple configurations so that you can quickly access the settings you need.

The following command is not “bound” to a keystroke. If you would like to bind it, please see Modifying Keybindings.

  • Cycle to the next profile: (Unbound)

Speech Settings Commands

The following commands can be used to customize Orca’s speech output. You will notice that a number of these commands are “unbound.” Please see Modifying Keybindings for information on how to bind these commands to keystrokes.

  • Enable/disable speech: Orca Modifier+S
  • Toggle between cell and row reading in a table: Orca Modifier+F11
  • Toggle between verbose and brief verbosity levels: Orca Modifier+V
  • Enable/disable speaking of indentation and justification: (Unbound)
  • Change the spoken number style: (Unbound)
  • Cycle to the next spoken punctuation level: (Unbound)
  • Cycle to the next key echo level: (Unbound)
  • Cycle to the next capitalization style: (Unbound)
  • Decrease the rate: (Unbound)
  • Increase the rate: (Unbound)
  • Decrease the pitch: (Unbound)
  • Increase the pitch: (Unbound)
  • Decrease the volume: (Unbound)
  • Increase the volume: (Unbound)

Braille Commands

The following commands allow you to control Orca from your refreshable braille display rather than your keyboard:

  • Pan braille display to the left: Line Left
  • Pan braille display to the right: Line Right
  • Toggle flat review mode: Freeze
  • Review the word above: Line Up
  • Review the word below: Line Down
  • Review bottom left: Bottom Right
  • Review the home position: Top Left
  • Contracted braille: Six Dots
  • Marks the beginning of a text selection: Cut Begin
  • Marks the end of a text selection: Cut Line
  • Processes a cursor routing key: Cursor Routing
  • Returns to object with keyboard focus: Cursor Position

Reading Commands

In addition to the caret navigation commands which are part of GNOME, Orca provides a number of commands which you can use to read a document.

Below you will see several references to “KP”. All “KP” keys are located on the numeric keypad. You will also notice that there are different keystrokes depending upon whether you are using a desktop or a laptop — or more accurately, whether you are using Orca’s Desktop keyboard layout or its Laptop keyboard layout. For additional information, please see the Keyboard Layout topic.

Reading Your Current Location

The following Orca Flat Review Commands can be used to read your current location:

  • Read the current line:
    • Desktop: KP 8
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+I
  • Read the current word:
    • Desktop: KP 5
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+K
  • Spell the current word:
    • Desktop: KP 5 (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+K (double-clicked)
  • Phonetically spell the current word:
    • Desktop: KP 5 (triple-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+K (triple-clicked)
  • Read the current character:
    • Desktop: KP 2
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Comma
  • Phonetically speak the current character:
    • Desktop: KP 2 (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Comma (double-clicked)
  • Speak the Unicode value of current character:
    • Desktop: KP 2 (triple-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Comma (triple-clicked)

Say All

Orca’s Say All command will cause Orca to speak the entire document beginning from your current location.

  • Desktop: KP Plus
  • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Semicolon

Text Attributes and Selected Text

Orca has a dedicated command for obtaining the attributes of the text at the caret location. In addition, if you use Orca’s Where Am I commands from within a text object in which text has been selected, Orca will announce the selected text. Orca’s command to speak the current selection will also perform this function in a text object.

  • Present the text attributes: Orca Modifier+F
  • Perform basic Where Am I:
    • Desktop: KP Enter
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Return
  • Perform detailed Where Am I:
    • Desktop: KP Enter (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Return (double-clicked)
  • Speak current selection: Orca Modifier+Shift+Up

Link Details

If you are on a link, Orca’s Basic Where Am I command can be used to announce the details associated with the link such as the link type, if the link is visited, the site description, and file size. If you would instead prefer a dedicated command for this purpose, you can bind Orca’s Speak Link Details command to a keystroke. Please see Modifying Keybindings for information on how to do so.

  • Speak the link details: (Unbound)

Browse and Focus Modes

Orca’s Browse and Focus modes let you switch between reading and interacting with web content.

  • Switch between browse mode and focus mode: Orca Modifier+A
  • Enable sticky focus mode: Orca Modifier+A (double-clicked)
  • Enable sticky browse mode: Orca Modifier+A (triple-clicked)

Toggling Layout Mode

When Layout mode is enabled, Orca’s caret navigation will respect the on-screen layout of the content and present the full line, including any links or form fields on that line. When Layout mode is disabled, Orca will treat objects such as links and form fields as if they were on separate lines, both for presentation and navigation.

Orca provides a command to switch between Layout mode and Object mode. This command is unbound by default. Please see Modifying Keybindings for information on how to bind unbound commands.

  • Switch between Layout mode and Object mode: (Unbound)

Structural Navigation Commands

The following commands can be used to navigate by headings, links, and other elements found in applications for which Orca provides structural navigation support.

  • Enable/disable Structural Navigation keys: Orca Modifier+Z

Headings

  • Next and previous heading: H and Shift+H
  • Display a list of headings: Alt+Shift+H
  • Next and previous heading at level 1: 1 and Shift+1
  • Display a list of headings at level 1: Alt+Shift+1
  • Next and previous heading at level 2: 2 and Shift+2
  • Display a list of headings at level 2: Alt+Shift+2
  • Next and previous heading at level 3: 3 and Shift+3
  • Display a list of headings at level 3: Alt+Shift+3
  • Next and previous heading at level 4: 4 and Shift+4
  • Display a list of headings at level 4: Alt+Shift+4
  • Next and previous heading at level 5: 5 and Shift+5
  • Display a list of headings at level 5: Alt+Shift+5
  • Next and previous heading at level 6: 6 and Shift+6
  • Display a list of headings at level 6: Alt+Shift+6

Forms

  • Next and previous form field: F and Shift+F
  • Display a list of form fields: Alt+Shift+F
  • Next and previous button: B and Shift+B
  • Display a list of buttons: Alt+Shift+B
  • Next and previous combo box: C and Shift+C
  • Display a list of combo boxes: Alt+Shift+C
  • Next and previous entry: E and Shift+E
  • Display a list of entries: Alt+Shift+E
  • Next and previous radio button: R and Shift+R
  • Display a list of radio buttons: Alt+Shift+R
  • Next and previous checkbox: X and Shift+X
  • Display a list of checkboxes: Alt+Shift+X

Links

  • Next and previous link: K and Shift+K
  • Display a list of links: Alt+Shift+K
  • Next and previous unvisited link: U and Shift+U
  • Display a list of unvisited links: Alt+Shift+U
  • Next and previous visited link: V and Shift+V
  • Display a list of visited links: Alt+Shift+V

Lists

  • Next and previous list: L and Shift+L
  • Display a list of lists: Alt+Shift+L
  • Next and previous list item: I and Shift+I
  • Display a list of list items: Alt+Shift+I

Tables

  • Next and previous table: T and Shift+T
  • Display a list of tables: Alt+Shift+T
  • Cell on left: Alt+Shift+Left
  • Cell on right: Alt+Shift+Right
  • Cell above: Alt+Shift+Up
  • Cell below: Alt+Shift+Down
  • First cell in table: Alt+Shift+Home
  • Last cell in table: Alt+Shift+End

Text Blocks

  • Next and previous paragraph: P and Shift+P
  • Display a list of paragraphs: Alt+Shift+P
  • Next and previous blockquote: Q and Shift+Q
  • Display a list of blockquotes: Alt+Shift+Q
  • Next and previous “large object”: O and Shift+O
  • Display a list of “large objects”: Alt+Shift+O

Other Elements

  • Next and previous landmark: M and Shift+M
  • Display a list of landmarks: Alt+Shift+M
  • Next and previous separator: S and Shift+S
  • Next and previous “clickable”: A and Shift+A
  • Display a list of “clickables”: Alt+Shift+A
  • Next and previous image: G and Shift+G
  • Display a list of images: Alt+Shift+G
  • Start and end of current container: Shift+Comma and Comma

Table Navigation Commands

Orca’s support for navigation by table cell is part of its Structural Navigation commands. In addition you can:

  • Set dynamic row headers to current column: Orca Modifier+C
  • Set dynamic column headers to current row: Orca Modifier+R
  • Clear dynamic row headers: Orca Modifier+C (double-clicked)
  • Clear dynamic column headers: Orca Modifier+R (double-clicked)
  • Toggle between cell and row reading in a table: Orca Modifier+F11

Flat Review Commands

Orca’s Flat Review commands are designed for spatially reviewing elements displayed on the screen. They also provide a means for reading the current line, word, and character when navigating in the text of a document. Most of these commands are “bound” to keystrokes. Please see Modifying Keybindings for information on how to bind unbound commands.

Commands for Reviewing by Line

  • First line (The “home” position):
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP 7
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Ctrl+U
  • Previous line:
    • Desktop: KP 7
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+U
  • Current line:
    • Desktop: KP 8
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+I
  • Spell current line:
    • Desktop: KP 8 (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+I (double-clicked)
  • Phonetically spell current line:
    • Desktop: KP 8 (triple-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+I (triple-clicked)
  • Next line:
    • Desktop: KP 9
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+O
  • Last line (The “end” position):
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP 9
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Ctrl+O

Commands for Reviewing by Word

  • Word above:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP 4
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Ctrl+J
  • Previous word:
    • Desktop: KP 4
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+J
  • Current word:
    • Desktop: KP 5
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+K
  • Spell current word:
    • Desktop: KP 5 (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+K (double-clicked)
  • Phonetically spell current word:
    • Desktop: KP 5 (triple-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+K (triple-clicked)
  • Next word:
    • Desktop: KP 6
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+L
  • Word below:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP 6
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Ctrl+L

Commands for Reviewing by Character

  • Previous character:
    • Desktop: KP 1
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+M
  • Current character:
    • Desktop: KP 2
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Comma
  • Phonetically speak current character:
    • Desktop: KP 2 (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Comma (double-clicked)
  • Speak Unicode value of current character:
    • Desktop: KP 2 (triple-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Comma (triple-clicked)
  • Next character:
    • Desktop: KP 3
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Period
  • Last character on current line:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP 1
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Ctrl+M

Additional Commands

  • Toggle flat review (refreshes the flat review context):
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP Subtract
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+P
  • Review current item/widget:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP 5
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Ctrl+K
  • Use Say All to review the current dialog or window:
    • Desktop: KP Plus (double-clicked)
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Semicolon (double-clicked)
  • Copy the contents under flat review to the clipboard: (Unbound)

Orca Find Commands

Orca’s Find feature allows you to search the Flat Review context for elements located within the current window.

  • Open the Orca Find dialog:
    • Desktop: KP Delete
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Left Bracket
  • Move flat review to the next instance of a string:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP Delete
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Right Bracket
  • Move flat review to the previous instance of a string:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+Shift+KP Delete
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+Ctrl+Right Bracket

Mouse/Pointer-Related Commands

Orca provides several commands which can be used to manipulate the mouse pointer and read the contents under it. All of the commands are “bound” to keystrokes with one exception: Toggling Mouse Review Mode. Please see Modifying Keybindings for information on how to bind this command to a keystroke.

Below you will see several references to “KP”. All “KP” keys are located on the numeric keypad. You will also notice that there are different keystrokes depending upon whether you are using a desktop or a laptop — or more accurately, whether you are using Orca’s Desktop keyboard layout or its Laptop keyboard layout. For additional information, please see the Keyboard Layout topic.

  • Left-click on current item:
    • Desktop: KP Divide
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+7
  • Right-click on current item:
    • Desktop: KP Multiply
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+8
  • Route pointer to current item:
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP Divide
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+9
  • Move focus into or away from the current mouse over (web only):
    • Desktop: Orca Modifier+KP Multiply
    • Laptop: Orca Modifier+0
  • Enable/disable mouse review mode: (Unbound)

Bookmark Commands

Orca provides several commands which can be used to “bookmark” a given object for the purpose of navigating back to it later.

  • Save a bookmark to the numbered slot: Orca Modifier+Alt+1-6
  • Save the defined bookmarks for the application or page: Orca Modifier+Alt+B
  • Go to a specific, numbered bookmark: Orca Modifier+1-6
  • Go to the previous bookmark for the application or page: Orca Modifier+Shift+B
  • Go to the next bookmark for the application or page: Orca Modifier+B

Live Region Commands

The following commands can be used to access dynamically-updated content on web pages which have been made accessible through ARIA.

  • Monitor live regions: Orca Modifier+Shift+Backslash
  • Advance live region politeness setting: Backslash
  • Set default politeness level to off: Shift+Backslash
  • Go to next/previous live region: D/Shift+D
  • Go to last live region which made an announcement: Y
  • Review live region announcements: Orca Modifier+F1 through F9

Chat Commands

The following commands can be used to access information in the instant messaging and internet relay chat clients supported by Orca. You will notice that several of these commands are “unbound.” Please see Modifying Keybindings for information on how to bind these commands to keystrokes.

  • Present previous chat room messages: Orca Modifier+F1 through F9
  • Enable/disable announcement of room name with messages: (Unbound)
  • Enable/disable announcement of buddy typing status: (Unbound)
  • Enable/disable room-specific histories: (Unbound)

Debugging Commands

You may be asked by the developers to provide some debugging information in order to help them identify the source of a problem you are experiencing. The following command is not “bound” to a keystroke. If you need to bind it, please see Modifying Keybindings.

  • Cycle to the next debug level: (Unbound)

Orca’s Preferences Dialogs

Orca Preferences

Orca preferences allow you to customize functionality in Orca which applies to all applications. An example of an Orca preference is echo because echo is something that applies to all applications.

Note that Orca preferences can be customized on an application-by-application basis. For instance you can set the default echo to words and then set the echo for Pidgin to be none. Having done so, Orca would always echo each word that you typed, unless you were in Pidgin.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Getting Into the Preferences Dialogs

  • Orca Modifier+Space: Orca’s Preferences
  • Ctrl+Orca Modifier+Space: Orca’s Preferences for the current application

Application-Unique Preferences

In contrast to Orca preferences, there are application-unique preferences. These preferences allow you to customize Orca functionality that only applies in certain environments, such as on web pages or in chat applications. As a result, you will only find these options available in the application-specific preferences dialogs and only for those applications to which these options apply.

General Preferences

Keyboard Layout

The Keyboard Layout radio button group allows you to specify if you will be working on a desktop (i.e. with a numeric keypad) or laptop keyboard. Which layout you choose will determine both the Orca Modifier as well as a number of keyboard shortcuts for performing Orca commands.

Default value: Desktop

Present Tooltips

When checked, this option will tell Orca to present information about tooltips when they appear as the result of mouse hovering. Specific actions to force tooltips to appear, such as pressing Ctrl+F1 when an object has focus, will always result in tooltips being presented, regardless of this setting.

Default value: not checked

Speak Object Under Mouse

When checked, this option will tell Orca to present information about the object under the mouse pointer as you move it around the screen using Orca’s Mouse Review feature.

Default value: not checked

Time Format and Date Format

The Time Format and Date Format combo boxes allow you to specify how Orca will speak and braille the time and the date.

Default value: use the system locale’s format for each

Navigation in Say All

Orca’s Say All feature speaks document content from your present location to the end of the document. By default, pressing any key will interrupt Say All’s presentation. However, if you check the Enable rewind and fast forward in Say All checkbox, Up and Down can be used during Say All to quickly move within the document in order to re-hear something which was just read or skip past text of no interest without having to restart Say All.

If you are reading a document within an application that has structural navigation support, and you have checked the Enable structural navigation in Say All checkbox, you can use the supported structural navigation commands in a similar fashion: H/Shift+H continues reading from the next/previous heading, P/Shift+P continues reading from the next/previous paragraph, T/Shift+T continues reading from the next/previous table, and so on.

Default value: not checked

Announce Contextual Information in Say All

Orca can optionally provide more information about the document content being spoken, such as announcing when you are entering and leaving a blockquote, list, table, or other container. Whether or not these announcements are made can be configured independently through the following checkboxes:

  • Announce blockquotes in Say All
  • Announce forms in Say All
  • Announce landmarks in Say All
  • Announce lists in Say All
  • Announce panels in Say All
  • Announce tables in Say All

Default value: checked

Whether or not Orca makes these announcements during navigation is also configurable. You will find similar checkboxes on the Speech page. For more information, see Spoken Context.

Say All By

The Say All By combo box allows you to specify whether Orca speaks a sentence at a time or a line at a time when doing a “Say All” of a document.

Default value: Sentence

Profiles

The Profiles group of controls, which appear at the bottom of the General page, make it possible for you to maintain and use multiple configurations.

  • The Active Profile combo box displays the current profile and allows you to select a different profile to load.
  • The Load button will cause Orca to load the profile indicated in the Active Profile combo box.
  • The Save As button allows you to save the current set of options from the preferences dialog box to a named profile.
  • The Start-up Profile combo box allows you to select the profile which should be automatically loaded each time you launch Orca.

Progress Bar Updates

Speak updates

If the Speak updates checkbox is checked Orca will periodically speak the status of progress bars.

Default value: checked

Braille updates

If the Braille updates checkbox is checked Orca will periodically display the status of progress bars on your refreshable braille display.

Default value: not checked

Beep updates

If the Beep updates checkbox is checked Orca will periodically emit beeps which increase in pitch as the value of the progress bar increases.

Default value: not checked

Frequency (secs)

This spin button determines how often updates are presented.

Default value: 10

Applies to

This combo box allows you to control which progress bars should be presented, assuming the presentation of progress bar updates has been enabled. The choices are All, Application, and Window.

Choosing All will result in Orca presenting updates for all progress bars, regardless of where the progress bars are located.

Choosing Application will result in Orca presenting updates from progress bars in the active application, even if they are not in the active window.

Choosing Window will result in Orca only presenting updates for progress bars in the active window.

Default value: Application

Voice Preferences

Voice Type Settings

Voice type

This combo box makes it possible for you to use different voices so that you can better distinguish uppercase and linked text from other text, and on-screen text from text added by Orca.

Configuring Multiple Voices

For each voice you wish to configure, first select the voice in the Voice type combo box. Then configure the person, rate, pitch, and volume to be used for that voice.

Speech system

This combo box allows you to select your preferred speech system from those you have installed, such as Speech Dispatcher.

Speech synthesizer

This combo box allows you to select the speech synthesizer to be used with your chosen Speech system.

Person

This combo box allows you to choose which “person” or “speaker” should be used with the selected voice. For instance, you might wish to have David speak by default, but have hyperlinks spoken by Alice. Note that what you find in the Person combo box will depend on which speech synthesizers you have installed.

Capitalization style

This combo box allows you to choose which Speech Dispatcher capitalization indication styles you wish to use in addition to Orca’s capitalization voice. The options, which are named using Speech Dispatcher’s terminology, are:

  • Icon: Plays a tone
  • Spell: Speaks the word “capital”
  • None

This setting can be toggled on the fly

Orca also has a command to cycle through the available capitalization styles. See Speech Settings Commands for more information.

Default value: none

Rate, Pitch, and Volume

These three left-right sliders allow you to further customize the sound of the person you have just selected.

Global Voice Settings

Break speech into chunks between pauses

Depending on the enabled speech settings, Orca may have quite a bit to say about a particular object such as its name, its role, its state, its mnemonic, its tutorial message, and so on. Checking the Break speech into chunks between pauses checkbox will cause Orca to insert brief pauses in between each of these pieces of information.

Default value: checked

Speak multicase strings as words

In some text, and especially when working with code, one often comes across a “word” consisting of several words with alternating case, such as “MultiCaseString.” Speech synthesizers do not always pronounce such multicase strings correctly. Checking the Speak multicase strings as words checkbox will cause Orca to break a word like “MultiCaseString” into separate words (“Multi,” “Case,” and “String”) prior to passing it along to the speech synthesizer.

Default value: not checked

Speak numbers as digits

Checking the Speak numbers as digits checkbox will cause Orca to break a number like “123” into separate digits (“1,” “2,” and “3”) prior to passing it along to the speech synthesizer.

Default value: not checked

Speech Preferences

Enable speech

The Enable speech check box controls whether or not Orca will make use of a speech synthesizer. Braille-only users will likely want to uncheck this checkbox.

Default value: checked

Verbosity

The Verbosity setting determines the amount of information that will be spoken in various situations. For example, if it is set to verbose, and you arrow into a word that is misspelled, Orca will announce that the word is misspelled. When the level is set to brief, this announcement will not be made.

Default value: Verbose

Punctuation Level

The Punctuation Level radio button group is used to adjust the amount of punctuation spoken by the synthesizer. The available levels are None, Some, Most, and All.

Default value: Most

None

Choosing a punctuation level of None would, as you expect, cause no punctuation to be spoken. Note, however, that special symbols such as subscripted and superscripted numbers, Unicode fractions, and bullets are still spoken at this level, even though some might consider these types of symbols punctuation.

Some

Choosing a punctuation level of Some causes all of the previously-mentioned symbols to be spoken. In addition, Orca will speak known mathematical symbols, currency symbols, and “^”, “@”, “/”, “&”, “#”.

Most

Choosing a punctuation level of Most causes all of the previous-mentioned symbols to be spoken. In addition, Orca will speak all other known punctuation symbols other than “!”, “‘”, “,”, “.”, “?”.

All

Choosing a punctuation level of All, as expected, causes Orca to speak all known punctuation symbols.

Spoken Context

The following items control the presentation of a variety of supplemental, “system” information about the item with focus. Because the associated text does not appear on screen, this information is presented in Orca’s System voice.

Only speak displayed text

Checking this checkbox causes Orca to only speak actual text displayed on screen. This option is intended primarily for low vision users and users with a visual learning disability.

Default value: not checked

The following items will not be available for configuration if the Only speak displayed text checkbox is checked.

Speak blank lines

If the Speak blank lines checkbox is checked, Orca will say “blank” each time you arrow to a blank line. If it is unchecked, Orca will say nothing when you move to a blank line.

Default value: checked

Speak indentation and justification

When working with code or editing other documents it is often desirable to be aware of justification and indentation. Checking the Speak indentation and justification checkbox will cause Orca to announce this information.

Default value: not checked

Speak misspelled-word indicator

The misspelled-word indicator is the red squiggly line that appears underneath misspelled words in editable text fields. If Speak misspelled-word indicator is checked, when you navigate into a word with this indicator, or type a word incorrectly causing this indicator to appear, Orca will speak “misspelled.”

Default value: checked

Speak object mnemonics

If the Speak object mnemonics checkbox is checked, Orca will announce the mnemonic associated with the object with focus (such as Alt+O for an OK button).

Default value: not checked

Speak child position

Checking the Speak child position checkbox will cause Orca to announce the position of the focused item in menus, lists, and trees (e.g. “9 of 16”).

Default value: not checked

Speak tutorial messages

If the Speak tutorial messages checkbox is checked, as you move amongst objects in an interface, Orca will provide additional information, such as how to interact with the currently-focused object.

Default value: not checked

Speak description

If the Speak description checkbox is checked, as you move amongst objects in an interface, Orca will speak the accessible description in addition to the accessible name of the object.

Default value: checked

System messages are detailed

If System messages are detailed is checked, Orca will present detailed messages to you in speech. For instance, if you use Orca’s command to change echo, Orca might speak “Echo set to word.” If you would prefer shorter messages, such as simply “word,” you should uncheck this checkbox.

Default value: checked

Speak colors as names

If Speak colors as names is checked, Orca will describe colors, looking for the closest approximate. For instance, RGB 0, 27, 51 would be spoken as “midnight blue.” If you would prefer to hear the exact RGB value, you should uncheck this checkbox.

Default value: checked

Announce blockquotes during navigation

If Announce blockquotes during navigation is checked, Orca will tell you when you navigate into or out of a blockquote. Note that this setting is independent of whether or not this announcement is made during Say All. See Announce Contextual Information in Say All for more information.

Default value: checked

Announce forms during navigation

If Announce forms during navigation is checked, Orca will tell you when you navigate into or out of a form. Note that this setting is specific to forms which are not ARIA landmarks. You can configure the presentation of ARIA landmarks through the Announce landmarks during navigation checkbox. In addition, note that this setting is independent of whether or not this announcement is made during Say All. See Announce Contextual Information in Say All for more information.

Default value: checked

Announce landmarks during navigation

If Announce landmarks during navigation is checked, Orca will tell you when you navigate into or out of an ARIA landmark. Note that this setting is independent of whether or not this announcement is made during Say All. See Announce Contextual Information in Say All for more information.

Default value: checked

Announce lists during navigation

If Announce lists during navigation is checked, Orca will tell you when you navigate into or out of a list. Note that this setting is independent of whether or not this announcement is made during Say All. See Announce Contextual Information in Say All for more information.

Default value: checked

Announce panels during navigation

If Announce panels during navigation is checked, Orca will tell you when you navigate into or out of a panel. Note that this setting is independent of whether or not this announcement is made during Say All. See Announce Contextual Information in Say All for more information.

Default value: checked

Announce tables during navigation

If Announce tables during navigation is checked, Orca will tell you when you navigate into or out of a table. Note that this setting is independent of whether or not this announcement is made during Say All. See Announce Contextual Information in Say All for more information.

Default value: checked

Speak full row in GUI tables

If Speak full row in GUI tables is checked, as you arrow up and down in application tables such as the list of messages in your Inbox, Orca will speak the entire row. If you would prefer to hear only the cell with focus, you should uncheck this checkbox.

Default value: checked

Speak full row in document tables

If Speak full row in document tables is checked, as you arrow up and down in tables such as those found in Writer and web documents, Orca will speak the entire row. If you would prefer to hear only the cell with focus, you should uncheck this checkbox.

Default value: checked

Speak full row in spreadsheets

If Speak full row in spreadsheets is checked, as you arrow up and down in spreadsheets, Orca will speak the entire row. If you would prefer to hear only the cell with focus, you should uncheck this checkbox.

Default value: not checked

Braille Preferences

Enable Braille Support

This check box toggles whether or not Orca will make use of a braille display. If BrlTTY is not running, Orca will recover gracefully and will not communicate with the braille display.

Default value: not checked

If you configure BrlTTY later on, you need to restart Orca in order to use braille.

Enable word wrap

If Enable word wrap is checked, Orca will adjust the text so that only full words are shown on the braille display. If it is not checked, Orca will use all of the cells on the display so that more text can be shown at once.

Default value: not checked

Enable Contracted Braille

Orca supports contracted braille via the liblouis project. Because many distros include liblouis, you will likely automatically have access to contracted braille support in Orca.

To enable contracted braille on a system where liblouis has been installed, be sure that the Enable Contracted Braille checkbox is checked. Then choose your desired translation table from the Contraction Table combo box.

Default value: not checked

Abbreviated Role Names

This check box determines the manner in which role names are displayed and can be used to help conserve real estate on the braille display. For instance, if a slider had focus, the word “slider” would be displayed if abbreviated role names is not checked; if it were checked, “sldr” would be displayed instead.

Default value: not checked

Disable end of line symbol

Checking this checkbox tells Orca to not present the “$l” string at the end of a line of text.

Default value: not checked

Verbosity

This radio button group determines the amount of information that will be brailled in certain situations. For example, if it is set to verbose, keyboard shortcut and role name information is displayed. This information is not displayed in brief mode.

Default value: Verbose

Selection and Hyperlink Indicators

The Selection Indicator and Hyperlink Indicator radio button groups allow you to configure Orca’s behavior when displaying selected text and hyperlinks. By default, when you encounter either, Orca will “underline” that text on your braille display with Dots 7 and 8. If you would prefer, you can change the indicator to only be Dot 7, only be Dot 8, or not be present at all.

Default value: Dots 7 and 8

Text Attribute Indicators

You can also optionally have text attributes indicated in braille. Enabling this feature and choosing which attributes are of interest is done on the Text Attributes page of the preferences dialog.

Flash Message Settings

Flash messages are similar in nature to notifications or announcements: They are shown on your refreshable braille display for a brief time, after which the original contents of the braille display are restored. Orca has several settings you can use to control flash message presentation.

Enable flash messages

If Enable flash messages is checked, Orca will present messages to you in braille. If you prefer to only have Orca’s messages spoken, you should uncheck this checkbox.

Default value: checked

Messages are detailed

If Messages are detailed is checked, Orca will present detailed messages to you in braille. For instance, if you use Orca’s command to change echo, Orca might display “Echo set to word.” If you would prefer shorter messages, such as simply “word,” you should uncheck this checkbox.

Default value: checked

Messages are persistent

As stated above, flash messages are only shown for a brief period of time. If you would prefer messages remain displayed until you perform an action which causes your display to be updated, you should check the Messages are persistent checkbox.

Default value: not checked

Duration (secs)

The amount of time Orca will wait before removing the message and restoring the original contents of your display can be set in the Duration (secs) spin button. Note that the value of this setting will be ignored if you have enabled persistent flash messages.

Default value: 5

Echo Preferences

Enable key echo

Orca’s key echo setting controls what happens each time you press a key. To enable key echo, check the “Enable key echo” checkbox. Doing so causes additional checkboxes to become available through which you can choose exactly which keys should and should not be echoed to best suit your needs.

Default value: checked

Enable alphabetic keys

This option controls whether or not keys like a, b, and c should be spoken when pressed.

Default value: checked

Enable numeric keys

This option controls whether or not keys like 1, 2, and 3 should be spoken when pressed.

Default value: checked

Enable punctuation keys

This option controls whether or not keys like %, ;, and ? should be spoken when pressed.

Default value: checked

Enable space

This option controls whether or not Space should be spoken when pressed.

Default value: checked

Enable modifier keys

This option controls whether or not Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Meta should be spoken when pressed.

Default value: checked

Enable function keys

This option controls whether or not F1 through F12 should be spoken when pressed.

Default value: checked

Enable action keys

This option controls whether or not BackSpace, Delete , Return, Esc, Tab, Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End should be spoken when pressed.

Default value: checked

Enable navigation keys

This option controls whether or not Left, Right, Up, and Down should be spoken when pressed. This option also applies to any key combination in which Orca Modifier is being held down, for instance when flat review is being used.

Default value: not checked

Enable non-spacing diacritical keys

This option controls whether or not “dead keys” used to generate accented letters should be spoken when pressed.

Default value: not checked

Enable echo by character

Enabling this option causes Orca to echo the character you just typed.

While echo by character seems quite similar to the key echo of alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation keys, there are important differences, especially with respect to accented letters and other symbols for which there is no dedicated key:

  • Key echo causes Orca to announce what you just pressed.
  • Character echo causes Orca to announce what was just inserted.

Thus to have accented characters spoken as you type them, you should enable character echo.

Default value: not checked

Enabling both key echo and character echo

If you like key echo and you frequently type accented characters, consider enabling both. Orca’s character echo logic attempts to filter out characters which were spoken as a result of key echo, thus minimizing the likelihood of “double speaking” as you type.

Enable echo by word and Enable echo by sentence

Checking the Enable echo by word checkbox causes Orca to echo the word you just typed. Similarly, checking the Enable echo by sentence checkbox causes Orca to echo the sentence you just typed.

Default value: not checked

Key Bindings Preferences

Orca Modifier Keys

The Screen Reader Modifier Key(s) combo box allows you to select which key or keys will serve as the Orca Modifier. The available options are:

  • KP_Insert (the same key as the 0 on the numeric keypad)
  • Insert
  • Insert, KP_Insert
  • Caps_Lock

The Key Bindings Table

The key bindings table provides a list of Orca operations and the keys that are bound to them.

  • The Command column contains a description of the Orca command to be performed.
  • The Key Binding column contains the keyboard shortcut currently assigned to the Orca command. You can modify the value of this column by pressing Return, pressing the keys for the new binding, and pressing Return again.
  • The Modified column serves both as an indicator to what has been changed and as a way to restore the default bindings associated with that command.

Beneath the list of Orca keybindings, you will find a group of “unbound” commands. These are commands which we feel will be very useful for some users, but not needed by most users. Rather than “use up” a keystroke for such commands, we have left them unassigned by default. At the end of the list are the braille bindings, for use with a refreshable braille display.

Pronunciation Preferences

Sometimes your speech synthesizer just doesn’t say the right thing for a given string. You might prefer to hear “laughing out loud” rather than “LOL,” or “accessibility” rather than “a11y”. Or there may be a name or a technical term which the synthesizer mispronounces.

The Pronunciation page of the Orca preferences dialog allows you to add, edit, and delete entries in Orca’s pronunciation dictionary.

Because the Pronunciation page is also part of the application-specific settings, you can customize your entries on an as-needed basis for each application you use.

Adding a new dictionary entry

  1. Press the New Entry button (Alt+N)
  2. Type the text of the new entry and press Return to finish editing the actual string.
  3. Move to the Replacement String column and press Return to begin editing.
  4. Type the text that you would like to have spoken instead and press Return to finish editing the replacement string.

Editing an existing dictionary entry

  1. Move to the cell you wish to edit and press Return to begin editing.
  2. Make your changes and then press Return to finish editing.

Deleting an existing dictionary entry

  1. Move to the entry you wish to delete.
  2. Press the Delete button or Alt+D.

Text Attributes Preferences

The term “text attributes” refers to all of the font, style, alignment, and other formatting associated with a given character or series of characters. Orca’s Text Attributes page allows you to customize which text attributes Orca will present in speech, along with the order in which they should be presented, and which ones Orca will indicate in braille.

The text attributes table

The text attributes table is where you specify what attributes will and will not be presented and under what conditions. Each row consists of four columns.

  • Attribute Name: The name of the text attribute.
  • Speak: Check this checkbox if you would like Orca to speak this attribute when you press Orca Modifier+F.
  • Mark in braille: Check this checkbox if you would like Orca to “underline” this attribute on your braille display.
  • Present Unless: This editable field allows you to specify when an enabled attribute is not of interest.For example, by default the “underline” text attribute has a value of “none”. This causes Orca to inform you about underlined text as long as the text is actually underlined. If you always want this attribute to be spoken irrespective of whether or not the text is underlined, the Present unless column should be empty for underline. In addition, you should be sure that the Speak column for underline is checked.

Undoing changes

Beneath the list of text attributes, there is a Reset button (Alt+R) which will restore the values of the table to what they were when the dialog was first displayed.

Rearranging the order of presentation

When you initially display the Text Attributes page, all of your enabled attributes are placed at the top of the table in the order in which they will be spoken. There are four buttons which can be used to rearrange the order of presentation.

  • Move to top (Alt+T): moves the selected attribute to the top of the list.
  • Move up (Alt+U): moves the selected attribute up one row.
  • Move down (Alt+D): moves the selected attribute down one row.
  • Move to bottom (Alt+B): moves the selected attribute to the bottom of the list.

Options for Configuring Braille “Underlining” for Formatting

Beneath the push buttons is the Braille Indicator group of radio buttons. Here you can select the cell or cells to be used to indicate text which has at least one of the specified attributes.

  • None: Do not underline text attributes in braille (the default)
  • Dot 7: Underline text attributes with only Dot 7
  • Dot 8: Underline text attributes with only Dot 8
  • Dots 7 and 8: Underline text attributes with both Dots 7 and Dots 8

Web Navigation Preferences

Page Navigation

The Page Navigation group of controls make it possible for you to customize how Orca presents, and allow you to interact with, text and other content.

Control caret navigation

This checkbox toggles Orca’s caret navigation on and off. When it is on, Orca takes control of the caret as you arrow around within a page; when it is off, the browser’s native caret navigation is active.

Default value: checked

This setting can be toggled on the fly

To toggle this setting on the fly without saving it, use Orca Modifier+F12.

Automatic focus mode during caret navigation

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will automatically turn on focus mode when you use caret navigation commands to navigate to a form field. For example, pressing Down would allow you to move into an entry but once you had done so, Orca would switch to focus mode and subsequent presses of Down would be controlled by the web browser and not by Orca. If this checkbox is not checked, Orca would continue to control what happens when you press Down, thus making it possible to arrow out of the entry and continue reading.

Default value: not checked

Manually switching between browse mode and focus mode

In order to start or stop interacting with the focused form field, use Orca Modifier+A to switch between browse mode and focus mode.

Enable structural navigation

This checkbox toggles Orca’s Structural Navigation on and off. Structural Navigation allows you to navigate by elements such as headings, links, and form fields.

Default value: checked

This setting can be toggled on the fly

To toggle this setting on the fly without saving it, use Orca Modifier+Z.

Automatic focus mode during structural navigation

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will automatically turn on focus mode when you use structural navigation commands to navigate to a form field. For example, pressing E to move to the next entry would move focus there and also turn focus mode on so that your next press of E would type an “e” into that entry. If this checkbox is not checked, then Orca will leave you in browse mode and your next press of E would move you to the next entry on the page.

Default value: not checked

Manually switching between browse mode and focus mode

In order to start or stop interacting with the focused form field, use Orca Modifier+A to switch between browse mode and focus mode.

Automatic focus mode during native navigation

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will automatically turn on focus mode when you use native browser navigation commands to navigate to a form field. For example, pressing Tab to move to the next entry would move focus there and also turn focus mode on so that your next press of E would type an “e” into that entry. If this checkbox is not checked, then Orca will leave you in browse mode and your next press of E would move you to the next entry on the page.

Default value: checked

Manually switching between browse mode and focus mode

In order to start or stop interacting with the focused form field, use Orca Modifier+A to switch between browse mode and focus mode.

Automatically start speaking a page when it is first loaded

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will perform a Say All on the newly opened web page or email.

Default value: checked for Firefox; not checked for Thunderbird

Present summary of a page when it is first loaded

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will summarize details about the newly opened web page or email, such as the number of headings, landmarks, and links.

Default value: checked for Firefox; not checked for Thunderbird

Enable layout mode for content

If this checkbox is checked, Orca’s caret navigation will respect the on-screen layout of the content and present the full line, including any links or form fields on that line. If this checkbox is not checked, Orca will treat objects such as links and form fields as if they were on separate lines, both for presentation and navigation.

Default value: checked

Table Options

To learn more about Orca’s options for navigating within tables, please see Table Navigation Preferences.

Find Options

The Find Options group of controls make it possible for you to customize how Orca presents the results of a search conducted using the application’s built-in search functionality.

Speak results during find

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will read the line which matches your current search query.

Default value: checked

Only speak changed lines during find

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will not present the matching line if it is the same line as the previous match. This option is designed to prevent “chattiness” on a line with multiple instances of the string for which you are searching.

Default value: not checked

Minimum length of matched text

This editable spin button is where you can specify the number of characters which must match before Orca announces the matching line. This option is also designed to prevent “chattiness” as there are many matches when you first begin typing the string for which you are searching.

Default value: 4

Table Navigation Preferences

The following options allow you to customize how Orca behaves when navigating within a table in Structural-Navigation-enabled applications.

Speak cell coordinates

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will announce the coordinates of each cell you navigate to.

Default value: checked

Speak multiple cell spans

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will announce how many rows and/or columns a cell spans when it spans more than one.

Default value: checked

Announce cell header

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will announce changes in the header if the headers for the current cell can be determined.

Default value: checked

Skip blank cells

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will skip blank cells when you are using Orca’s table structural navigation commands to access the table.

Default value: not checked

Chat Preferences

The following options allow you to customize how Orca behaves when providing access to instant messaging and internet relay chat clients.

Speak Chat Room name

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will prefix incoming messages with the name of the room or buddy they came from, unless they came from the currently-focused conversation.

Default value: not checked

Announce when your buddies are typing

If this checkbox is checked, and if Orca has sufficient information identifying that your buddy is typing, Orca will announce changes in typing status.

Default value: not checked

Provide chat room specific message histories

If this checkbox is checked, Orca’s commands for reviewing recent messages will only apply to the currently-focused conversation. Otherwise, the history will contain the most recent messages regardless of which conversation they came from.

Default value: not checked

Speak messages from

This group of radio buttons allows you to control under what circumstances Orca will present an incoming message to you. Your choices are:

  • All channels
  • A channel only if its window is active
  • All channels when any chat window is active

Default value: all channels

Spell Check Preferences

Orca tries to provide a consistent user experience when interacting with application spell checkers. For applications where this enhanced support has been provided, you will find several options which you can adjust to get the verbosity level that works best for you.

You can have both brief and verbose spell check information

If you normally want very little verbosity when using a spell checker, but occasionally need detailed information about a given error, you can disable these options. When you need additional details, just use Orca’s detailed Where Am I command to have Orca present the current error as if all of these options were enabled.

Spell error

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will spell out the misspelled word after speaking it.

Default value: checked

Spell suggestion

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will spell out the suggested correction after speaking it.

Default value: checked

Present context of error

If this checkbox is checked, Orca will speak the sentence or line from the document in which the error is found.

Default value: checked