VoiceOver navigation commands on Mac
Use VoiceOver navigation commands to perform actions such as moving around the screen, moving inside windows and webpages, and controlling cursor tracking. VO represents the VoiceOver modifier that you press with additional keys to enter VoiceOver commands. By default, you can press Control and Option together or just press Caps Lock.
Note: By default, when you use a function key (F1 through F12) in a VoiceOver command, you must also press the Fn key. Depending on your Mac, you can change this behavior so that you don’t have to press the Fn key. See Change function key behavior for VoiceOver.
You can also enter VoiceOver commands that use a function key by using the Fn key and a number key instead of the Fn key and a function key. For example, to open VoiceOver Utility, you can press VO-Fn-8 (instead of VO-Fn-F8).
Action | Command |
|---|---|
Move the VoiceOver cursor up | VO-Up Arrow |
Move the VoiceOver cursor down | VO-Down Arrow |
Move the VoiceOver cursor to the left | VO-Left Arrow |
Move the VoiceOver cursor to the right | VO-Right Arrow |
Move to the top of the visible area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located | VO-Shift-Home On some keyboards, press VO-Shift-Fn-Left Arrow. |
Move to the bottom of the visible area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located | VO-Shift-End On some keyboards, press VO-Shift-Fn-Right Arrow. |
Move to the top of the area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located, scrolling if necessary | VO-Home On some keyboards, press VO-Fn-Left Arrow. |
Move to the bottom of the area (such as a window or text area) where the VoiceOver cursor is located, scrolling if necessary | VO-End On some keyboards, press VO-Fn-Right Arrow. |
Move to the top of a window, the first item in the Dock, or the first item on your desktop, depending on your location | VO-Command-Home On some keyboards, press VO-Command-Fn-Left Arrow. |
Move to the lower-right corner of a window, the last item in the Dock, or the last item on your desktop, depending on your location | VO-Command-End On some keyboards, press VO-Command-Fn-Right Arrow. |
Move the window containing the VoiceOver cursor to the front, making it the active window | VO-Shift-Fn-F2 |
Open the Item Chooser | VO-I |
Open the VoiceOver rotor | VO-U |
Move to the Dock | VO-D |
Move to the desktop | VO-Shift-D |
Move to the menu bar | VO-M |
Move to the status menus in the menu bar | VO-M-M |
Open or close Notification Center | VO-O |
Open or close Control Center | VO-Shift-O |
Open a shortcut menu | VO-Shift-M |
Jump to a linked item (for example, from a message in the Mail messages list to the message preview) | VO-J |
Temporarily turn the cursor tracking options selected in VoiceOver Utility on or off. The command doesn’t change the settings in VoiceOver Utility. | VO-Shift-Fn-F3 |
Move the VoiceOver cursor to the keyboard focus | VO-Shift-Fn-F4 |
Move the keyboard focus to the VoiceOver cursor | VO-Fn-Command-F4 |
Move the VoiceOver cursor to the mouse pointer | VO-Shift-Fn-F5 |
Move the mouse pointer to the VoiceOver cursor | VO-Fn-Command-F5 |
Jump from the current location to any displayed input method or auto correction panel, and then jump back to the original location | VO-Shift-J |
Find text | VO-F |
While finding text, cycle through search item history | VO-Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Set or remove a hot spot | VO-Shift-[hot spot number] |
Jump to a hot spot | VO-[hot spot number] |
Hear a description of a hot spot | VO-Command-[hot spot number] |
Toggles watching a hot spot for changes | VO-Command-Shift-[hot spot number] |
Open the Hot Spot Chooser | VO-Shift-X |
Move to the next hot spot | VO-Right Brace |
Move to the previous hot spot | VO-Left Brace |
Create a window spot | VO-Command-Shift-Right Brace |
Remove a window spot | VO-Command-Shift-Left Brace |
Move to the next window spot (automatically created spots and spots you created) | VO-Right Bracket |
Move to the previous window spot (automatically created spots and spots you created) | VO-Left Bracket |
Move to the next window spot (only spots you created) | VO-Command-Right Bracket |
Move to the previous window spot (only spots you created) | VO-Command-Left Bracket |
Jump back to a parent folder | VO-Command-Backslash |
Jump to the sort button in a column header in a table | VO-Vertical Line If the table also contains a row header, VoiceOver displays a menu where you choose a column or row header. Press VO-Right Arrow until you hear the header you want, then press the Space bar. |
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