External Keyboards and QuickNav
With QuickNav, you can navigate apps and webpages using only the arrow keys, navigate webpages using single keys, and navigate apps and webpages using the QuickNav Rotor.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier. See Use the VoiceOver modifier.
Turn QuickNav On or Off
Press the Left and Right Arrow keys at the same time to toggle QuickNav mode on and off.
If you de-selected the option to toggle QuickNav using the arrow keys in the QuickNav Commander in VoiceOver Utility, this command will not work. Instead, press VO-H-H to open the Commands menu, type "quick" to search for the Toggle Quick Nav On or Off command, then select it.
Navigate apps and webpages using arrows
To navigate some items, such as a table of contents with different levels, you must first interact with it.
Start interacting with an item: Press the Right Arrow and Down Arrow keys at the same time.
Stop interacting with an item: Press the Left Arrow and Down Arrow keys at the same time.
Move left, right, up, or down on the screen: Press an arrow key.
To click the item in the VoiceOver cursor: Press the Down Arrow and Up Arrow keys at the same time.
Navigate webpages using single keys
Note: You must first turn on single-key webpage navigation in VoiceOver Utility or by pressing VO + Q (press the keys again to turn off single-key webpage navigation).
Press single keys to navigate webpages. For example, press lower case b or upper case B to navigate to the next or previous button, or press 1 or ! to navigate to the next or previous Heading 1.
Navigate apps and webpages using the QuickNav Rotor
You can use the QuickNav Rotor to navigate items using categories that are based on the current context. For example, in a Mail message, you can use the QuickNav Rotor to navigate a message by sentence or to move between the message headers and body, or move between messages.
Open the QuickNav rotor: Press the Left and Up Arrow or the Right and Up Arrow.
Go to the next category (such as Characters): Press the Right and Up Arrow.
Go to the previous category (such as Content Chooser): Press the Left and Up Arrow.
Navigate items in the current category: Press the Up or Down Arrow key. The VoiceOver cursor moves as you navigate items.
The Content Chooser category is especially useful for previewing messages in Mail. When the VoiceOver cursor is in a message preview, press the QuickNav keys to go to the Content Chooser category, then press the Up or Down Arrow key. The VoiceOver cursor remains in the message preview as you move up and down in the messages list, making it possible to hear the email messages without having to first navigate to them!
When QuickNav is on, the arrow and single-key commands are included in the Commands menu.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Turn Quick Nav on or off | Left Arrow + Right Arrow |
| Select the next or previous item | Right Arrow or Left Arrow |
| Tap an item | Up Arrow-Down Arrow |
| Select the next or previous item specified by the rotor | Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
| Select the first or last item | Control-Up Arrow or Control-Down Arrow |
| Scroll up, down, left, or right | Option-Up Arrow, Option-Down Arrow, Option-Left Arrow, or Option-Right Arrow |
Single-key Quick Nav for web browsing
To navigate a webpage quickly, turn on Quick Nav (VO + Q), then press keys on the keyboard to navigate to specific item types, such as headings or links. To move to the previous item, hold the Shift key as you press a key for the item type.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Heading | H |
| Link | L |
| Text Field | R |
| Button | B |
| Form Control | C |
| Image | I |
| Table | T |
| Static Text | S |
| AIRA Landmark | W |
| List | X |
| Item of the Same Type | M |
| Level 1 heading | 1 |
| Level 2 heading | 2 |
| Level 3 heading | 3 |
| Level 4 heading | 4 |
| Level 5 heading | 5 |
| Level 6 heading | 6 |