Using the VoiceOver Rotor
You can use the VoiceOver Rotor to change how the VoiceOver cursor moves on the screen.
On the Rotor you can adjust the VoiceOver volume or speaking rate, navigate by Heading, Link, Button, etc.. on a web page, select input methods such as Braille Screen Input or Handwriting, change the text navigation style, and much more. It is really the Swiss army knife of the screen reader world.
When you work in an app or browse a webpage, you can use the VoiceOver rotor to navigate directly to an item in an app window or a webpage. For example, you can go to an email message in Mail or a webpage heading or link.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier.
Open the VoiceOver rotor by pressing VO + U.
Navigate the lists using the Right Arrow or Left Arrow key until you hear the list you want, such as Window Spots, Headings, or Audio Graphs.
The lists available in the rotor depend on the content available in the app or webpage, and the items you chose to include in the rotor using VoiceOver Utility.
The Content Chooser
The Content Chooser provides quick access to content lists in an app. For example, in Mail the Content Chooser lists the messages shown in the messages list. In Week view in the Calendar, it shows the number of events for each day.
Navigate the items in the list using the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key until you find the item you want.
In most lists, you can begin typing the name of an item to narrow the list to only items that contain those letters.
For example, in the Headings list, you can type the heading level (such as 3) to narrow the list to only headings of that level.
- To show all items in a list again, press the Delete key.
- To hear an item’s help tag, if available, press VO + Shift + H.
- To hear an item’s internet address, if applicable, press VO + Shift + U.
- If you don’t find the item you want, press the Escape key or Fn + Tab to exit the VoiceOver rotor without making a selection.
- Press Return or the Space bar to select the item and jump to it.
- The VoiceOver rotor closes.
You can set options in VoiceOver Utility to customize the items shown in the VoiceOver rotor when viewing webpages.
Use the VoiceOver Rotor
You can open the VoiceOver Rotor by pressing the CMD + VO + Right or Left Arrows or by pressing the Up Arrow + Right or Left Arrows when QuickNav is turned on.
VoiceOver speaks the rotor setting as you change the selection, keep changing to hear more settings. Continue pressing until you hear the rotor selection you are looking for and release the keys.
The available rotor settings and their effects depend on what you're doing, it is contextual.
This means different options will be available in different places. For example, you can choose Headings when you are browsing a webpage and then swipe down or up to move the VoiceOver cursor to the next or previous heading.
Customize the VoiceOver Rotor
Go to VoiceOver Utility / Web / Web Rotor.
Use the Web Rotor pane of the Web category in VoiceOver Utility to specify which items to include, and in what order, in the VoiceOver rotor when viewing webpages.
Use the list of items you can include in the VoiceOver rotor.
To include an item, select the checkbox. To exclude an item, deselect the checkbox.
You can use Command + Up Arrow and Command + Down Arrow to reorder items in the list so the items you use most appear first in the VoiceOver rotor.