Search a Folder in Outlook 2007 - NVDA - JAWS - Keyboard

Searching a Folder in Outlook 2007

At work we are mainly using Office 2007 and one of the questions I am frequently asked is "how do I search my Inbox in Outlook 2007?" Now you might find that pretty strange - after all, isn't locating the right information a pretty fundamental and key thing that you'd want to do in Outlook? But it never fails to amaze me how many people struggle on trying to locate stuff manually, often moving through lists of emails one at a time to find what they are looking for.

The basic per-folder search in Outlook is actually a relatively straightforward and clean process and I am going to run through it here - it's a powerful tool to add to your repertoire, so it makes sense to give it a whirl at least. By the way, this all works fine with NVDA and JAWS.

Run a Basic Search in Your Inbox

1. Open Outlook 2007 and make sure focus is somewhere in your list of Inbox emails.
2. Press the keystroke of CONTROL E, focus will move to an edit field. Type in your search criteria.
3. As you type your search criteria, the list of items in the current folder is dynamically filtered to show only the matches for what you are typing in.
4. With your search criteria complete, press F6 (or press TAB several times) to put focus into the list of matched items.

NOTE: A quick way of checking how many matches you have for your search is to read the status line information which contains an item count. So, when you have run a search, press INSERT PAGE DOWN if you are using JAWS or INSERT END if you are rolling NVDA to read the status bar information. Notice how the item count is less than in your normal unfiltered folder.

5. In your filtered list of items, use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to browse the matches for your search and locate your required information. That's it!

Clear the Search Filter for the Current Folder

1. When you have finished accessing the information you require, press CONTROL E to move back to the Search edit field.
2. Press TAB to move to the Clear Search button and press the SPACEBAR to activate. Your list of items in the folder will now return to normal.
3. If necessary, you can check the item list by reading the status bar directly, using the relevant JAWS or NVDA keystrokes I mentioned earlier.

Remember that you can use this Search feature across all of the folder functions in Outlook. So, try using it to locate specific contacts or tasks - I'm sure that after a bit of time you'll wonder just how you managed without it!

VoiceOver - iOS - iPad - Posting to Facebook Using Siri

Using Siri For Short Updates in Facebook

Did you know that you can easily use Siri to post short Facebook updates directly to your wall? Doing this is relatively straightforward when you use VoiceOver, this is how:

1. For this feature to work, you need to ensure that your Facebook app knows about your account details and that you are logged in. So, navigate to the main Settings area and locate the Facebook app entry. Complete the relevant information fields such as your Facebook account email address and the appropriate password. You may also want to fine tune other settings, switching off the access to your Calendar and Contacts apps and, via the Facebook app Settings option, turning off the Auto-play video option.
2. Before you try and post an update, if you have just input your details, go into the Facebook app and ensure that you are logged in fine and that what you typed in is correct and so on. When you confirm this you can leave the app and go back to the Home screen
3. Now, think about what you want to say then hold the Home button in on the iPad or iPhone to eventually launch Siri.
4. Use the voice command "Post to Facebook" then continue to dictate your short update text.
5. When you stop reading (or let go of the Home button) Siri will pipe up and work with VoiceOver to read what you are going to post back to you. You will then be given the option of agreeing to post the update or not and this is also done by using voice, so you can say either "yes" to post or "no" to cancel.
6. Now check your update in Facebook - that's it!

Deleting Apps - VoiceOver - iOS V8.1

Deleting an App on iOS with VoiceOver

Sooner or later, the myriad apps you have downloaded to your iOS device are going to need a bit of a spring clean. We are all used to a bit of clutter, but there does come a time when all of those free "great idea at the time" apps become a drain on capacity. But, the problem is, just how exactly do you delete those apps gathering dust when you are using VoiceOver? This is how:

1. Locate the individual app on your iOS device in your usual manner. Use the THREE FINGER SWIPE RIGHT and LEFT to move between the Home screen pages where necessary.
2. With focus on the specific app to delete, perform a sharp SINGLE FINGER DOUBLE TAP - but, on the second tap, keep your finger on the screen.
3. If the gesture has been correctly recognised, VoiceOver will say "moving ". If you hear this then you are in the correct edit mode but, if you do not hear this message, try the gesture again - it can be tricky!
4. In this edit mode, use a SINGLE FINGER DOUBLE TAP gesture to delete the targeted app. Focus will then move to a small message box asking you to confirm the action, so use your usual gestures to choose Delete or Cancel as appropriate.
5. When you have done this, press the Home button to leave the edit mode and you are done!

Okay, now there is no excuse for not having even the world's smallest springclean on your device. Besides, the sooner there is some extra space the sooner it can be filled again!

Until next time - have fun!

Reading An Accessible PDF - Dolphin Guide

Reading an Accessible PDF with Dolphin Guide

Dolphin Guide is an incredibly popular piece of AT, useful for anyone who wants to enjoy the feature benefits of a Windows PC without the accompanying headaches and complexity. My short post here is about how to approach reading an accessible PDF saved on your PC with Dolphin Guide. This is a pretty straightforward task (given a PDF document that plays ball of course but that's a whole other blog post) so let's just get on with it...

1. In the Main Menu press the 2 key to open the Letters and Documents Menu.

In the Letters and Documents Menu, press number 5 to launch the Open a PDF Document option.

2. The file navigator will open, so use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to move to the appropriate location (such as "My Documents") and locate the relevant PDF document.
3. Pressing ENTER on the specific PDF will launch it and the reading will begin. If there is a problem with the file, in that Guide cannot read it, the speech output will indicate this and take you back to the Main Menu.
4. When you are reading the PDF you can use the keystroke of F5 or CONTROL M to switch between the different reading/viewing modes should you wish to. The three modes are as follows:
• Line by Line Mode: The default mode is to read one line at a time using the DOWN and UP ARROW keys. To read everything from the cursor on you can press F8.
• Paragraph Mode: Reads one paragraph at a time using the UP and DOWN ARROW keys. Read everything from the cursor onwards using F8.
• Magnify Only Mode: Use F12 to increase magnification and CONTROL F12 to decrease magnification of the document. Use the ARROW keys to move around the document when it is too big to fit on one screen.
5. Move between pages using PAGE DOWN and PAGE UP then, when you have finished reading, press the ESCAPE key to return to the Main Menu in Dolphin Guide.

Dolphin Guide is a great software tool, you can find more about it in the following little YouTube video:

Creating Recurring Appointments - Outlook 2007 - Keyboard

Creating a Recurring Appointment in Outlook 2007

A recurring appointment is a meeting or event that occurs on a daily, weekly, monthly or even annual basis. Maybe it's a team meeting every Monday - or maybe you have a specific task to be undertaken at the same time each day? In these instances and more a recurring appointment is the best solution.

In this post I am going to walk through how you create an example recurring daily task event in Outlook 2007 using keystrokes.

Creating a Recurring Appointment

1. Open MS Outlook 2007 and create a new appointment item using CONTROL SHIFT A. You can also create a recurring appointment by:
   • Pressing ALT F to open the File menu, moving to the New submenu and choosing the Appointment option there.

   Alternatively, you can:

   • Press CONTROL 2 to move focus to the Calendar then press CONTROL N to create a new item (which will be an appointment if you are focused in your Calendar.)
2. With the new appointment open, focus will be in the Subject edit field so type in an example subject line there for now. (As a general rule of thumb, subject lines need to be short and to the point but not so cryptic that you can't figure out what the bleep the appointment is for later on.)
3. Press the TAB key to move to the Location edit combo box and either type in a new location or choose a previous location from the list.
4. Press the TAB key again to move to the Start Time Date field and type in a test example date using the format: DD/MM/YYYY.
5. TAB to the Start Time edit field and enter the appropriate time in 24 hour notation.
6. Continue onwards and complete the End Date and Time fields in a similar manner.
7. Another press of the TAB key will move focus to the All Day Event checkbox and you can leave this unchecked. That said, if your recurring event is going to last the whole day, then you would check this checkbox using the SPACEBAR.
8. With the details of the first model appointment or event in place it is time to add the pattern of recurrence so first you need to move to the upper ribbon using the ALT key.
9. If the Appointment tab is not already selected then use the LEFT or RIGHT ARROW keys to move there. With the Appointment tab selected, press the DOWN ARROW to move to the lower ribbon.
10. Now press TAB to move all the way along to the Recurrence button in the Options Group box. Press SPACEBAR to activate the button.

11. Focus will now be in the Appointment Recurrence dialog box which is visually split into three sections, these are:
• Appointment time - Start, End and Duration.
• Recurrence pattern - Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly.
• Range of recurrence - No end date, End after X occurrences or End By
12. Press the TAB key to move the cursor through the fields and get a feel for how the options are structured and laid out.
13. After you have explored for a bit, move the cursor back to the Start: field and check the details in there - the value should be what you typed in to the appointment item when you created it. Press TAB to move to the End field also and again check the details. Another press of the TAB key will put focus on the Duration field and this should give you the total time for the appointment automatically.
14. With all of the Appointment Time details set (they should have all been pulled through from the appointment correctly anyway) you can TAB to the Recurrent Pattern radio buttons. The default option on focus is normally "Weekly" and from there you can press the UP and DOWN arrow to change to Daily, Monthly or even Yearly.

NOTE:If you are using a screenreader you may hear some extra feedback as you move, this is because when you focus on a new radio button the options appropriate to your new choice appear on the right. For example, if you choose the "Daily" radio button then you can TAB over to two further radio buttons, but if you choose "Weekly" then you can TAB over to a series of checkboxes, one for each day.

15. The Recurrent Pattern radio buttons also have some corresponding keystrokes that you can use to activate the radio button directly. These individual keystrokes are as follows:
• Daily is ALT D
• Weekly is ALT W
• Monthly is ALT M
• Yearly is ALT Y
16. Choose the correct setting for the scenario you are dealing with then press TAB to move and set the further options.
17. When you have set the Recurrence Pattern press the TAB key to move to the Start field and check the date there. This should already be correct for the appointment you have set but if it isn't you can manually change it. Note that this Start edit field has a direct keystroke of ALT S.
18. Press TAB to move away from the Start edit field. Focus will now be on the first of three radio button choices which determine how long the recurrence pattern is to run for. Use the DOWN and UP ARROW to move focus between the three radio buttons. The default choice is the first option, labelled No End Date, leaving this set means that the recurrence is ongoing. The second radio button option - labelled End After - lets you set a maximum number of occurrences after which the pattern ceases. The final option, End by, simply stops the recurrence when the date - set in the associated edit field - is reached.
19. When you have chosen appropriately for your own event or appointment, TAB to the OK button. Your recurring appointment is good to go!

Some Example Recurring Appointments

Okay, not so fast! Let's get more of a feel for how some of these options work by throwing a few real world scenario's into the mix. We start with a fairly common example, the weekly team huddle meeting:

Creating a Weekly Monday Morning Meeting (Ongoing)

1. Press CONTROL SHIFT A to create a new appointment.
2. Complete the basic appointment information - Subject, Location, Start Date and Time, Finish Date and Time.
3. Press ALT to the upper ribbon, choose the Appointment tab using the RIGHT and LEFT ARROW keys as necessary.
4. DOWN ARROW to the Appointment tab lower ribbon and press the TAB key to move along to the Recurrence button. Press the SPACEBAR to activate this.
5. In the Appointment Recurrence dialog box, press ALT W to select the Weekly recurrence pattern radio button.
6. Press TAB to move to the Recur edit field and ensure that it is set to 1 - doing this ensures that the event occurs every week. (However, if the team meeting was every two weeks you would set this to 2.)
7. TAB to the day checkboxes and press SPACEBAR to check the option associated with Monday.
8. TAB again or press ALT S to move to the second Start field and check the Start date is correct.
9. Press TAB again to the No End Date radio button - this is the option I want - so I TAB a few times more until I have focus on the OK button. SPACEBAR to confirm and focus goes back to the main appointment screen.
10. Press ALT S to save the recurring appointment after a final check. We're done here!

Creating a Daily Event, From Now to a Specific Date.

1. Follow the above steps to the Appointment Recurrence dialog box.
2. Press ALT D to move to and activate the Daily recurrence pattern radio button.
3. Press the TAB key and focus will move to the first of two radio buttons. Press the DOWN ARROW to move to and select the Every Weekday radio button.
4. Move to the second Start field using the TAB key or by pressing ALT S. Press TAB to move to the associated radio buttons and press the DOWN ARROW to the third radio button option labelled End By.
5. TAB twice to move to the edit field associated with this radio button and change the date as necessary.
6. TAB to the OK button and press the SPACEBAR.
7. Back in the main appointment dialog box, save your appointment after a final check through with ALT S. We're done here too!

Creating a Monthly Team Meeting, on the third Thursday (Ongoing)

1. Follow the same steps as previous to the Appointment Recurrence dialog box.
2. Press ALT M to move to and activate the monthly radio button.
3. Press TAB to the Day radio button then DOWN ARROW to focus on the second of the two radio buttons. The specific keystroke for this is ALT E.
4. Press TAB three times to focus on a combo box, tap letter T to change this setting to show "third".
5. TAB once more to the next combo, again tap the letter T until the value shows "Thursday".
6. TAB to the edit field and ensure it contains the value of 1.
7. TAB to the second Start edit field or use ALT S. From there, TAB to the No End Date radio button and check that it is selected.
8. Finish up by pressing TAB to move to the OK button, press SPACEBAR then save the main now recurring appointment using ALT S.

Creating recurring appointments can be a bit quirky at times but I hope these steps give you a few more keyboard strategies to help make the process a bit easier.

Have fun!

Creating a Pie Chart - Excel 2007 - JAWS V15 - Percentage Formatting

Creating a Simple Pie Chart in Excel Using JAWS

What better way to start 2015 than with a short piece on how to quickly create a simple pie chart in Excel 2007 using JAWS. (Well, okay, I can think of more exciting ways but let's run with it anyway.)

Creating Some Example Data in Excel

First, we need some data to work with in Excel that is suitable to use for a pie chart. Maybe you already have something in mind but if you haven't let's quickly get some figures in a spreadsheet. I am going to create a pie chart based on data that is in non-contiguous columns, by doing this it means we have to work in a slightly funky way to select the right data. I could have gone for an easier columns side by side example but if there is one thing that real world spreadsheet experience teaches us it is that data is not always perfectly formatted and structured for whatever you need to do. So I'm going to show you a nifty way of dealing with this type of situation quickly.

The table of data I am going to create is as follows and the first heading "Items" is in cell A1. I'm going to leave the cells under the Percentage heading blank for now also as I'll be working them out shortly:

Items	Sales	Percentage
Books	155
DVDs	125
Magazines	90
Totals

With the basic figures in place I want to work out the sales total figure and the percentage values in column C - time for a little bit of arithmetic! First, the sales total, this needs to go in cell B5 and, with focus on that cell, I use ALT EQUALS to create an Autosum. JAWS indicates the range details (in this case, B2 to B4) and, as this is correct, I press the ENTER key to confirm it.

With a total figure in cell B5, I can work out the individual percentage column values now with reference to this cell. I move the cursor to C2, type in the following formula and press ENTER:

=B2/$B$5
(equals B 2 forward slash dollar sign B dollar sign 5)

The cell is now showing a decimal value - 0.418918919 - not a percentage, though we'll sort this out soon. The next thing to do though is to apply this formula to cells C3 and C4. So, I press CONTROL C to copy the content in cell C2 and paste it in to cells C3 and C4. Column C now contains the following example data:

Percentage
0.418918919
0.337837838
0.243243243

Now I need to format the cells and transform the three decimal figures into percentages. First, I use the SHIFT ARROW key technique to highlight the three cells (C2 to C4) containing the values to be transformed.

With the correct range of cells highlighted I use the ALT key to go to the upper ribbon, then navigate to the Home tab and DOWN ARROW to the lower ribbon. Now I TAB through the commands until I get to the Number Format edit combo in the Number Group Box. Initially, this combo box displays the value of "General" so I use ALT DOWN ARROW to expand the drop down list and DOWN ARROW to move to the "Percentage" option. I press the ENTER key to confirm what I have done - the selected cells are now automatically formatted as percentage values.

Having done all this I save my workbook. I am now ready to start creating a pie chart using some of this data.

Creating a Simple Pie Chart

Pie charts are extremely effective with the right type of data. If you have gone through the previous steps for example, you will have a bunch of items in a spreadsheet with some corresponding sales figures expressed as percentage values - this is the kind of data that is ideal for a pie chart. So, let's walk through the steps of creating and reading a pie chart that shows the percentage information:

1. The first step is to ensure you have your relevant data selected. In my example, I need to select the appropriate blocks of cells in columns A and C. As the cells are non-contiguous a quick way of doing this is actually via the Go to a Cell dialog box. Make a mental note of the ranges required, in my case here I need to remember the ranges A2 to A4 and C2 to C4 and then press CONTROL G. In the Go to a Cell dialog box, I type in the ranges as follows:

A2:A4, C2:C4
(A 2 colon comma C 2 colon C 4)

2. Press the ENTER key to confirm the ranges and close the Go To... dialog box. JAWS will echo that two distinct ranges are highlighted and you can always recheck this if you feel it is necessary by using the JAWS keystroke of INSERT SHIFT DOWN ARROW.
3. Press the ALT key to move to the upper ribbon and move to the Insert tab using the LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys as necessary. Press the DOWN ARROW to focus in the lower ribbon and move along the commands until you locate the Pie button in the Charts Group Box.
4. With focus on the Pie button, press the SPACEBAR to open the associated drop down list and use the DOWN ARROW to focus on the first 2D option. Press the ENTER key to confirm your choice. (By the way, if you are feeling a bit more adventurous, then by all means navigate to one of the 3D formats and choose that!)
5. A pie chart will now be introduced to your worksheet and you should initially have focus on this, allowing you to read the main data. At this point, the safest option is to press the ESCAPE key to move focus away from the chart and back into the main worksheet area. (Remember that the chart object itself cannot be manually navigated to, in other words you can't simply arrow to the object to put focus on it.
6. Having moved away from the chart, you can automatically focus back on it using the JAWS keystroke of CONTROL SHIFT O to list the objects in the current worksheet. From the list, choose the relevant object by pressing the ENTER key. Focus will now move directly to the chosen object, allowing you to read it with the formal JAWS chart reading keystroke of INSERT CONTROL C. (Remember to drop focus back to your worksheet after reading the chart by using the ESCAPE key.)

7. Something I tend to do is have my chart sitting in a separate worksheet. This is pretty easy to achieve, just select your chart via the CONTROL SHIFT O list, cut it to the clipboard with CONTROL X, move to another worksheet using CONTROL PAGE UP or DOWN, locate the destination cell you want, then paste the chart in to the new location with CONTROL V.
8. Final thing - remember to save your work!

Practice, practice, practice and eventually you will really be comfortable with creating and reading charts in Excel. You might even want to go back through some of your older workbooks and see if there is any data in those that you can play around with and create some additional charts.

And that's it! Have fun with JAWS and charts in Excel and, yes, I promise, next time we'll do something a bit more exciting... LOL)