Correcting Spelling Mistakes - JAWS V15 - Quick Keys - MS Word 2007

Correcting Spelling Mistakes Using Quick Keys

Normally there's a bunch of Office or Windows keystrokes that you end up knowing off by heart and F7 - the hotkey to launch the standard spell-checker in MS Word - is certainly one of that bunch. But, did you know that you can also check for spelling mistakes in your document using JAWS quick keys? Read on.

Quick Key Mode

The JAWS quick key mode in MS Word allows you to approach a Word document in the same way that you might approach a website. So, in JAWS you can do things like tap letter H to go to the next heading in a webpage, letter E to go to the next edit field, B for next button and so on. Imagine being able to do something similar but for functions more appropriate for MS Word. In this post, I'm going to cover using quick key mode to move through any misspellings in the current document:

1. Open a new Word document and type in a few lines of text, making sure to create some mistakes in the text!
2. Use CONTROL HOME to move to the top of the file.
3. Switch the JAWS quick key mode on in MS Word with INSERT Z. JAWS will echo "quick keys on".
4. With quick key mode active, use the single letter key of "M" to move focus to the first "misspelling" in the page. JAWS will read the misspelled word, echo each individual letter and then read the line of text for the word.
5. As the PC cursor physically moves to the location of the error it is reading you can now turn the quick key mode off (INSERT Z again) and correct the error.
6. To move on to the next error, enter quick key mode in the usual way and press "M" again from your current position. That's it!

So, if you like working with JAWS quick keys then this might be a more appropriate route for you - especially if, for whatever reason, you just don't get on with the standard spellchecker.

Spelling as you Type Setting

Maybe you tried the above and heard the message from JAWS indicating that because "spelling as you type is disabled" the quick key option is not available. In this case, you will need to enable the "spelling as you type" option in the MS Word settings area. (This is the setting that pops a wavy red line under any spelling mistake on screen in case you're wondering.) To follow is the steps for activating/deactivating this setting in Word 2007, bear in mind that with a different version you may need to adjust them slightly:

1. Open the Office button menu using ALT F.
2. TAB or SHIFT TAB to the Word options button or, alternatively, tap the hotkey of "I" to launch Word options directly.
3. Focus will be in a list of pages, such as "Popular", "Display" and "Proofing". Press DOWN ARROW to move to "Proofing" then TAB to move from the heading to the associated options. (Specifcially, initial focus will be on an "autocorrect options" button.)
4. While you can TAB your way through the myriad checkboxes in this page, it is quicker to simply use ALT P to move focus to the "Check Spelling as you Type" checkbox directly. Use the SPACEBAR to toggle the setting on and off as required.
5. With the option set, TAB to the OK button and use SPACEBAR to activate. You're good to go!

Until next time, have fun with quick keys!