New Features in both ZoomText 2019 AND Fusion 2019
Faster Startup with Grace Period Authorization
Fusion 2019 and ZoomText 2019 introduce a new concept to help ease the delay in response when Fusion and ZoomText first launch and look for authorization. In prior versions, Fusion and ZoomText would not fully start until proper authorization was found. Since Authorization can include searching for a network license, the amount of time before Fusion or ZoomText started speaking could be significant. While it is not possible to speed up this period directly, the authorization process will now be completed simultaneously to startup. As Fusion and ZoomText search for authorization, it enters a new “grace period” authorization state which provides limited functionality, similar to what is available on the logon screen, so you can use speech and braille while authorization discovery takes place. Once the authorization check has finished, Fusion and ZoomText then use the correct feature set based on the license.
Favorite Zoom Levels
Fusion 2019 and ZoomText 2019
allow you to zoom in and out faster using the new
“Favorite Zoom Levels” feature. With Favorite Zoom
Levels, you select the levels that are useful to you and
unselect the levels that are not.
You can enable and select Favorite Zoom Levels by doing
the following:
- On the Magnifier toolbar tab, select the Zoom Windows button, which appears in the lower-right corner of the Zoom Windows group.
- Select the Magnification tab.
- In the Use these zoom levels combo box, choose Favorite Zoom Levels Only.
- Navigate to the Favorite Zoom Levels list box. Check the levels that you want to use and uncheck the levels you do not want to use.
- Click OK.
When Favorite Zoom Levels are enabled, you can zoom in and out using the standard Zoom In and Zoom Out commands, mouse wheel zooming, or the Zoom Level spinbox on the Magnifier toolbar.
Improved Remote Desktop Support in Fusion
When a Fusion installation is activated with a license that includes the Remote Desktop Add-on; Fusion, ZoomText and JAWS can be used in remote sessions running under Citrix XenDesktop/XenApps or Windows Remote Desktop Connection. The following improvements ad fixes have been made in ZoomText’s Remote Desktop Support.
- After exiting Fusion or ZoomText on the client machine, if Fusion or ZoomText were still running on the server machine the server machine could become unstable. This instability could include screen corruption and inability to control and exit Fusion on the server machine. This problem has been fixed.
- When the client and server instances of Fusion or ZoomText were both configured to use the Overlay zoom window, both Overlay windows would be simultaneously displayed. Only the Overlay window for the active desktop is now displayed.
- When using AppReader on the server machine, extraneous text would be spoken at the end of each spoken sentence. The extraneous text is no longer spoken.
- When adjusting Fusion settings on the server machine, some adjustments would not take effect. These settings are now properly applied.
- When starting AppReader Text View in an instance of Microsoft Word running on the server machine, extra text and menus would appear on top over the Text View. This problem no longer occurs.
- When running Microsoft Word on the server machine, the instance of ZoomText running on the client would not track the text cursor in Word. The Word text cursor is now reliably tracked.
New Features in ZoomText 2019
Home Annual License
Home Annual Licenses for ZoomText Magnifier/Reader are now available to customers in the United States for $80 per year. The Home Annual License is available for purchase in Freedom Scientific’s online store.
Improvements in Chrome and Firefox
- In Chrome and Firefox, the text cursor and program focus are now tracked, highlighted and echoed with greater accuracy and reliability.
- In Chrome and Firefox, AppReader’s Next Paragraph command (UP arrow) and Previous Paragraph command (DOWN arrow) are now working.
- In Chrome and Firefox, Mouse Echo is now working in more areas.
Improvements in Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 365
- In Word documents, AppReader now skips over text that is marked as deleted.
- In Word documents, startup time for AppReader Text View is now 2 seconds or less.
- In Word documents, ZoomText now reliably tracks to the text cursor when the document receives focus.
- In Word’s Review pane, ZoomText now displays a Cursor Enhancement on the text cursor.
- In Office applications, ZoomText now reliably tracks to the program focus after closing menus and dialog boxes.
- In Office applications, ZoomText now saves and applies Application Settings reliably.
- In Outlook, when opening email ZoomText would announce the email differently depending on how the email was opened, that is, by using the mouse or using the keyboard. The announcement of email is now consistent regardless of how the email is opened.
Improvements in Adobe Reader DC
- In Adobe Reader, AppReader’s Next Page and Previous Page commands are now working. Press PAGE DOWN to navigate to the next page and PAGE UP to navigate to the previous page.
Improvements in Skype
- In Skype, the text cursor and program focus are now tracked, highlighted and echoed with improved accuracy and reliability.
- In Skype, Mouse Echo now reads the item under the pointer in Skype’s Suggested list of contacts.
Improvements in WordPad
- In WordPad, AppReader start up and navigation is much faster and more responsive. AppReader also highlights the complete spoken word.
Improvements in Twitter PWA
- In the Twitter Progressive Web App for Windows 10 (also known as Twitter PWA), ZoomText now tracks and echoes the text cursor when typing a tweet.
Support for Enhanced Vision’s Transformer Camera and Software
- Enhanced Vision’s Transformer camera and software can now be used with ZoomText’s Camera feature.
Improved Remote Desktop Support in ZoomText
When installed as part of a Fusion product that includes the Remote Desktop Add-on, ZoomText can be used in remote sessions running under Citrix XenDesktop/XenApps or Windows Remote Desktop Connection. The following improvements ad fixes have been made in ZoomText’s Remote Desktop Support.
- All of ZoomText reading features now work in the instance of ZoomText that is running on the server machine.
- The voice used by the instance of ZoomText running on the server machine is now determined by the voice selected in the instance of ZoomText running on the client machine. Note: This requires that the selected voice is installed on both the client and server machines.
- When using AppReader in an application running on the server machine, if you paused AppReader in the middle of a line of text and then resumed reading, AppReader would start reading at the beginning of the line of text instead of where reading was paused. AppReader now resumes reading at the word where reading was paused.
- When using AppReader in applications running on the server machine, if you pressed the Tab key to switch between App View and Text View while AppReader was reading, the view would switch but reading would pause. AppReader now continues reading when switching between App View and Text View.
- In a remote desktop session, if ZoomText was exited and restarted on the client machine, the instance of ZoomText running on the client machine would fail to connect with the instance of ZoomText running on the server. The instances of ZoomText running on the client and server machines now reliably reconnect.
- Application Settings a now be saved and applied in the instance of ZoomText and applications running on the server machine.
Miscellaneous Improvements and Fixes
- In list views, ZoomText now announces the correct column title when navigating across the columns for each line item.
- On certain systems, when starting ZoomText the screen would turn black. This problem was related to specific graphics cards and drivers. This problem has been fixed.
- In Windows 10, when the Windows Settings dialog was open, ZoomText’s Mouse Echo feature would not work. This problem has been fixed.
- On multiple monitor systems, ZoomText would sometimes announce the incorrect Zoom Level. This problem has been fixed.
- On multiple monitor systems, when running in the Windows 10 Lock Screen, using the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands would cause ZoomText to restart. This problem has been fixed.
- On a multiple monitor system, when using ZoomText’s Next Sentence and Previous Sentence text reading commands, ZoomText would erroneously switch the active window between monitors. This problem has been fixed.
- In CHM help systems, ZoomText Focus Enhancements now follow the focus when navigating between links in Help topics.
- In CHM help systems, when expanding and collapsing books in the table of contents, ZoomText now announces the name of the book and the expanded or collapsed state.
- .TMP files are no longer left behind in the C:\users\{user}\Music folder when using the ZoomText Recorder.
New Features in Fusion 2019
Screen Shade for Additional Privacy
First introduced in JAWS 2018 release, we have added this feature now for Fusion 2019. For additional privacy, use the Fusion Screen Shade to prevent others from seeing what you are typing or reading by turning the screen black. This feature is available in Windows 10 and Windows 8.
To turn on the Screen Shade, press INSERT+SPACEBAR followed by the F11 key, or triple tap with three fingers on a touch screen. Alternatively, Screen Shade can be toggled on or off using Quick Settings (INSERT+V). Once enabled, the contents of your screen can no longer be seen. The Screen Shade remains active until toggled back off, or Fusion is restarted. Screen Shade can also be turned off by doing a right mouse click.
Note: Screen Shade is strictly a privacy feature and will not increase the battery life on a laptop or tablet.
Separation of Office Scripts
The JAWS scripts used as part of Fusion for Microsoft Office support for Word, Outlook, and Excel have been separated into different script sets which now load depending on the version of Office currently running. This makes it much easier to make continued improvements to Office 365 support going forward without the risk of breaking Fusion functionality in previous versions of Office for users who still rely on these older versions. If you are running Office 2016 or Office 365, and the version number includes a build number of build 10000 or higher, the newly created Office settings for Word, Outlook, and Excel should be loaded when you run those applications. If you are running earlier Office versions, Fusion should load the Word Classic, Outlook Classic, or Excel Classic settings.
To verify the version and build number of office you are using, press CTRL+INSERT+V. This command will also indicate if you are running a retail or subscription version of Office. To verify which Fusion settings are loaded, press INSERT+Q.
Improved Performance in Office 365 Applications
With the changes made to separate the Office 365 support from the scripts for previous Office versions, we are now able to take advantage of more UIA functionality provided by Microsoft. There is also much less decision making that needs to be done in the scripts since there are no longer other office versions to be considered. As a result, users should notice greatly improved performance and responsiveness when using current versions of Word, Excel, and Outlook. A few areas where users may notice increased responsiveness include:
- Navigating large documents in Word that contain a lot of markup such as footnotes, endnotes, comments, tables, and so on.
- Editing data and formulas in Excel.
- Navigating large message folders in Outlook.
For braille users, document spacing and formatting are now more accurately indicated on the braille display. This includes indents, outdents, and tab stops. We have also addressed several issues with the braille cursor not always being positioned where expected, which made it difficult to sometimes edit using braille.
If you are using a braille display with status cells, it will now also be easier to tell if text is centered or right justified by displaying “cj” or “rj” in the first two cells when focused on the line containing the centered or right justified content.
Notification of Spelling Errors in Word 365
JAWS was the first screen reader to introduce Spelling error detection in Microsoft Word around 1998. This feature indicated when the cursor moved into or out of a spelling or grammatical error while navigating and was also able to count the errors on the current line. These errors could also be marked in Braille with dots 7 and 8. However, the ability to count the errors and mark them in braille adversely affected the responsiveness of navigating the document and was turned off by default.
The improvements to this feature in JAWS 2019 and Fusion 2019 now offer the following above and beyond the prior functionality:
- Play a buzzer sound during typing, when you press SPACEBAR after entering a misspelled word.
- Reliably underline errors in braille or count the errors on the line navigated to without any decrease in responsiveness.
- Detect advanced proofing issues, not just spelling and grammar errors.
- Read the error in-line with the text as you navigate by line, similar to how Fusion indicates other text attributes such as bolded text, indicating the error with speech, sound or voice change (using the Speech and Sounds Manager).
To configure whether or not the buzzer sound is heard when SPACEBAR is pressed after mistyping a word, open Quick Settings (INSERT+V) from Word or Outlook and select or clear the “Spelling buzzer on mistyped words” check box. This option is available when using Fusion with Office 365 versions higher than 16.0.10000.
The other Spelling options in the Microsoft Word Quick Settings, “Spelling error detection” and “Grammatical error detection,” currently remain the same. They allow you to cycle Spelling and Grammar options between off, hearing spelling/Grammar errors as you navigate by character, word, line, or Say All, or hearing spelling/Grammar errors plus count.
Speak Character Phonetically After Pause During Character Navigation
As you navigate by character,
Fusion will now speak the phonetic representation of
letters if you pause for a brief period of time. This
enables you to immediately hear a letter spoken
phonetically without the need to perform an additional
command.
By default, Fusion speaks the character phonetically
after a one and a half second pause. To change the
amount of time Fusion waits before the phonetic
announcement, or to completely turn off this feature, do
the following:
- Press INSERT+6 on the number row to open Settings Center.
- If you want changes to only apply to a particular application, select it from the Application list. Otherwise, press CTRL+SHIFT+D to load the default settings file.
- Type “Phonetic.”
- Press DOWN ARROW to move to “When pausing after character navigation, speak character phonetically,” then press SPACEBAR to cycle through the available options.
- Select OK to exit Settings Center.
Fusion also offers a manual option to speak phonetics continuously as you navigate by character. Pressing the Say Character Keystroke (NUMPAD 5) twice quickly toggles this feature on and off. If you are using the manual option for all letters, the pause announcement will not occur.
Audio Ducking Support for Windows 10 version 1803 and Higher
The Fusion Audio Ducking feature is now supported in the Windows 10 Spring 2018 Creators update (version 1803) and higher. Audio Ducking causes the volume of other programs to be lowered while Fusion is speaking. For example, if you are listening to music and Fusion begins talking, the volume of the music will be slightly lowered so you can comfortably hear Fusion and then raised back to its current level when Fusion stops talking.
By default, audio remains at the same level as Fusion speech. To enable Audio Ducking, open the Startup Wizard from the JAWS Help menu and select the “Lower the volume of other programs while Fusion is speaking” checkbox located on the Speech Settings page. Alternatively, Audio Ducking can be turned on through Settings center by doing the following:
- Press INSERT+F2, and select Settings Center.
- Press CTRL+SHIFT+D to load the Fusion default settings.
- In the Search edit box, type “volume” without the quotes.
- Press DOWN ARROW to move to “Lower the volume of other programs while Fusion is speaking” in the filtered search results in the tree view.
- Press SPACEBAR to toggle this option.
You can also press INSERT+SPACEBAR followed by D to quickly toggle Audio Ducking on or off. The current setting will remain in effect until you press the layered keystroke again or restart Fusion.
TAB Key No Longer Echoed
For users who leave Typing Echo enabled, Fusion will no longer announce the TAB key by default. This means you will not constantly hear “ALT+TAB” while switching between applications or hear “TAB” spoken each time as you move through links on web pages.
Note: If you prefer to have the TAB key spoken, or you would like to mute other keys such as SPACEBAR, ENTER, or ESC, open Settings Center and search for “manage key labels”. For more details, refer to this support article on using the Manage Key Labels feature.
Announce Multi-line Edit Fields
Fusion 2019 can now indicate when focus moves into a multi-line edit field. To enable this announcement, select the new “Announce multi-line edit” option located in the Miscellaneous group in Settings Center.
New Support for Grade 1 Braille Input
Fusion now supports grade 1 literary braille input for languages such as English that offer more than one type of braille output. For example, if you open the Braille Translation group in the JAWS Settings Center and set the output to Unified English Braille Grade 1, you will now be able to choose between computer braille or Unified English Braille Grade 1 for input.
Skype
Skype now offers three options on Windows 10.
- You can continue using Skype Classic which is version 7 and works very well with Fusion. Note that Skype Classic is expected to be retired at some point not yet known.
- You can download and install the new Desktop version 8, which is now supported in Fusion. See details below.
- You can install the Universal App from the Microsoft Store. However, this is the least accessible at this time and we recommend you install Skype 7 or 8 for the best support.
For users moving to Skype 8, please be certain to download the version referred to as “Skype for Windows” which works well on Windows 10. Note that the Universal App we are not recommending is referred to as “Skype for Windows 10”.
For those using Skype version 8, we have added some additional keystrokes to help with navigation since these options are not offered in Skype. These commands are:
- Move to the chat entry field: CTRL+INSERT+E
- Move to the chat history list: CTRL+INSERT+Y
- Move to the conversations list: CTRL+INSERT+N
You can also use the Fusion commands INSERT+W and INSERT+H while focused on Skype for a list of most of the keyboard commands you would want to know when using Skype. For a full list from Microsoft, please visit the Skype Hotkeys Web Page.
Tip: You can assign a keystroke such as ALT+CTRL+S to the Skype icon on the Desktop to quickly open Skype to answer an incoming call. If you are in another application and you receive an incoming call alert, you can press your shortcut keystroke to open Skype, press INSERT+UP ARROW or INSERT+TAB to read the caller information, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+P or use TAB to choose Answer or Decline.
Help Improve Freedom Scientific Products
Fusion 2019 includes a new option which allows us to collect anonymous usage information that is generated as you use the software for your daily tasks. This data helps us continue to make improvements as well as more easily locate and address problems. Collected data includes the Fusion version, operating system version, language, country, as well as information on various Fusion settings such as the current synthesizer, braille display, and braille table.
If you choose to participate, no spoken or braille content is collected and no data is shared with any parties outside of Freedom Scientific. The data we collect strictly helps us better understand how our software is being used in the field so we can quickly make enhancements to features being used the most by our customers. If you choose not to participate, then no usage data is collected and transmitted.
You can change your selection at any time by doing the following:
- Press INSERT+6 on the number row to open Settings Center and press CTRL+SHIFT+D to load the default settings file.
- Navigate to Miscellaneous in the tree view and press RIGHT ARROW to expand the group.
- Use the SPACEBAR to select or clear the “Submit Anonymous Usage Data” check box.
- Press ENTER to save your change and close Settings Center.
You can also choose whether or not to participate in this program through the Startup Wizard located in the JAWS Help menu.
Enhancements in both ZoomText 2019.1909.26 and Fusion
2019.1909.11 (September 2019)
The
following changes are in the latest ZoomText 2019 and
Fusion 2019 September releases.
•We continue to make improvements to both Fusion and
ZoomText. You will see better performance when running
these apps on older, less powerful computers.
•For single-user perpetual licenses, Fusion 2019 and
ZoomText 2019 now check to see if an update to your
license is available when the software first starts. For
instance, you recently purchased or renewed a Software
Maintenance Agreement (SMA). You will then have the
option to update the license on your local computer.
This allows you to install major releases in the future
that you are licensed to run without having to go
through the authorization process after the install.
•While browsing the web, Fusion no longer announces
"Clickable" by default as you move to various content.
•You will no longer hear the message "Press JAWS
Key+ALT+R to hear descriptive text" as you navigate
form controls and certain other elements on the web.
•Resolved a reported issue where Fusion and Word would
become unresponsive when attempting to edit a long
comment.
•By default in Word and Outlook, Fusion no longer
announces "ALT SHIFT F10 to adjust Auto
Correction" when you move to something that was auto
corrected previously.
•The AutoCorrect Detection option, previously only
available in the Quick Settings for Word, can now also
be changed in the Quick Settings for Outlook (INSERT+V).
•Fusion no longer announces the count of all objects,
misspellings, grammatical errors, and so on when a
document is opened in Word. This allows documents to
load faster, including very large documents containing a
lot of these items. You can always press INSERT+F1 for
an overview of what the document contains.
•For more Fusion issues related to JAWS speech, see the
JAWS release notes.
Enhancements in both ZoomText 2019.190
7.79
and Fusion 2019.1907.6
(August
2019)
Enhancements in both ZoomText 2019.1906.15 and Fusion 2019.1906.8 (June 2019)
The following items are changes made in
the latest ZoomText 2019 and Fusion 2019 June releases.
You must be logged on as an administrator to install
this software.
• ZoomText performance and stability improvements
improved have been the main focus with the June update.
• Work has been ongoing with respect to UIA and MSAA
refactoring within ZoomText.
• Improvements have been made in the area of properly
unhooking from the system when ZoomText is shut down
each time.
• Startup time of Chrome while ZoomText is running has
improved.
• We have done optimization work in the area of Mouse
movement and Mouse speech to avoid overwhelming
resources
• Resolved issues where Fusion and ZoomText (Utilities
Shortcuts) would remain in Start Menu searches, after
uninstalling the software.
Enhancements in Fusion 2019.1906.8 (June 2019)
The following items are additions to the latest Fusion
2019 June release.
Enhance Support for Accessing Comments and Revisions in Braille
For users who primarily use braille when navigating Word
documents, the following changes greatly improve the
experience when attempting to access various document
features like comments, revisions, footnotes, and
endnotes from the braille display.
When the cursor is on a comment, the letter C is now
displayed in the last status cell. In addition, as with
previous versions, R is still displayed to indicate
revised text, and if Track Changes in Word is configured
to display all markup, the letters i and r will be
displayed to indicate inserted text and the letters d
and r will be displayed to show deleted text.
As you read a document, text to which a comment has been
applied, text revisions, and footnote and endnote
references are underlined using dots 7 and 8 in the main
document pane. Pressing a cursor router twice quickly on
the underlined text displays a flash message containing
details about the comment, revision, footnote or endnote.
For example, if you press a cursor router on a revision
that includes deleted text, JAWS and Fusion displays a
message telling you that the following text has been
deleted, and shows the deleted text. Pressing
INSERT+TAB
while the cursor is on commented text, text revision,
footnote or endnote reference will speak this
information as well.
If you press a cursor router twice quickly on any text
in the document not underlined in braille, then only
font and attribute information such as bold, italic, and
underline is displayed. This is similar info to what is
spoken when pressing
INSERT+F.
Support for Reading Math Content in Kindle Books
You can now use JAWS and Fusion to study math equations
included in Kindle books opened in the Amazon Kindle for
PC app using both speech and braille. For braille users,
math expressions are shown using the Nemeth braille code,
which is a system exclusive to English.
Reading math in the Kindle app works very similar to
accessing math on web pages. When you encounter Math
content in a Kindle book, JAWS describes the expression,
followed by the message "math content." If you are using
a braille display and JAWS is configured for one of the
English Contracted Braille modes, the message "Math" is
displayed followed by the expression.
Pressing ENTER
while focused on the math content opens the Math Viewer
where you can explore the expression in greater detail
in both speech and braille by doing the following:
• To move between parts of the expression, use the
LEFT
and RIGHT ARROW
keys.
• To focus in on a partial expression, press
DOWN ARROW.
• To return to the whole expression, press
UP ARROW.
• To read all the partial expressions at the current
nesting level, press
INSERT+UP ARROW.
• To read the current partial expression, press
NUM PAD 5
or INSERT+NUM PAD
5.
• From within the Math Viewer, press
ESC
or ALT+F4
to exit.
Changed How JAWS and Fusion works
with the Access Bridge for Java Applications
Now that Oracle has
changed the licensing terms for the Standard Edition of
the Java Platform, many customers are looking for
alternatives. One of these alternatives is the
AdoptOpenJDK.
Previously, JAWS would only load the WindowsAccessBridge
DLL from the Windows System32 directory. This worked
with the Oracle Java Runtime Environment because it
always installed the WindowsAccessBridge DLL in that
location. The alternative Java Runtime Environments do
not install the WindowsAccessBridge DLL in that location.
JAWS has been modified so that it uses three different
strategies for locating the WindowsAccessBridge DLL.
1. The path to the WindowsAccessBridge DLL can be
specified by the Windows Registry. It looks for a
registry entry named WindowsAccessBridgeDllPath in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Freedom Scientific\JAWS\Common
and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Freedom Scientific\JAWS\Common.
If the registry entry exists and the file indicated by
the registry entry exists, JAWS will load the
WindowsAccessBridge DLL from that location.
2. If strategy 1 did not succeed, JAWS will search for
the WindowsAccessBridge DLL in the Windows System32
directory.
3. If strategy 2 did not succeed, JAWS will search for
the WindowsAccessBridge DLL in the directories listed in
the PATH environment variable.
Other Changes
• In Adobe Acrobat Reader, resolved a reported issue
where the virtual buffer was empty after opening a PDF
document and the Adobe options to "Enable Protected Mode
at startup" and "Run in AppContainer" were selected.
• Addressed known issues where it was sometimes
necessary to configure JAWS to use the classic settings
for some retail versions of Office 2016 and 2019 in
order for certain features like spellcheck and
autocomplete to work as expected.
• When the cursor is on a revision in a document such as
inserted or deleted text as well as a comment, pressing
INSERT+TAB
now speaks additional
details about the revised text.
• Similar to Word, if you move the cursor to
AutoCorrected text in an editable message in Outlook,
JAWS and Fusion now speaks the message about pressing
the Office command,
ALT+SHIFT+F10,
to open the menu of AutoCorrect options.
• In the Outlook Calendar, addressed issues using JAWS
and Fusion with the Schedule View.
• In the most recent updates to Outlook 365, resolved
issues where the
ALT+1 through
4
commands were not reading message headers and braille
was not working as expected in the To, CC, and BCC
fields.
• Resolved a reported issue where the setting to allow
web application reserved keystrokes was not working in
Chrome. When this option is enabled in Settings Center
or Quick Settings, JAWS keystrokes that are also defined
as keyboard shortcuts on certain websites like Facebook
are passed directly to the web application instead of
performing the JAWS command.
• When composing a message in GMail using Chrome,
addressed an issue where a Say All (INSERT+DOWN
ARROW) was not
working.
• Removed extraneous "clickable" announcements when
reading various web pages in Chrome.
• Updated the Keyboard Help and Commands Search
descriptions for the
INSERT+A
keystroke to correctly state that when pressed twice
quickly in Chrome or Firefox, the address of the current
web page is displayed in the Virtual Viewer. Note that
you can press
ALT+D in all
browsers to move focus to the address bar to enter a
website address.
• If you encounter an element on a web page with a
defined ARIA controls relationship, JAWS will no longer
say "use
JAWSKEY+ALT+M to
move to controlled element" by default. In most cases,
the target of the controls relationship is adjacent to
the element or does not provide any useful information.
• When domain-specific scripts such as Google Docs are
loaded and
INSERT+Q is
pressed twice quickly to display information in the
Virtual Viewer, resolved a reported issue where the
wrong configuration information was displayed.
• If focus is in a web dialog box in Chrome and you
perform an action that opens a second dialog box,
resolved an issue where focus was not automatically
placed into the new dialog box.
• Resolved several issues using JAWS and Fusion with the
Notepad++ text editor. Some key improvements include:
reading selected text using
INSERT+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW,
indicating autocomplete suggestions in speech and
braille, correctly reading line numbers, and correctly
reading spaces and tabs when navigating by character.
• Improved how JAWS works with the PuTTY and SecureCRT
SSH and Telnet applications. Command output is now
properly echoed and caret tracking is much more accurate.
• Resolved an issue introduced with a change in the
April Update, where group names in the Windows Start
menu and Windows Explorer were not being shown correctly
in braille.
• The Liblouis braille translator used by JAWS and
Fusion has been updated to version 3.9.0.
• Added a new Dictionary entry for "S M E) without the
spaces so that JAWS and Fusion will correctly pronounce
"Subject Matter Expert."
You must be logged on as
an administrator to install this software.
Enhancements in both ZoomText 2019.1904.80 and Fusion 2019.1904.22 (April 2019)
The following items are additions
and fixes made in the latest ZoomText 2019 and Fusion
2019 April releases. You must be logged on as an
administrator to install this software.
• ZoomText performance and stability has improved when
running it with Excel (available in Office 365, Office
2016, and Office 2013).
• Existing shortcut keys created to start ZoomText were
deleted after installing a ZoomText update. This problem
has been fixed.
• Changes were made in ZoomText to fix problems where it
would become sluggish and require a restart after a few
hours of use. This was problematic in Outlook and other
Office applications.
• You will notice better performance when using focus
enhancements and various echo options when running
Outlook 2016.
• Fixed a problem where pressing ALT+TAB would
change saved settings for the current application.
• Fixed a problem in ZoomText and Fusion where the
CAPS LOCK+CTRL+S hotkey was not saving application
settings. This was observed when running Chrome,
Internet Explorer, File Explorer, Notepad, and other
applications.
• Performance has improved when using the ZoomText
Finder in Word 2010.
• When performing monthly updates of JAWS, ZoomText, and
Fusion, the shortcut keystrokes used to start the
application are no longer removed.
• Resolved several issues concerning installation and
language support of international versions of Fusion.
• Issues related to JAWS speech in Fusion, after
responding to a Windows UAC notification, have been
resolved.
Enhancements in Fusion 2019.1904.22 (April 2019)
The following items are additions to the latest Fusion 2019 April release.
Support for Reading Math content in Word Documents
You can now use JAWS or Fusion to read and study math
problems in Word documents created using the MathType
software from Design Science. To use this feature, you
must do the following:
• Make sure you are running the April 2019 release of
JAWS or Fusion along with Microsoft Word from Office
365.
• Install MathType from
Wiris.com and activate the software as a trial or
actual license.
• In Settings Center, make sure the "Use Accessibility
Driver for Screen Capture" check box is selected.
When you encounter a math equation or formula in a
document, JAWS reads the problem and then says "Math
Content." You can then press INSERT+SPACEBAR
followed by EQUALS to open the JAWS Math Viewer
so you can study the equation in greater detail.
Once the Math Viewer is opened, you can navigate
individual parts of an equation like variables, terms,
coefficients, exponents, etc. As you navigate to the
various components, pressing DOWN ARROW will let
you drill down into and navigate within that level of
the equation using LEFT and RIGHT ARROW.
Pressing UP ARROW will move you back to the prior
level. In addition, if you have a Braille display and
JAWS is set to United States English or Unified English
Braille Grade 1 or Grade 2, the math equation or formula
will be displayed in Nemeth Braille. Pressing ESC
will close the Math Viewer and return to the document.
See our
MathType Sample Demonstration document for examples
of how JAWS and Fusion can enable students to access
math content.
Visit the
Design Science website for more details about
MathType.
New Consolidated Setup Package for Fusion 2019
Starting with the Fusion 2019
April release, there is now one link to download and
install Fusion for all supported operating systems and
languages. You no longer have to choose the correct
setup executable based on your system as well as which
language you need. When you begin the setup, the
installer automatically detects whether you are using 32
or 64-bit and installs the correct components. If you
are doing a new install and you want to use a different
language other than the default for your operating
system, select the Options button on the first
installation screen and then choose a language. If you
are updating an existing installation, the Options
button is not available as Fusion detects the language
already installed and updates using the same language.
Improved Heading Navigation When Using the
Numbers Row
In the past, JAWS and Fusion users
have been able to use 1 through 6 on the
numbers row to move to specific heading levels on web
pages. For instance, 1 for level 1 headings, 2
for level 2 headings, 3 for level 3 headings, and
so on. However, this type of navigation only allowed you
to move to headings equal or lower than the level you
were trying to move by. For example, if you attempted to
move to a level 3 heading, but the very next heading was
a level 2, you would hear: "No more headings at level 3
in this section," and would not move past the level 2
heading.
Beginning with the April 2019 update of JAWS
and Fusion, you can now move to any given heading level
on a page and if it is under a different higher
precedence heading, the immediately higher precedence
heading will be read so you know that the new heading
belongs to a different section. For example, if you
attempt to move to a level 3 heading which causes you to
jump past a level 2 heading, JAWS will announce the
level 2 heading prior to announcing the level 3 heading
so you know you have moved into a new section. You can
also choose to have JAWS play a sound to indicate when
you move into a new section or you can switch back to
the prior behavior which restricted heading navigation
to the current section.
To configure how JAWS and Fusion navigates headings when
using the numbers 1 through 6, open Settings Center (INSERT+6
on the numbers row), type "heading" into the Search edit
box, select the "Heading Navigation Using 1-6" option,
and then use the SPACEBAR to choose the setting
you want. Alternatively, open Quick Settings (INSERT+V)
from your browser and configure the "Heading Navigation"
setting.
Easy Access to Answer or Disconnect From a Skype Call
Using the Desktop Application Version 8.42 or Later
In Skype for Desktop 8.42 and
later, JAWS or Fusion now provides keystrokes for
answering or disconnecting a call from any application
as well as moving focus into the Skype main window. Note
that these keystrokes are only available in the Skype
for Desktop application. They will not work in the Skype
for Windows 10 universal app from the Microsoft store or
the Skype for Business app.
To answer an incoming call, press INSERT+SPACEBAR, Y
followed by UP ARROW. To disconnect from a call,
press INSERT+SPACEBAR, Y followed by DOWN
ARROW. To move focus directly into the Skype window,
press INSERT+SPACEBAR, Y followed by S.
Other Changes
• In the Amazon Kindle app, JAWS
and Fusion now support reading and navigating inside
tables using the keyboard.
• Resolved an issue where you could not use the keyboard
to interact with the controls in the Display Options
dialog box of the Amazon Kindle app.
• If Track Changes is turned on in a Word document, you
can now use INSERT+SHIFT+R to list revisions in
footnotes, endnotes, and comments in addition to the
main document. Note that this command only lists
revisions in the currently active pane. For example,
pressing INSERT+SHIFT+R from the Document pane
will list revisions in the main document while pressing
this keystroke from the Comments pane will only list
revisions in comments.
• If a word document contained more than 150 revisions,
resolved an issue where the number of revisions was not
being reported correctly when using INSERT+SHIFT+R.
• The "Document and Web Pages Automatically Read When
Loaded" option in Settings Center is now enabled by
default in PowerPoint. When you start a presentation and
move to the next or previous slide, JAWS automatically
begins reading the current slide.
• In Excel, JAWS and Fusion now indicates in both speech
and Braille if a cell contains a data type.
• Resolved an issue where pressing INSERT+E was
not announcing the default button in a Chrome dialog
box.
• Addressed reported issues where JAWS and Fusion was
not consistently reading elements that use the
aria-describedby" or title attributes while tabbing
through a page.
• If you are inside a table in a Google Docs document
and you press INSERT+SPACEBAR, Q to activate the
Quick Nav mode, you can now use the ARROW keys to
move to each cell. You can also use CTRL+UP/DOWN
ARROW to move to the top or bottom of the current
column, CTRL+LEFT/RIGHT ARROW to move to the
beginning or end of the current row, and CTRL+HOME/END
to move to the beginning or end of the table.
• For users of the Focus Blue Braille Display, you can
now press a Selector button along with the Left or Right
NAV Mode button to toggle speech on or off for the
corresponding NAV Rocker. When enabled, JAWS will speak
as you scroll by line, sentence, or paragraph. This
setting is off by default for both NAV Rockers.
• In Microsoft Teams, addressed issues with reading chat
messages as well as removed extra speech that was heard
when attempting to join a meeting.
• Added support for the latest Remote Desktop Terminal
Services client from Microsoft.
Enhancements in both ZoomText 2019.1903.19 and Fusion 2019.1903.57 (March 2019)
•If Windows ClearType was enabled
on your computer before starting ZoomText or Fusion, it
would be disabled after closing these applications. This
has been fixed, and ClearType is enabled again when you
close these applications.
•Resolved a reported issue where anti-aliasing was being
disabled even when ZoomText or Fusion was not running.
•ZoomText tracking would intermittently stop when
running Outlook. This has been fixed.
•The "Enable Smooth Panning" check box (on the Panning
tab in the Navigation Settings dialog box) is now
cleared by default. As a result, the magnified view is
more responsive when using keyboard commands to navigate
or switch between applications. For example, you will
see better performance when opening the Start Menu with
the Windows key, or switching applications with
ALT+TAB.
Enhancements in ZoomText 2019.1903.19 Only (March 2019)
•Addressed an issue where several
ZoomText UI controls were visible and available on the
Windows Lock screen.
•Recent changes to the installation process make it
faster to update ZoomText.
Enhancements in Fusion 2019.1903.57 Only (March 2019)
The following items are additions and fixes made in the
latest JAWS 2019 March release, and also apply to Fusion
2019.
Picture Smart for Describing Images with JAWS and Fusion
Picture Smart allows you to choose a photo and submit it
to be analyzed. A description of the image is then
displayed in the JAWS Results Viewer window.
Descriptions might include details such as the number of
people in the photo, recognizable landmarks, landscape
details such as "outdoors with a blue sky and green
grass," if there are vehicles such as automobiles or
trains, and more. If there is text in the picture, it
will OCR the text and provide that as well.
To use Picture Smart, press INSERT+SPACEBAR
followed by P. Once the Picture Smart layer is
active, the following keystrokes are available:
•A - Open the Picture Smart dialog box where you
can acquire an image from a flatbed scanner or the
Freedom Scientific PEARL camera.
•F - Describes the currently selected image in
File Explorer. Supported images include BMP, JPEG, GIF,
TIF, or PNG.
•C - Describes an image associated with the
current control. For instance, a graphic on a web page
or in an email message.
•B - Describes the contents of the Windows
Clipboard if it contains an image.
•QUESTION MARK - Displays help for the Picture
Smart layer.
JAWS now also creates a new PictureSmart folder which is
located in your user documents folder under My Pictures.
If a single image is saved to this folder, JAWS will
automatically submit it for analyzing and display the
resulting description.
To use Picture Smart, the "Submit Anonymous Usage Data"
option must be enabled in Settings Center. This sends
encrypted information to Freedom Scientific. (To select
this option in Settings Center, see Help Improve Freedom
Scientific Products mentioned earlier on this page.) The
images from Picture Smart are then submitted to the
various services (such as Microsoft and Google) which
analyze the images and returns the descriptions back to
us. These descriptions are then displayed in the Results
Viewer. If you attempt to use Picture Smart and this
setting is off, a message displays prompting you to turn
it on.
Note: Picture Smart is currently only available
while in the English Language UI of JAWS and Fusion as
the services that perform the image analysis do not
currently support international languages for
descriptions of images. For users of localized versions
of JAWS running in versions of Windows other than
English, you must switch the JAWS UI language to English
to try out this feature.
Selecting and Copying Content in Chrome
After working closely with developers at Google, we are
pleased to announce that starting with Chrome version
74.0.3717, an update scheduled for release by April
2019, selecting and copying text using the keyboard will
now include the HTML markup as we have done in Internet
Explorer for years. The functionality is included for
all users of JAWS and Fusion 2019, providing the ability
to copy live links, lists of items, and even tables from
the Chrome browser and pasting them into Email messages
or Documents without losing the formatting.
Virtual Cursor Support in PowerPoint Presentations
When you press F5 to start a slide show in
PowerPoint, you can now use the Virtual Cursor to
navigate slide content just like a web page. This
enables you to do the following:
•Navigate the slide show and read all content, including
text, labeled graphics, and other objects.
•Use TAB or SHIFT+TAB to move to links and
activate them with ENTER or SPACEBAR.
•Use Navigation Quick Keys to move to various object
types such as headings.
•Use the JAWS table reading keystrokes (ALT+CTRL+ARROW
keys) to navigate in tables.
•Obtain lists of objects including links, headings,
tables, and graphics from a running slide-show and be
able to activate or move to the desired item in the
list.
•Use the INSERT+F or INSERT+5 (on the
number row) commands to check the format and color info
of text on a slide.
Filter Consecutive Duplicate Links Now Off in Chrome and Firefox
Frequently, web page authors will create a graphical
link and a text link that appears to look the same.
Visually, sighted users think of this as one link, but
it is really two different links that point to the same
location on the web. For screen reader users, you end up
having to read the link twice with no real benefit. For
years, to help stream line the reading experience, JAWS
has offered a feature in Settings Center called "Filter
Consecutive Duplicate Links," which is enabled by
default. As a result, when reading web pages with the
Virtual Cursor and you encounter consecutive links that
point to the same location, one graphical and one text,
only the text link is announced.
Beginning with the March 2019 update, this setting is
now off by default in Chrome and Firefox due to visual
tracking issues when using TAB or SHIFT+TAB
on a page. The visual PC focus that moves as you TAB
can get out of sync with the virtual focus that is
following, especially in Chrome and Firefox. This could
cause confusion for anyone looking at the screen or
using JAWS in conjunction with screen magnification
software like Fusion. For users of Chrome or Firefox who
are willing to accept the possible confusion because of
the visual aspect described above, you can always open
Settings Center (INSERT+6 on the number row),
search for "Duplicate", and enable this feature. This
setting is still on by default in Internet Explorer.
Other Changes
•In Speech On Demand (INSERT+SPACEBAR,
S), all sounds played by Fusion are now muted. This
includes the sound you hear when pressing
INSERT+SPACEBAR to enter Layered Keys mode as well
as the sound heard when completing an address in
Outlook.
•The options for configuring spelling and grammar error
detection have been expanded and are now available in
Settings Center. You can find these settings under the
new Proofing group in Text Processing.
•JAWS spelling error detection now works when editing
slides in PowerPoint.
•Resolved a reported issue with Braille where the
display was blank when first starting a PowerPoint slide
show.
•Resolved a reported issue where Track Changes was not
working correctly with JAWS in the retail version of
Word 2016.
•In Word, addressed a reported issue where JAWS was not
announcing the word count in a document when pressing
the Word keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+G.
•Addressed a reported issue where JAWS would close
unexpectedly when scanning a document with Adobe DC Pro.
•It is no longer necessary to restart JAWS, ZoomText, or
Fusion when installing or removing voices through the
Add/Remove Voices utility. Voices are immediately
available when installed and no longer displayed when
removed.
•A description of the layered keystroke to copy the
speech history to the clipboard (INSERT+SPACEBAR,
CTRL+H) has been added to the layered help (INSERT+SPACEBAR,
QUESTION MARK).
•Addressed a reported issue where JAWS was not saying
"Not Selected" when using CTRL+SPACEBAR to
unselect an item.
•JAWS now reads subtitle information for items in
Windows Settings (WINDOWS Key+I). This
information is automatically spoken for the Beginner
verbosity level and is off by default for the
Intermediate and Advanced verbosity levels.
Enhancements in both ZoomText 2019.1901.114 and Fusion 2019.1901.79 (January 2019)
New Add/Remove Vocalizer Expressive Voice Utility
This new utility, which is
included in the latest releases of ZoomText, Fusion, and
JAWS, lets you sample, install, and remove Vocalizer
Expressive 2 voices used by all three products. This
avoids the need to download anything from external pages
and makes the entire process easier across all products.
Once voices are set up for one product, there is no need
to install them again for the other products.
In the Fusion and ZoomText UI, you access the new
utility from the Reader tab using the Voice pull down
menu. In that menu, select the new menu item called Add/Remove
Voices.
This utility includes:
• Language specific list of currently available
Vocalizer Expressive 2 Premium voices.
• Ability to select and Install as many voices as you
would like right from the list.
• See what voices are already installed as you review
the list.
• Hear a sample of the currently focused voice in the
list before deciding if you want to select it to be
installed. To play a sample, press ALT+P while focused
on the voice name in the list.
• Option to uninstall one or more voices.
• Option to uninstall all voices.
• Option to uninstall only the compact voices that had
been previously installed.
Note: If you remove a voice that is in use when running
Fusion, ZoomText, or JAWS, the software will continue to
speak using that voice until you restart the software or
reboot the computer. Once you restart, it will default
to the next profile available. If there are no more
Vocalizer Expressive Voices available, Fusion and JAWS
will default to Eloquence. ZoomText will fall back to
the Microsoft voices available in the current language.
In Fusion and JAWS, after installing a premium voice, a
profile is created for each of those new individual
voices which can be further customized using the Voice
Adjustment dialog box. You can also quickly switch
between all the new voices by pressing CTRL+INSERT+S to
open the Select a Voice Profile dialog box, pressing the
first letter of the voice you want to use, and then
pressing ENTER.
In ZoomText, you can switch to any of the installed
voices in the settings option of the Voice Menu pull
down as you have in previous versions.
If you find that compact voice collections had
previously been installed, there is also an option to
remove all compact voices. This is especially beneficial
for users of Fusion or ZoomText 2018 or later which
installs dozens of the compact voices by default. If you
do not need all of these voices and languages, this
makes it easy to remove all compact voices at once.
Toolbar buttons now indicate feature enabled/disabled
state
• On the Fusion and ZoomText toolbars the feature
buttons now remain highlighted when the associated
feature is enabled.
Faster enabling and disabling of Fusion and ZoomText
• Fusion and ZoomText now respond faster when they are
enabled and disabled.
Improvements in Edge web browser
• In the Edge web browser, the ZoomText Finder now
navigates reliably to the previous search result when
invoking the Previous Item command or clicking the
Previous button.
• The ZoomText Finder no longer lands on items that do
not match the search string.
Miscellaneous Improvements
• In the Windows 10 Clipboard History feature, Fusion
and ZoomText now track when navigating between controls
and other elements.
• In the Windows 10 Settings dialog, mouse echo now
reads the text beneath the tiles.
Enhancements and Fixes in ZoomText 2019.1901.114 Only (January 2019)
Improvements in Microsoft
Office 2016 and Office 365
• In Word, AppReader’s next and previous sentence
commands are now working properly when reading sentences
containing a comma.
• In Excel, tracking and the focus enhancement are now
working properly when entering and exiting the list of
suggested contacts.
• In Excel, when pressing F2 to edit the contents of a
cell, ZoomText now echoes “Edit Cell”.
• In Outlook, AppReader’s next and previous sentence
commands are now working properly after reading to the
end of an email.
Improvements in Skype
• Mouse Echo now echoes all elements in the Skype menus
and dialog boxes.
Improvements in Chrome web browser
• In Chrome, AppReader now reads paragraphs containing
links without unexpected pausing or repeating lines of
text.
• In Chrome, Mouse Echo now reads controls that the
mouse moves over in the browser toolbar and webpages
more reliably.
• In Chrome, controls are now reliably tracked and
highlighted in the Chrome settings.
• In Chrome, a problem that caused the focus enhancement
to get stuck on the screen after closing “Customize and
control Google Chrome” menu has been fixed.
• In Chrome, when using a system with multiple monitors
the focus enhancement would sometimes drift outside of
the Chrome browser window onto an adjacent monitor. This
problem has been fixed.
Miscellaneous Improvements
• In the Windows 10 Settings dialog, mouse echo now
reads the text beneath the tiles.
• In Notepad, ZoomText tracking of the text cursor is
now more responsive.
• In Cmder console emulator (and other console
applications and console emulators), ZoomText now
provides improved tracking of the text cursor.