Nyheter i Zoomtext och Fusion 2023

Publicerad: 9/2, 2023

Nyheter i Zoomtext och Fusion 2023

Tethered View in ZoomText and Fusion


Tethered View is a new feature available in ZoomText and Fusion. When using higher zoom levels (magnification), there is often an activity that occurs on the screen that is outside of the magnified viewing area. This is where Tethered View is helpful. It opens a new window inside the magnified area that brings the activity into view. Tethered View currently supports the Windows Start menu search, Excel formula bar, Word Comments pane, and links list on a web page (Fusion only). It is enabled by default for these items.
To toggle Tethered View on and off, or change settings, do the following:


1. In the ZoomText or Fusion Magnifier toolbar tab, select the Window button.
2. Choose Tethered View.
3. Choose Enable or Disable to toggle Tethered View on and off.

Choose Settings to customize Tethered View settings as desired.

Windows Start Menu Search and Tethered View

When you use the search box in the Windows Start menu, you may notice that you cannot see the top search result in the magnified view. With Tethered View enabled, the best match appears in a window next to the search box. You can click the result or move through the list to see other items.
The following keystrokes are available when using Tethered View with the Windows Start menu:


• Expand or collapse Tethered View window: CAPS LOCK+T
• View the result at the top of the search list: CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+T

Excel Formula Bar and Tethered View


In Excel, a similar scenario occurs when working with formulas. Excel displays the formula related to a cell in the formula bar located at the top of the worksheet. This position is far away from the actual cell. The Tethered View brings the formula to you and displays it next to the cell that has focus. If you want to switch to the formula field, you can click it or use the CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+T keystroke.
Other times you may want to read the Excel spreadsheet without the formula displayed. In this case, you can toggle the Tethered View with CAPS LOCK+T.
The following keystrokes are available when using Tethered View with Excel:


• Expand or collapse Tethered View window: CAPS LOCK+T
• View the Formula bar: CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+T

Microsoft Word Comments and Tethered View


If you distribute a Word document for review, others may add comments to the document. The Comments pane or list is positioned to the far right side of the screen. In Tethered View, each comment is placed next to the text where it is inserted. This eliminates the need to move across the screen, find and read the comment, and then return to the text.
The following keystrokes are available when using Tethered View with Word:


• Expand or collapse Tethered View window: CAPS LOCK+T
• View the comment: CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+T
• Return to the text at the insertion point: ESC

Fusion Links List and Tethered View


When reading a web page while running Fusion, you can press INSERT+F7 to display a list of links that are on the page. With Tethered View, as you move through the list, the current link’s URL appears next to the item in the list. You can click or press ENTER to select the link.
The following keystrokes are available when using Tethered View with the Fusion links list:


• Expand or collapse Tethered View window: CAPS LOCK+T
• View the URL for the link: CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+T
• Open the links list: INSERT+F7

Enhancements in ZoomText 2023.2212.21 and Fusion 2023.2012.5 (December 2022)

The following describes new features and improvements made in the December 2022 update.

Early Adopter Program

The Early Adopter Program lets you preview new and updated product features that are in development. As we gradually introduce features, you can evaluate them and provide feedback that will help us make improvements before the final release. The Freeze View Update is our first feature available for evaluation using the Early Adopter Program. It's an update to the existing Freeze View in ZoomText and Fusion, that provides you with additional functionality.

Using the Early Adopter Program

To turn on or off Early Adopter Program features, do the following:

1. In the ZoomText or Fusion menu, choose Early Adopter Program.

The Early Adopter Program dialog appears and shows the features available to evaluate. The dialog is empty if no features are currently available.

Select one or more check boxes to activate features. Clear one or more check boxes to deactivate features.
Note: If you are evaluating changes to an existing product feature, it will revert to its original operation when you clear the check box.

Click OK and restart the software. Features that were turned on are available for use.

Submitting Feedback

While evaluating a feature, you are encouraged to give feedback about your experience. Feedback can be given whether the feature is activated or not.

To give feedback, do the following:

1. In the ZoomText menu, choose Early Adopter Program.
The Early Adopter Program dialog displays the features available to evaluate.

2. Select the Send Feedback button for the feature you are evaluating.
The Early Adopter Program Feedback form appears.

3. Complete the Early Adopter Program Feedback form and click Send Feedback.

Freeze View Update

Freeze View, currently in ZoomText and Fusion, is our first feature available for evaluation using the Early Adopter Program. The following describes how to use Freeze View when it is activated using the Early Adopter Program.

Freeze View Overview

In a magnified view, it is impossible to see the entire screen at once. As a result, items of interest, such as the clock and Start menu, cannot be seen at the same time since they are on opposite sides of the screen. Freeze View solves this problem by letting you draw a window around an area of the screen that you want to monitor. When you've completed your selection, the Freeze View automatically appears on top of the Full zoom window displaying the selected area. The Full zoom window continues to operate normally, tracking all on-screen activity and allowing you to navigate and work in all areas of the screen.

When Freeze View is activated using the Early Adopter Program, you can create and display up to four Freeze Views simultaneously. Freeze Views can be placed anywhere on the screen. For example, you can create a view of the ZoomText app icon located in the system tray and drag it to an area on the screen that is convenient for you to access. This lets you quickly bring the ZoomText toolbar into view instead of scrolling with the mouse pointer to the system tray and then clicking the app icon. Another example is to create a view of the clock, which is located in the notification area. Again, you can position it on the screen so that it is always in view.

Note: Freeze View is only available when the Zoom Window Type is set to Full and you are using one monitor or a single display duplicated across multiple monitors.

Early Adopter Freeze View and Current Freeze View Operation

The table below describes the differences between the Early Adopter Freeze View and the current Freeze View operation.

Freeze View - Early Adopter Program

Freeze View

Up to four Freeze Views can appear simultaneously on the screen

One Freeze View

Assign a name for each Freeze View

Not available

Option to keep the mouse pointer in front or behind the Freeze View. When in front, you can click inside the Freeze View and interact with items visible in the Freeze View. When behind, you can only view what is in the Freeze View.

Always behind

Toggle Freeze Views 1...4 on and off: CAPS LOCK+CTRL+1...4

Not available

Create a specific Freeze View: CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+1...4
Note: These hotkeys are disabled by default. You can enable them using the ZoomText Command Key dialog.

Resize and move Freeze View: CAPS LOCK+A

Not available

 

Create a Freeze View

Note: Freeze View is only available when the Zoom Window Type is set to Full and you are using one monitor or a single display duplicated across multiple monitors.

To create a Freeze View, do the following:

1. Make sure the Zoom Window Type is set to Full.

2. On the Magnifier toolbar tab, click the arrow next to Window or navigate to Window and press the down arrow key.
Note: You can also press CAPS LOCK+N to create a new Freeze View. When you do this, the Freeze tool becomes active as mentioned in step 3.

3. In the Window menu, choose Freeze View > New Freeze View.
The Freeze tool becomes active.

Note: You can have up to four Freeze Views. If you try to create a fifth Freeze View, you must first delete an existing Freeze View.

4. Move the mouse pointer until the area you want to freeze is scrolled into view.

5. Hold down the left button and drag a selection rectangle around the desired freeze area and release the button.

When you complete the drag, the Freeze View will appear with sizing handles on the frame.

6. To size the window, drag any handle. To move the window, drag inside the window frame. To scroll the contents of the window, hold down CTRL and drag inside the window frame.

7. To exit the Freeze tool, right click or press ESC.

8. To create additional Freeze Views, repeat steps 1-7. You can have a total of four Freeze Views.
Note: If you try to add a fifth Freeze View, the Freeze View Settings dialog opens. You must delete at least one Freeze View from the Views list before adding another.

9. To save Freeze View changes, in the ZoomText menu, choose Configurations > Save As Default.

Enable and Disable Freeze View

To enable or disable a Freeze View, do one of the following:

Press the Freeze View On/Off hotkey:

o CAPS LOCK+CTRL+1 for Freeze View 1

o CAPS LOCK+CTRL+2 for Freeze View 2

o CAPS LOCK+CTRL+3 for Freeze View 3

o CAPS LOCK+CTRL+4 for Freeze View 4

 

On the Magnifier toolbar tab, choose Window > Freeze View > Enable (or Disable).

Note: This only enables and disables the first Freeze View that is in the Views list in the Freeze settings tab.

elete a Freeze View

To delete a Freeze View using hotkeys, do the following:

1. Press CAPS LOCK+A until the Freeze View you want to delete is selected.

2. Press DELETE.
The Freeze tool appears.

3. Press ESC to restore the mouse pointer

4. Repeat steps 1-3 to delete other Freeze Views.

To delete a Freeze View using Freeze View settings, do the following:

1. On the Magnifier toolbar tab, select the Zoom Window Settings button, which appears in the lower-right corner of the Zoom Window group.
The Zoom Window Settings dialog appears.

2. Select the Freeze tab.

3. Choose a Freeze View from the Views list and click the Delete button.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 to delete other Freeze Views.

Customize a Freeze View

To customize a Freeze View, do the following:

1. On the Magnifier toolbar tab, select the Zoom Windows Settings button, which appears in the lower-right corner of the Zoom Windows group.
The Zoom Windows Settings dialog appears.

2. Select the Freeze tab.

3. Choose a Freeze View from the Views list and do any of the following:

o Assign a name

o Choose a zoom level

o Decide if you want the mouse pointer to appear in front of or behind the Freeze View. When in front, you can click and use the items in the Freeze View. When behind, you can only view what is in the Freeze View.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 to customize other Freeze Views

5. Click OK.

6. To save Freeze View changes, in the ZoomText menu, choose Configurations > Save As Default.

Other Changes

  • ZoomText now supports Estonian.
  • Improved performance when running ZoomText on laptops with a dedicated video card. By default, ZoomText will now use the dedicated video card if it exists.
  • Resolved an issue in Outlook where focus tracking was constantly jumping between the To or Cc fields and the list of suggested contacts.
  • Resolved an issue in Word where cursor enhancement tracking would stop working when toggling between the Navigation task pane and the document.
  • Resolved an issue where tracker alignment would jump between edge alignment and center alignment when moving up and down the contents of a list box.
  • Resolved an issue where the Layered Keys Banner did not display correctly when using multiple monitors.
  • Resolved an issue with Tethered View where the Excel formula bar and the Word Comments pane were not displaying on the correct monitor. This occurred when the zoom window type was set to Span.
  • Resolved an issue where the Tethered View window would not display properly after expanding it with CAPS LOCK+T.

 

Enhancements in ZoomText 2023.2302.8 and Fusion 2023.2302.6 (Februari 2023)

True Center Tracking

True Center Tracking is a new alignment and tracking feature in ZoomText and Fusion. As you move the mouse, type text, and navigate menus, dialogs and other program controls, the zoom window automatically scrolls to keep the focus in view. This is known as tracking. Alignment options control how the zoom window scrolls to keep tracked items in view.

In previous versions of ZoomText and Fusion, there was only one center tracking option. It scrolls the zoom window to keep the tracked object centered in the magnified view. However, as you approach the edge of the screen, the mouse pointer leaves the center and moves toward the edge. This option is still available and is the default for center tracking. It is enabled by selecting the Centered within the zoom window option in the Alignment tab in the Navigation Settings.

With the addition of True Center Tracking, the focus is always in the center of the screen just like traditional center tracking. The big difference is that as you approach the edge of the screen, the edge now moves to the center of the viewing area, and a background color appears to fill the area beyond the edge of the Windows desktop.

Image showing True Center Tracking when navigating near the edge of the Windows desktop.

 

To setup True Center Tracking, do the following:

Note: True Center Tracking is only available when the Zoom Window Type is set to Full and you are using one monitor or a single display duplicated across multiple monitors.

1. On the Magnifier toolbar tab, select the Navigation button.

2. In the Navigation menu, choose Alignment.

The Navigation Settings dialog appears with the Alignment tab displayed.

6. Click OK. Focus now moves to the center of the screen.

7. To save True Center Tracking changes, in the ZoomText menu, choose Configurations > Save As Default.

Smooth Mouse Panning and Sensitivity

When using high magnification levels, you may experience jumpiness and frequent motion of the magnified view while typing, when scrolling lists and other items, or when using the mouse to pan the screen. Two new panning settings have been added to help with this problem.

Smooth mouse panning is helpful when using your mouse to pan across the screen, to move to a new location in a document, or to view an image. After enabling the feature, you can press and hold SHIFT and then move your mouse to smoothly move in the magnified view.

Panning sensitivity defines when ZoomText and Fusion start using smooth panning when moving in the magnified view. With lower sensitivity, smooth panning is more noticeable when moving smaller distances or increments. With higher sensitivity, smooth panning is more noticeable when moving greater distances such as jumping from the end of one line to the beginning of the next line while typing. Smooth panning is faster when using a lower sensitivity.

To set up Smooth Panning and Sensitivity, do the following:

1. On the Magnifier toolbar tab, select the Navigation button.

2. In the Navigation menu, choose Panning.

The Navigation Settings dialog appears with the Panning tab displayed.

3. Select Enable smooth panning to make the Panning options available.

4. Select Use smooth panning for the mouse.

5. Adjust the mouse panning sensitivity as desired.

6. Click OK.

7. To save smooth mouse panning and sensitivity changes, in the ZoomText menu, choose Configurations > Save As Default.

Audio Speech Cutoff

To conserve battery life, Bluetooth headphones enter Power-saving mode when no audio is received. As a result, when speech is detected and the headphones wake up, the first few characters of speech may be clipped and not heard.

If you experience this, you can enable the Avoid Speech Cutoff setting. This will keep your headphones awake by constantly playing silence. You will not hear anything, but your headphones will remain active, resulting in consistent speech. Audio Speech Cutoff is off by default.

Note: Your headphones’ battery may drain faster if you choose to use this feature.

To enable and disable Audio Speech Cutoff, do the following:

1. On the Reader toolbar tab, click the arrow next to Voice or navigate to Voice and press the down arrow key.

2. In the Voice menu, choose Settings. The Voice Settings dialog appears.

3. Choose the Audio tab.

4. Select or clear the Enable Avoid Speech Cutoff check box. Click OK.

5. To save changes, in the ZoomText menu, choose Configurations > Save As Default.

Freeze View – Early Adopter Program Updates

  • Freeze View now supports multiple monitors with the following zoom window types: Span, Clone, Zoom with 1x, and MultiView Global.
  • Freeze View windows can be moved between multiple monitors when the zoom window type is set to Span.
  • The toggle freeze view commands (CAPS LOCK + CTRL + 1…4) can now be used to create Freeze View windows if they do not already exist. For example, if there are no saved Freeze Views, you can press CAPS LOCK + CTRL +1 to create Freeze View 1. Once it is created, you can press the same keystroke to toggle Freeze View 1 on and off.
  • When a Freeze View is created, it uses the current magnification level. For example, if you create a Freeze View while at 2x magnification, and you later toggle to 1x magnification, the contents of the Freeze View will still display at 2x magnification.

 

Tethered View Update

  • Tethered View now supports MultiView Global in addition to the following zoom window types: Full, Docked, MultiView Local, Clone, Span, and Zoom with 1x.

 

Other Changes

  • Resolved an issue where cursor tracking would disappear after using the Navigation pane in a Word document.
  • Resolved an issue where Word would unexpectedly close when typing in a comment when using Tethered View.
  • Resolved a cursor tracking issue found when creating an email message in Outlook. After navigating from the To: and Cc: fields in an email header, the cursor would disappear when you moved to the Subject: field. This has been fixed.
  • When using dual monitors in a Citrix environment, focus tracking could appear on the wrong screen. This has been fixed.
  • Stability improvements have been made for certain laptops with dedicated graphics cards. It was reported that when using multiple monitors, a black screen could appear on the second display. This issue has been resolved.

 

Enhancements in ZoomText 2023.2303.77 and Fusion 2023.2303.33 (Mars 2023)

  • Smooth Mouse Panning is now enabled by default in the Early Adopter Program dialog. This ensures the “Enable smooth panning” and “Hold Shift key for smooth mouse panning” settings in the Navigation Settings dialog are available and selected. To change these settings, select the Magnifier toolbar tab > Navigation > Panning.
  • Resolved an issue where focus enhancement was not working correctly in the Early Adopter Program dialog.
  • When using the mouse wheel to scroll through a document, focus would unexpectedly return to the text cursor location. This has been fixed.
  • Resolved an issue where ZoomText was not tracking in Word when multiple documents were open.
  • ZoomText would sometimes close after turning off tooltips. This was observed in Windows 11 and has been fixed.
  • Fusion correctly tracks, highlights, and speaks in Azure published apps.
  • Resolved several issues with speech, tracking, and focus and cursor enhancements when running Fusion or JAWS on a VMWare Horizon server.
  • Resolved several issues where typing echo by words, and text navigation by lines and words was not working when running ZoomText on a VMWare Horizon server.
  • Resolved an issue where text was cut off in some dialogs for Finnish, Kazakh, Polish, and Ukrainian.
  • In the previous update, the Welcome to ZoomText window displayed corrupted text when running ZoomText with the Chinese user interface. This has been fixed.

 

Enhancements in ZoomText 2023.2306.21 and Fusion 2023.2306.8 (Juni 2023)

Introducing a Faster and More Efficient ZoomText!

We are dedicated to improving ZoomText performance, and you can now experience the improvements firsthand through our Early Adopter Program. Our latest enhancement in development for you to preview is the restructured magnification engine. It optimizes startup performance and minimizes resource usage, including memory and processor consumption. The full power of the new magnification engine will be available in the upcoming ZoomText 2024 and Fusion 2024 release later this year.

To turn on and try this feature, do the following:

  • In the ZoomText menu (ALT+Z) or Fusion menu (ALT+F), choose Early Adopter Program.
  • Select Magnification Engine 2024, click OK and restart the software.

Note: Legacy Reading and xFont magnification are not supported when running the new magnification engine in the June 2023 update.

New Freeze View Released

The new Freeze View functionality, introduced earlier in the December 2022 update, is no longer under evaluation in the Early Adopter Program.

Watch the Video! For a brief and informative demonstration, watch our Freeze View video.

Focus and Cursor Enhancements

  • Resolved an issue where cursor enhancement was not tracking correctly when typing chat messages in Teams.
  • Resolved an issue where focus enhancement was not tracking correctly when using Windows Device Manager.
  • Resolved an issue where focus tracking and enhancements were not functioning correctly when using SonicWall Global VPN client.

AppReader

  • Resolved an issue where the mouse pointer would sometimes appear as a busy pointer when switching to Text view while running AppReader.
  • Resolved an issue where the Highlight Tracking list remained active after disabling the “Track and highlight words” option in AppReader settings.

Multiple Monitor

  • Resolved an issue where the “Sound cue volume” setting was constantly switching between Medium and Low when changing other Multiple Monitor Options settings.
  • Resolved an issue with multiple monitors where the Pointer sound cue still played when the “Play sound cues when the pointer touches and crosses the border” setting was disabled.

Other Fixes

  • Resolved an issue where the Danish and Slovak ZoomText user interface would sometimes display English text.
  • Resolved an issue where ZoomText default settings were not reloaded after moving focus away from applications running with custom settings.
  • Resolved an issue where mouse echo was not reading channel names when running Discord for Desktop on Windows 11.

 

Enhancements in ZoomText 2023.2307.29 and Fusion 2023.2307.7 (Augusti 2023)

Enhancements in ZoomText 2023.2307.29 and Fusion 2023.2307.7 (August 2023)

The following describes new features and improvements made in the August 2023 update.

xFont Now Available with New Magnification Engine 2024

In the June 2023 update, a preview of the new magnification engine for ZoomText 2024 was made available in our Early Adopter Program. xFont magnification was not available in the new magnification engine 2024. In the August 2023 update, you can now enable xFont while using the new magnification engine. At the moment, xFont is limited to the ZoomText toolbar and Welcome screen and a few basic applications such as Notepad. However, you can take this opportunity to see the improvements to come in the ZoomText 2024 release.

To enable xFont with the Magnification Engine 2024, make sure it is selected in the Early Adopter Program dialog. Next, in the ZoomText or Fusion menu, select Preferences and then Smoothing. In the Smoothing tab, select Enable xFont Magnification.

Other Changes

  • The Voice Assistant commands to create, turn on, and turn off Freeze View windows were not working. This has been resolved.
  • The layered keystroke to turn on and off Freeze View (CAPS LOCK+SPACEBAR, W, E) has been replaced. The new layered keystroke to turn on and off Freeze Views 1-4 is CAPS LOCK+SPACEBAR, W, x, where x is 1, 2, 3, or 4.
  • Previously when selecting and opening the Early Adopter Program in the ZoomText or Fusion menu, it would take several seconds for the dialog to open. This has been resolved.
  • Focus tracking and enhancements were not working correctly when navigating lists and menus in Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
  • A lengthy delay was observed when switching between client and server machines. As a result, it also took several seconds for focus enhancements to appear. This has been resolved.
  • Resolved an issue where Firefox would not respond when navigating browser menus using the arrow keys.
  • Mouse echo was not reading text box, message, and voice channel icons when hovering over them in the Discord for Desktop app. This has been resolved.

 

Enhancements in ZoomText 2023.2311.20 (December 2023)

ZoomText Improvements

  • Resolved an issue where configuration files assigned to hotkeys CAPS LOCK+ number row keys 1 through 0 were not migrated after upgrading from one major ZoomText release to another.
  • Resolved an issue where ZoomText would speak despite being muted when starting the ZoomText Camera feature with CTRL+CAPS LOCK+C.
  • Resolved an issue where ZoomText would sometimes move the magnified view to the current pointer position, instead of bringing the mouse pointer into the magnified view when moved.
  • Resolved an issue where keyboard echo was not working when typing in Excel.
    • Resolved an issue that caused ZoomText to automatically start when a User Account Control (UAC) message in Windows appeared. This was observed when ZoomText was not running, but it was configured to automatically start in Program preferences.
  • Resolved an issue where Message Center would close after selecting Settings in the Message Center dialog box.

AppReader

  • Resolved an issue where AppReader was not reading or highlighting text when used with Notepad. This occurred on systems running Windows 11.
  • Resolved an issue where the magnified view was corrupted after changing zoom levels while running and then closing Text View.

Firefox/Thunderbird

  • Resolved an issue with Firefox where it would crash when navigating in forms on some web pages.
  • Resolved an issue with Thunderbird where navigating with arrow keys caused the application to crash. This was observed with both ZoomText and Fusion.

 

Senast uppdaterat December 2023

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