NVDA command key quick reference

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

Many of these commands use the NVDA key. The NVDA key is the insert key found either on the numberpad or near the delete, home, end, page up and page down keys on your keyboard. NVDA can also be configured so that you can use the capslock key as the NVDA key.

If there are seperate commands for laptops they will be shown in a seperate column.

2. Global commands

Description Desktop layout Laptop layout
Stop speech Control
Pause or resume speech Shift
toggle keyboard Help NVDA+1
Show NVDA menu NVDA+n
Quit NVDA NVDA+q
Toggle Speech mode NVDA+s
Say time NVDA+f12
Say date NVDA+f12 (pressed twice
Report status bar NVDA+End
Speak application name and Appmodule NVDA+Control+f1
Say battery status NVDA+Shift+b
Toggle report dynamic content changes NVDA+5
Toggle caret moves review cursor NVDA+6
Toggle focus moves navigator object NVDA+7 NVDA+Control+7
Pass next key through NVDA+f2
Report text in clipboard NVDA+c
^Save configuration NVDA+Control+c
reset configuration NVDA+Control+r

3. Change Settings (found in the settings dialogues)

Description Desktop layout Laptop layout
Toggle speak typed characters NVDA+2
Toggle speak typed words NVDA+3
Toggle speak command keys NVDA+4
Toggle speak punctuation NVDA+p
Toggle mouse tracking NVDA+m NVDA+Shift+m
Toggle announcement on progress bar updates NVDA+u NVDA+Control+f2
Move to previous voice setting NVDA+Control+leftArrow
Move to next voice setting NVDA+Control+rightArrow
Increase current voice setting NVDA+Control+upArrow
Decrease current voice setting NVDA+Control+downArrow
Teter braille display to focus/review cursor NVDA+Control+t

4. Show dialogues

Description Desktop layout Laptop layout
Show general settings dialog NVDA+Control+g
Show synthesizer selection dialog NVDA+Control+s
Show voice settings dialog NVDA+Control+v
Show keyboard settings dialog NVDA+Control+k
Show mouse settings dialog NVDA+Control+m
Show object presentation settings dialog NVDA+Control+o
Show virtual buffer settings dialog NVDA+Control+b
Show document formating settings dialog NVDA+Control+d
Show python console (useful for developers) NVDA+Control+z

5. Focus navigation

Description Desktop layout Laptop layout
Report current focused object NVDA+Tab
Speak title bar NVDA+t
Spell title bar NVDA+t (pressed twice)
copy title bar to clipboard NVDA+t (pressed trice)
Speak foreground window NVDA+b

6. Caret navigation

Description Desktop layout Laptop layout
Report current selection NVDA+Shift+upArrow
Report current line NVDA+upArrow
Say all NVDA+downArrow NVDA+a
Say formating information NVDA+f
6.1 Navigation in tables
Description Command
Move to next cell in row Alt+Control+rightArrow
Move to previous cell in row Alt+Control+leftArrow
Move to next cell in column Alt+Control+downArrow
Move to previous cell in column Alt+Control+upArrow
7. Navigator object navigation
Description Desktop layout Laptop layout
Say current navigator object NVDA+numpad5 NVDA+Control+i
Spell current navigator object NVDA+numpad5 (pressed twice) NVDA+Control+i (pressed twice
Copy current navigator object NVDA+numpad5 (pressed trice) NVDA+Control+i (pressed trice
Say Navigator objects current dimensions NVDA+numpadDelete NVDA+;
Set navigator to parent object NVDA+numpad8 NVDA+Shift+i
Set navigator to first child NVDA+numpad2 NVDA+Shift+,
Set navigator to previous object NVDA+numpad4 NVDA+Control+j
Set navigator object to next object NVDA+numpad6 NVDA+control+l
Do default Aktion on navigator object NVDA+numpadEnter NVDA+Enter
Move mouse to navigator object NVDA+numpadDivide NVDA+Shift+7
Move navigator object to mouse NVDA+numpadMultiply NVDA+Shift+8
Move review cursor to caret cursor numpadSubtract NVDA+-
Move caret cursor to review cursor Control+numpadSubtract NVDA+Shift+-
Set navigator to current focused object NVDA+numpadSubtract NVDA+Control+-
Set focus to navigator object NVDA+shift+numPadSubtract Not available (see Ticket 800
Press left mouse buton numpadDevide NVDA+Shift+7
Lock/unlock left mouse buton NVDA+numpadDevide Not available (see Ticket 800
Press right mouse buton numpadMultiply NVDA+Control+Shift+8
Lock/unlock right mouse buton shift+numpadMultiply Not available (see Ticket 800
Say all with review cursor numpadPlus NVDA+/
Activate flat review mode at review cursor position NVDA+numpad7 NVDA+Alt+7
Activate object review cursor at flat review position NVDA+numpad1 NVDA+Alt+j
8. Reading objects
Description Desktop layout Laptop layout
Move review cursor to previous character numpad1 NVDA+m
Move review cursor to start of line Shift+numpad1 NVDA+Shift+u
Say current character at review cursor numpad2 NVDA+,
move review cursor to next character numpad3 NVDA+.
Move review cursor to end of line Shift+numpad3 NVDA+Shift+o
Move review cursor to previous word numpad4 NVDA+j
Say current word at review cursor numpad5 NVDA+k
Move review cursor to next word numpad6 NVDA+l
Move review cursor to previous line numpad7 NVDA+u
Move review cursor to first line Shift+numpad7 NVDA+7
Say current line at review cursor numpad8 NVDA+i
Move review cursor to next line numpad9 NVDA+o
Move review cursor to last line Shift+numpad9 NVDA+9
Mark review cursor position to start copying NVDA+f9
Retrieve text from start mark and copy till included character NVDA+f10
9. VirtualBuffer commands
Description Command
Toggle browse/focus mode NVDA+space
Move to parent virtual buffer NVDA+Control+Space
Show find dialog NVDA+Control+f
perform find next NVDA+f3
Show elements list dialog NVDA+f7
Refresh virtual buffer NVDA+f5
Toggle screen layout NVDA+v