JAWS Startup Wizard
The JAWS screen reader has a vast number of settings. Rather than chugging through all settings in JAWS, what I would like to do for you in this article is run through the initial JAWS Startup Wizard. The JAWS Startup Wizard is what you get when you’re installing JAWS for the first time. However, you can also get to the Startup Wizard at any time to quickly change settings if you don’t remember exactly where they’re.
On every page, use Tab and Shift+Tab to move through controls. When you’re ready to continue, Tab to the Next button and press Space, or press Alt+N.
If you closed the Startup Wizard during setup, you can open it any time:
- Press Insert+J to open the JAWS window.
Press Alt+H to open the Help menu.
Press Z for Startup Wizard.
How to Move Through the Wizard
Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move through the controls on the page.
Use Space to check or clear a check box, and to activate buttons.
Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to change a combo box or radio button choice.
For sliders, use Up Arrow or Down Arrow for smaller adjustments, and Page Up or Page Down for larger adjustments.
Throughout the wizard, Tab to the Next button to move forward. Use Back if you need to review a previous page.
Complete List of Screens and Settings
Here’s the complete list of screens in the Startup Wizard, in order:
- Help Us Improve Freedom Scientific Products
Speech Settings: Rate, Punctuation, Typing Echo, Enable Voice Assistant
Run JAWS Settings: Start JAWS at logon screen, Start JAWS after logon for all users, Start JAWS after logon for this user, Run JAWS from System Tray, Prompt to confirm when exiting JAWS
Common Options: Smart Navigation, Forms Mode, Use Keyboard Layout, Use Virtual Ribbon Menus, Initial state of NumLock key
Verbosity Settings: Tutor Messages, Access Keys, Verbosity Level
Braille Translation Settings: Language, Output, Input
Braille Settings: Braille Mode, Enable Flash Messages, Reverse Panning Buttons, Enable Word Wrap
Help Us Improve Freedom Scientific Products
The first page asks whether you want to submit anonymous usage data to Freedom Scientific. This is a checkbox that you should only see one time, unless you leave this check box unchecked.
Why you might turn this on: it helps Freedom Scientific understand what features people use, spot patterns around crashes or performance issues, and prioritize fixes and improvements. Some internet-connected features may also depend on this, so leaving it enabled can help keep the full feature set available.
If you choose to send diagnostic data to Freedom Scientific, here’s what will be sent:
Version of JAWS, ZoomText, Fusion, etc.
Windows version
Language and country
Speech synthesizer being used
Braille display and Braille table being used
Freedom Scientific indicates that this data is anonymous and therefore shouldn’t include personally identifiable information. If you prefer not to share usage data, leave it off.
When you’re ready, Tab to Next and press Space, or press Alt+N.
Speech Settings
Rate
Rate controls how fast JAWS speaks. This is a slider, meaning that you can adjust your rate of speech via your arrow keys for smaller increments or your Page Up/Page Down keys to jump by larger increments.
Punctuation
This combo box allows you to use your arrow keys to adjust the level of punctuation that you hear as JAWS reads information to you on screen. The default setting is most punctuation, but you can use your arrow keys to set this to none, some, most, or all.
Typing Echo
This setting lets you decide how much feedback JAWS provides you when typing. Your choices here are off, characters, words, and characters and words. You can use your Up or Down Arrow keys to make your choice.
Off: No feedback when keys are pressed on the keyboard.
Characters: JAWS speaks each key as you type it.
Words: JAWS speaks the word after you finish it (when you press Enter or Space).
Characters and Words: Many of my clients like this option because they can hear letters as they type them but also hear words as they press the Enter/Space bar keys.
Enable Voice Assistant
This check box enables the JAWS Voice Assistant feature, sometimes called “Sharky.” When enabled, you can ask JAWS questions using natural language by pressing Insert+Space followed by A, then speaking your question. This feature may not be available in all versions of JAWS.
When you’re ready, Tab to Next and press Space, or press Alt+N.
Run JAWS Settings
Automatically Start JAWS
There are three settings that control when JAWS starts in Windows:
- Start JAWS at the logon screen: This starts JAWS at the logon screen in Windows only. You can’t change this setting if you aren’t running JAWS in an administrator account. This can be very helpful if you share a computer, or if you sometimes need to sign in without sighted assistance.
Start JAWS after logon for all users: This check box will set JAWS to start for all users whenever Windows starts. This check box isn’t on by default. Again, you can’t change this setting if you aren’t running JAWS as an administrator.
Start JAWS after logon for this user: This is a combo box that has three options: always, never, and using the all users setting. JAWS is automatically set to “always”, meaning that JAWS will always start for the current logged in account. Setting this to “never” turns off JAWS starting for the current logged on account. Setting this to “using the all users setting” will allow JAWS to start but only if the administrator didn’t uncheck the “Start JAWS after logon for all users” check box.
Run JAWS from System Tray
This check box is off by default. If you turn it on, JAWS runs in the notification area instead of showing as a normal window on the taskbar. In other words, you won’t hear JAWS whenever you Alt+Tab through your open windows because the JAWS window isn’t in the Alt+Tab list.
If you want to get to the JAWS window with this check box turned on, either press Insert+J, or go to your desktop and press Enter on the JAWS icon. Because JAWS isn’t running as a window when you do this, you’ll be in a menu with choices such as options, utilities, and so on.
Prompt to Confirm When Exiting JAWS
This check box controls whether JAWS asks you for confirmation before closing. When enabled, if you press Insert+F4 to exit JAWS, you’ll be asked to confirm that you want to quit. This can help prevent accidentally closing JAWS. This setting is off by default.
When you’re ready, Tab to Next and press Space, or press Alt+N.
Common Options
This page groups several everyday settings. If you find an option that isn’t listed here, you can usually get help for it by pressing Insert+F1 while focused on the control.
Smart Navigation
The Smart Navigation setting is turned off by default. This setting tries to simplify navigating tables and forms in virtual documents such as web pages, PDF documents, and email messages.
Off: A good default for many people.
Controls: JAWS will treat interactive web controls as if you’re in a menu bar. If you arrow to a set of buttons on a web page, you can arrow left and right and you’ll hear the buttons as if you’re in a menu in Notepad.
Controls and Tables: Adds table-friendly navigation so you can move through tables more naturally without needing to use the Control and Alt keys while holding down the arrow keys.
Example: on a page with a row of buttons such as Reply, Reply All, and Forward, Smart Navigation can make Left Arrow and Right Arrow move across those buttons more predictably.
Remember that when Smart Navigation is on, JAWS will automatically turn document presentation mode to screen layout. Also, links that appear on the same line will be accompanied by a sound indicating that this is the case.
Note: if you would like to briefly turn off Smart Navigation for exploratory purposes, just press the say line, say word, or say character commands twice quickly.
Forms Mode
This group of settings specifies how JAWS interacts with web forms:
Auto: JAWS enters Forms Mode automatically when you Tab or arrow to a form control on a web page.
Semi-Auto: JAWS will only automatically enter a form if you Tab or Shift+Tab over the form control, but not when you Arrow to it. When this mode is on, you’ll need to manually get out of Forms Mode.
Manual: JAWS only enters Forms Mode when you press Enter or Space on a control.
Use Keyboard Layout
This setting is used to specify what kind of keyboard layout you want JAWS to run in:
Desktop: Usually best if your keyboard has a number pad.
Laptop: Usually best if your keyboard doesn’t have a number pad.
Kinesis: Intended for Kinesis-style layouts.
Use Virtual Ribbon Menus
This check box is off by default. Turning this on makes JAWS turn Ribbon Bars into predictable traditional menu bars, similar to what you would find in Notepad.
Note that this setting may not work in all cases or when an item is activated via Alt combined with another letter. In most cases, this isn’t recommended because modern ribbon navigation and shortcuts are usually more reliable. If you try it and find ribbon navigation becomes less predictable, turn it back off.
Initial State of Num Lock Key
Here you can specify what happens to Num Lock when JAWS starts:
Turn off at startup: This is the default setting and is common because it keeps the number pad available for JAWS navigation commands in Desktop layout.
Turn on at startup: Keeps Num Lock enabled when JAWS starts.
Don’t modify: Tells JAWS to leave the Num Lock as it was configured by your PC or Windows.
When you’re ready, Tab to Next and press Space, or press Alt+N.
Verbosity Settings
This is what I call “JAWS Jibber jabber.” These settings control how much information JAWS gives you as you navigate Windows and applications. There’s a bit to cover here so let’s walk through it together.
Tutor Messages
Tutor Messages are navigational tips that JAWS provides as you move around in Windows and in applications. You’ve probably heard messages like “use up or down arrows to…” or “use tab and shift tab to…”
Announce menu and control help: Enables tutor messages and is helpful while learning. This is the default.
Turn off menu and control help: Disables all tutor messages.
Announce custom messages only: Limits hints to messages created through the Prompt Manager.
Access Keys
Access keys are special hotkeys built into menus or controls. By default, JAWS will announce all keys as it encounters them. You can set this to:
Off: No access keys announced.
Speak all: Announces all access keys. This is the default.
Menus only: Only announce access keys in menus.
Dialogs only: Only announce access keys in dialog boxes.
Verbosity Level
This setting gives you three options:
Beginner: Gives you the most information.
Intermediate: A middle ground.
Advanced: Gives you the least amount of information.
Delineating differences between each of these settings is beyond the scope of this article. However, beginner gives you the most information and advanced gives you the least amount of information. It’s possible to customize each of these settings through Settings Center, but that’s a story for another day.
When you’re ready, Tab to Next and press Space, or press Alt+N.
Braille Translation Settings
This page controls how text is translated for braille output and, if supported, braille input. Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move through Language, Output, Input, and related options.
Language
This will display Braille in different languages. By default, JAWS is set to English United States.
Output
This option controls how braille is displayed. The options here are dependent on what your Braille display language is set to. Common options include Computer Braille, Grade 1 (Uncontracted), and Grade 2 (Contracted).
Input
How do you want to type in Braille? JAWS will automatically set this to Computer Braille so you may not see this setting. If your output mode is set to something other than Computer Braille, then you can select options based on your output mode settings.
When you’re ready, Tab to Next and press Space, or press Alt+N.
Braille Settings
This page contains more braille settings. Some controls appear only when a braille display is connected.
Braille Mode
Determines how Braille is sent to the Braille display:
Line: Sends a line wherever the cursor is.
Structured: Sends information related to contexts based on where you’re in Windows and where your Braille cursor is. This information could be things like title of a window or name of a form control. This is the default setting.
Speech Output: This mode sends the same information to the Braille display that the speech synthesizer gets.
Enable Flash Messages
This is on by default. Flash messages are quick short messages that appear on your braille display. These could be things like the current time, Windows update notifications, and so on.
Reverse Panning Buttons
This reverses the left and right panning buttons. This setting is turned off by default.
Enable Word Wrap
By default, JAWS won’t split up a word if it can’t fit on the Braille display. When you pan to the next element you’ll be able to read the entire word. Turning this setting off will have JAWS display the entire line, but some of the word may be cut off. Your Braille display will show the rest of the word when you pan to the next item.
When you’re done, Tab to Finish and press Space, or press Enter on Finish to save your changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to go through every page?
No. Change only what you want, then Tab to Finish and activate it. If you cancel or press Escape, changes aren’t saved.
What’s the safest way to move through each page?
Tab through the controls, make your change, then Tab to Next and press Space. If you prefer, Alt+N usually activates Next.
When should I turn Tutor Messages off?
Keep them on while you’re learning. Once you feel comfortable and want less speech, turn them off or use the custom messages only option.
Why would I change Smart Navigation?
If Arrow key navigation feels awkward in a web app, Smart Navigation can sometimes make controls and tables easier to move through. If it makes a site harder to use, switch it back to Off.
Should I turn on Virtual Ribbon Menus?
Usually no. If you rely heavily on classic menu behavior and it helps in a specific app, it can be worth testing. Otherwise, leaving it off tends to be more reliable.
What Verbosity Level should I use?
If you’re new to JAWS, start with Beginner to get the most information. As you become more comfortable, you can switch to Intermediate or Advanced to reduce the amount of speech.
What is Voice Assistant good for?
Voice Assistant allows you to ask JAWS questions in natural language, like “How do I change the speech rate?” It can be helpful when you’re not sure which keyboard command to use. However, it requires an internet connection and may not be available in all versions.
Should I enable Prompt to confirm when exiting JAWS?
If you find yourself accidentally closing JAWS with Insert+F4, turning this on can prevent that frustration. If you rarely exit JAWS by accident, you can leave it off.
Conclusion
The Startup Wizard is meant to get you comfortable quickly without digging through Settings Center. If you ever want to revisit these choices, you can run the wizard again from the JAWS Help menu.
I hope this helps you figure out the settings in the JAWS Startup Wizard. Hopefully now you can begin to make JAWS work better for you.
Until next time… Qapla!
Thanks for sharing this, loved how you have structured the overall content.
Agree with the overall pointers mentioned in the blogpost.
“Reverse panning buttons” is an amazing point discussed above in detail. I am going to share the post on my social media pages to see my friends and followers. I hope people will learn something exclusive through this posting. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Brilliant write-up and “Use Virtual Ribbon Menu” is the best point to know from this reading! I appreciate the reading and got some wise words through this posting. I am going to share the post on my social media pages to see my friends and followers. Please keep posting things like this.
Helpful stuff! I can’t wait to post it on my social media pages to see my friends. I had no idea about the “Initial State of NUM LOCK Key” before today. Thank you so much for sharing this post with us!
Hey Alison. So glad it was helpful for you!
Make it a great day!
Thanks very much for going to the trouble to publish this information. I had gotten to about the second screen and I said to myself, “I literally have no idea what these selections that I’m making even mean!” So I got to Googling and found your extremely helpful article. Also very important, I was able to make a note of how to re-open the startup wizard if I want to make modifications down the line. Super helpful all around!
Man, you got some good info here! Last week at work, I was assigned a new workstation, and when I started JAWS I saw the startup wizard and (like most of your other customers) just hit Enter at each screen. But I really like the whole run from system tray setting! I usually have so many other windows open (Outlook, Visual Studio, a web browser, Git and maybe more) that I really don’t need one for JAWS. Thanks for the info!