Zoom-Text

Zoom-Text is a screen enlargement program for people with vision loss. It also has a text-to-speech component as well. Read the list of instructions below for details on how to use Zoom-Text.

Zoom-Text Keys:

ON = Alt Insert  

OFF = Alt Delete  

Larger =  Alt Plus (numpad)  

Smaller = Alt Minus (numpad)  

Speech On / Off =  Alt Shift S  

Speak All =  Alt Shift A  

Speak Line =  Alt Shift L  

Speak Word =  Alt Shift W  

Speak Focus = Alt Shift F  

DocReader On = Shift Control R  

DocReader start/stop speech =  Enter  

DocReader Off = Esc

Changing the Cursor Options:

The Cursors tab in the Options Menu lets you control the visual appearance of the cursor.

To change the size and color of the mouse pointer:

Check the ENABLE CURSOR ENHANCEMENT checkbox.

Choose the appropriate CURSOR SIZE radio button.

Choose the appropriate color from the CURSOR COLOR list

Choose OK

Opening a File:

There will be times when you want to add to or change a document that you have previously saved. The Open dialog box enables you to select and open a saved document so you can continue to work with it.

There are two ways to open a file from the keyboard.

Alt+F then O

Pressing Alt with the letter F displays the File pull down menu.

From this menu, you can down arrow to Open and press the Enter key or you can press the letter O.

Control+O

This is the Hot Key command for opening a file. By default, your cursor is sitting in the File name field, waiting for you to type in a name. However, most often it will be easier to select a file name from the list in the previous field. Shift Tab places your cursor in the file list field. Now you can simply use the arrow keys to locate the file you want to open and press the Enter key.

Try opening the Letter to Smith file with each of these methods.

Cursor Movement

By default, when you first open a document, your cursor or typing position is located at the very beginning of the document. You can move the cursor to the right or to the left one character at a time by using the right or left arrow keys. You can move the cursor up and down a line at a time by pressing the up and down arrow keys.      

You can also move the cursor using the following keyboard commands:

Pressing Ctrl with the Home key moves the cursor to the very beginning of the document.

TIP: Pressing Alt + Shift + A causes ZoomText to read all the text displayed on the current screen as long as your cursor is placed somewhere in the text displayed.

TIP: Pressing Ctrl causes ZoomText to stop reading the text.

Pressing the Home key moves the cursor to the beginning of the line.

Pressing the End key moves the cursor to the end of the current line.

TIP: Pressing Alt + Shift + L causes ZoomText to read the current line.

 →→→→Pressing Ctrl with the Right Arrow key moves the cursor word by word to the right.

←←←←Pressing Ctrl with the Left Arrow key moves the cursor word by word to the left.

TIP: Pressing Alt+Shift + W causes ZoomText to read the current word.

TIP: Pressing this command a second time SPELLS the word.

Changing Screen Reader Options:

The Screen Reader Dialog controls all aspects of screen reading.

There are three major areas of reading - GUI, Caret and Typing Echo.

To access the Screen Reader Dialog, switch to ZoomText using Alt Tab,

Then press Alt O to open the Options pull-down menu,

Then Down Arrow to SCREEN READER.

Reading Graphics

When Graphics Reading is enabled (GUI Reading), the selected items are spoken as they receive focus.

Caret Reading

Caret Reading speaks text based on the location and movement of the caret. When Caret Reading is enabled, any combination of characters, words and lines will be spoken when the caret is moved.

Typing Echo

Characters are spoken (echoed) with each press of a key. Words are spoken when the word is terminated with a space or punctuation mark. When Interrupt is enabled, typing echo occurs immediately, even if previously echoed text has not been completely spoken.

Verbosity

Verbosity determines the amount of detail spoken when a graphic receives focus.

TIP: Pressing Alt+Shift + S turns speech on and off

Changing Speech Quality

The Speech Dialog controls the speech output of the sound card in the computer. Independent speech configurations can be set for the Screen Reader and DocReader by selecting the appropriate dialog tab.

Speech enables and disables speech output.

Voice selects the voice used by the screen reader

Punctuation Level controls the amount of punctuation spoken.

Rate controls the rate of speech ranging from 0 (slowest) to 100 (fastest).

Pitch controls the pitch of speech ranging from 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest).

Volume controls the volume of speech ranging from 0 (softest) to 100 (loudest).

Sample

To test particular speech settings, type some text in the sample box

and click on the Speak Sample button

The Document Reader

Ctrl+shift+R

The Document Reader is a utility within ZoomText that provides a hands-free way to have the displayed text on the screen read back to you. It is easy to use, but it is also very comprehensive. You can tell the DocReader how you want the text to be positioned on the screen as it scrolls, how fast it reads, and what colors to use to track the individual words being read.

This text can be displayed in a word processor, or in a CD Rom Encyclopedia, or within an E-Mail program or on the Internet. The Text will be reformatted and the DocReader Toolbar will appear at the top of the screen.

TIP: Pressing the Enter key causes the DocReader to start and stop reading.

The arrow keys move to individual words or lines and reads as you go.

Pressing the ESC key exits the DocReader and returns you to the program screen.

DOCREADER TOOLBAR TOOLS:

Play / Pause =  Enter

Previous line = Up Arrow

Previous word =  Left Arrow

Next word =  Right Arrow

Next line =  Down Arrow

Increase magnification = Numpad Plus

Decrease magnification = Numpad Minus

DocReader Settings =  D

Speech Settings = S

Increase reading speed = >

Decrease reading speed = <

Exit = Esc

Speak current word =  Spacebar

Spell current word =  Ctrl+Spacebar

Next sentence =  Ctrl+Right Arrow

Previous sentence =  Ctrl+Left Arrow

First word on line = Home

Last word on line = End

Changing the Pronunciation of Words

The Speech Dialog also enables you to alter the pronunciation of words by first selecting the Advanced Tab and then selecting the Pronunciation button.

A series of dialog boxes will prompt you to first enter the word that is mispronounced, and then prompt you to enter the spelling of the word phonetically. When you have the pronunciation you want, simply press the Finish button at the bottom.

Practice Exercise

Instructions: Open Microsoft Word. Set the screen reader options to enable GUI, Caret, and Typing Echo.    

1. Begin typing the following paragraph:    

DocReader is a full-screen environment for reading text from any  

text-based Windows application. Text is captured, reformatted and  

displayed according to user preferences, including layout,  

magnification, font and colors. Complete documents can be read

automatically from beginning to end, with each word highlighted and

spoken.    

2. Before you finish, make changes to the Typing Echo options in the Screen Reader and continue typing.    

3. Move around the document using your arrow keys. What happens?  

4. Make changes to the Caret Reading option of the Screen Reader and try your arrow key movement again. What happens?    

5. Using Ctrl+Home, move your cursor to the beginning of the document.    

6. Using Ctrl+Shift+R, turn on the DocReader. Press the Enter key to start reading the paragraph. Press the Enter key to stop reading. Experiment using your arrow keys and your mouse pointer. What happens?    

7. Click on the DocReader Settings Tool. Select the Ticker option and then click OK. Move your cursor to the beginning of the document and start reading by pressing Enter. What happened?    

8. Save the file and name it "DocReader". Exit the Word program.  

Saving the Configuration

When you start up ZoomText, the default configuration file is automatically loaded. When you change the way ZoomText looks and sounds, and if you prefer your changes, then you should save those changes as the default configuration file. That way, whenever you load ZoomText, it will come up with your preferences and you won’t have to change them every time.

To save your changes as the default configuration:

With the ZoomText menu active, press ALT+F to display the File pull down.

Choose SAVE AS DEFAULT.

A dialog box appears asking you if you want to overwrite the existing file.

Choose YES

Updated September, 2009 by Cassy Polen, Region 3 Navigator.