Learn and practise VoiceOver on Mac
Use the VoiceOver Tutorial on your Mac to learn VoiceOver basics and practice essential VoiceOver commands.
You can also get help as you use VoiceOver — have VoiceOver speak the key or command you’re pressing, search for commands, learn the VoiceOver sound effects and more.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier that you press with additional keys to enter VoiceOver commands. By default, you can press Control and Option together or just press Caps Lock.
Use an interactive tutorial to learn and practise VoiceOver
You can learn VoiceOver basics and practise essential commands with an interactive VoiceOver tutorial. To open the tutorial, do one of the following:
With VoiceOver on, press VO-Fn-Command-F8.
Choose Apple menu
in the sidebar (you may need to scroll down). Click VoiceOver, then click Open VoiceOver Tutorial.
Hear keys and commands you press
You can use Keyboard Help to safely try out keys and VoiceOver key combinations. VoiceOver tells you which key or command you’re pressing — without typing text or performing the command. When VoiceOver is on, do the following:
Press VO-K to start or stop Keyboard Help.
Press a key to hear its name, or press VO and one or more additional keys to hear the VoiceOver command for that combination of keys.
You can also use Keyboard Help if you use additional methods to control VoiceOver (such as NumPad keys, Option keys, trackpad gestures, Quick Nav or a braille display). While using Keyboard Help, you can’t use your keyboard, trackpad or braille display for other tasks.
Search for VoiceOver commands
If you know the name of a VoiceOver command but can’t recall the keys to press, use Commands Help to find the command, then apply it to the item currently in the VoiceOver cursor.
When VoiceOver is on, open the Commands Help menu by pressing VO-H-H.
Type some letters of the command name to narrow the commands in the menu to just those that contain the letters you typed.
Use the arrow keys to navigate the menu until you hear the command you want. To list all commands again, press Delete.
When you hear the command you want, press the Return key or the Space bar to apply the command to the item in the VoiceOver cursor.
You can use Commands Help if you use additional methods to control VoiceOver (such as NumPad keys, Option keys, trackpad gestures, Quick Nav or a braille display).
Get more information about on-screen items
When VoiceOver is on, there are several ways to learn more about the item in the VoiceOver cursor. Do any of the following:
Hear a description of the item: Press VO-Fn-F3. A sound effect indicates that the cursor is in a blank area.
Hear the item’s help tag: Press VO-Shift-H. VoiceOver tells you if an item doesn’t have a help tag.
Hear how to use the item: Press VO-Shift-N.
Hear more info about the item (when available): Press VO-Command-Slash.
Learn VoiceOver sound effects
VoiceOver uses unique sound effects to denote events (such as a window opening) and locations (such as when there is no more content in a particular direction). You can learn VoiceOver sound effects in the Sounds Help menu.
When VoiceOver is on, press VO-H to open the VoiceOver Help menu.
Use the arrow keys to navigate to the Sounds Help menu, then press the Return key or Space bar.
Use the arrow keys to navigate the list of sounds and learn what each sound means.
Download this guide in Braille Ready Format: BRF (English)