What’s new in VoiceOver on Mac
VoiceOver in macOS Monterey offers new features to give you greater control while using a Mac.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier. See Use the VoiceOver modifier.
VoiceOver indicates when more information about the item in the VoiceOver cursor is available (you can change this setting in the Hints pane of the Verbosity category in VoiceOver Utility). When more content is available, press VO-Command-/ to hear it.
Graphs and charts displayed on websites may include audio graphs to make the data they present more accessible. An audio graph uses tones and pitch to create an audible representation of the data and trends shown in a graph or chart. VoiceOver can indicate when an audio graph is available to play, and read a summary (if available) of the graph or chart and its axes. To access available audio graphs, press VO-U to open the VoiceOver rotor, then navigate the rotor until you hear “Audio Graphs.”
You can download additional languages for VoiceOver Recognition.
If you download different languages in the Voices pane in VoiceOver Utility, VoiceOver automatically switches between the languages, as needed, when reading. For example, if you open a document or visit a webpage that contains French and Spanish text, and those languages are available to VoiceOver on your Mac, VoiceOver automatically switches between them when reading the document or webpage.
You can add a description of an image using Markup—for example, in Preview or in Quick Look. To hear the image description you added, press VO-Shift-L.
When you create a signature using Markup—for example, in Preview or in Quick Look—you can add a description of your signature to help you distinguish between available signatures when you sign PDF documents. In Markup, before you click or tap Done to finish creating your signature, click the Description pop-up menu, choose a description, such as Initials, or choose Custom to create your own description.
When you’re ready to sign a PDF document, navigate the list of signatures, then when you hear the description of the signature you want to use, press VO-Space bar.
The default items available in the rotor when you navigate webpages have changed: Web Spots and Images are no longer included by default, and Frames are included. To customize which items are included in the rotor, use the Web Rotor pane of the Web category in VoiceOver Utility.
VoiceOver automatically creates window spots for additional items in app windows, such as toolbars.
You can use the Trackpad, NumPad, Keyboard, and Quick Nav Commanders in VoiceOver Utility to assign the VoiceOver commands Move to Next Section and Move to Previous Section to keyboard or keypad keys, or gestures, so you can easily navigate window spots and landmarks.
When you use a braille display with VoiceOver, you can select text by pressing and holding the Shift key on the keyboard at the same time you press router keys above the text you want to select. You can also assign a VoiceOver command to use the Shift key on a braille display.