Hi All,
Here's the J2021 Beta download link for both
32 & 64 bit systems, what's new in this release and a link
to the FSCast that has demonstrations.
Download Link 32 & 64 Bit:
• FSCast web page, provides demonstrations of the new and
exciting features in the upcoming 2021 release.
• New Features in 2021
New Features Added in JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion 2021
PictureSmart Improvements
Introduced in JAWS and Fusion 2019, Picture Smart allows
you to choose a photo and submit it to be analyzed. A
description of the image is then displayed
in the Results Viewer. To use Picture Smart, press
INSERT+SPACEBAR, followed by P to activate the Picture Smart
layer. You can then press A to describe
a photo acquired from the PEARL camera or a flatbed scanner, F
to describe a selected image file in Windows Explorer, C to
describe the current control,
or B to describe an image on the Windows Clipboard.
JAWS and Fusion 2021 continues to expand this feature by
offering several improvements including:
list of 3 items
• Describing images on web pages: If focused on an image that
is part of a web page, such as a photo on Facebook, pressing
INSERT+SPACEBAR, P followed
by C now describes the photo.
• Submitting images to multiple services to help improve
accuracy: By default, images are submitted to Microsoft for
analyzing. However, the Results Viewer
now contains a More Results link which submits the image again
to additional services for analyzing and displays an updated
description. You can also add
SHIFT to a Picture Smart command to use multiple services. For
example, INSERT+SPACEBAR, P followed by SHIFT+F, SHIFT+C, or
SHIFT+B.
• Using Picture Smart in multiple languages: If you are using
JAWS or Fusion in a language other than English and you
attempt to use Picture Smart, JAWS
and Fusion will use machine translation to display
descriptions in the particular language. You can also manually
choose from 38 languages for displaying
results, configurable using the new Picture Smart Language
option in Settings Center.
list end
Please note that these changes, especially the machine
translation for other languages, is still experimental, so
things may not always work as expected.
Results will improve as we continue refining this
functionality.
For more information on Picture Smart, press
INSERT+SPACEBAR, P followed by QUESTION MARK or refer to the
Picture Smart topic in the JAWS help.
OCR Text Directly into a Word Document
The Convenient OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature
has been enhanced to support sending recognized text directly
to Word. Convenient OCR enables
you to access images containing text that is part of the image
and displays this information in the Results Viewer. This
includes onscreen images such
as the graphical setup screen for an application, an
inaccessible PDF opened in Adobe Reader, a currently selected
image file in Windows Explorer, or a
document acquired by the PEARL camera or a flatbed scanner.
If Microsoft Office is installed on your system, you can
now:
list of 2 items
• Use the new command INSERT+SPACEBAR, O followed by R to
perform OCR on a selected image file in File Explorer or the
Desktop and place the recognized
text directly into a Word document. You can also press the
APPLICATIONS key and choose Convenient OCR to Word with JAWS
or Fusion from the context menu.
• Use the new Open in Word link that appears at the top of the
Results Viewer once the OCR process is complete.
list end
For more information about using Convenient OCR, press
INSERT+SPACEBAR, O followed by QUESTION MARK or refer to the
Convenient OCR topic in the JAWS help.
New Voice Assistant to Help with Various JAWS, ZoomText,
and Fusion Commands and Features
The new Voice Assistant provides a way to interact with
JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion in Windows 10 using speech input.
Supported languages include English,
Dutch, German, Spanish, and French. Ask it to help you out
with various JAWS or ZoomText features using natural speech.
This means that the same action
can be performed by more than one similar phrase instead of a
single predefined voice command. For instance, to launch JAWS
Settings Center, you could
say "Settings Center" or "change settings." Unlike keyboard
shortcuts, which can be hard to remember, natural voice
commands are an easier way to interact
with the JAWS or ZoomText software. Using voice input to
control JAWS or ZoomText can also benefit users with certain
conditions which prevent them from
using a keyboard effectively.
The JAWS Voice Assistant uses your computer's internal
microphone or you can talk to it using an external microphone
or headset. To tell the Voice Assistant
to begin listening for a specific command, there are three
options:
list of 2 items
• Press the key combination, INSERT+ALT+SPACEBAR (CAPS
LOCK+ALT+SPACEBAR for ZoomText and Fusion).
• Speak a specific wake word which alerts to software to begin
listening for a voice command, similar to using an Alexa or
Google Home device. The wake
word is "Sharky" for JAWS and "Zoomy" for ZoomText and Fusion.
Speak this word followed by a specific JAWS or ZoomText
command, such as, "Sharky, list
links," or "Zoomy, increase zoom level."
list end
Note: The wake word is not available if you are using a
Bluetooth microphone. In this case, you must use the keystroke
before speaking the voice command.
list of 1 items
• From the JAWS main window, press ALT+U to open the Utilities
menu, expand the Voice Assistant submenu, and then select Talk
to JAWS. From the ZoomText
or Fusion main window, select Talk to ZoomText.
list end
When the Voice Assistant starts listening for a voice
command, a short audio indicator plays, and a visual indicator
is displayed. After hearing a voice
command, a different audio indicator plays until the command
is processed. After processing, the visual indicator is
removed, a different, short, audio
indicator plays, and the desired JAWS or ZoomText action is
performed.
If the Voice Assistant does not hear anything, the message,
"Sorry, I didn’t hear anything" is spoken. If the Voice
Assistant does not understand or if
the voice command is not supported, the message, "Sorry, I
didn’t catch that" is spoken.
Note: Since all voice recognition processing is performed
over the Internet using Microsoft Services in the cloud, there
will be a slight delay depending
on your connection. Be patient and experiment with different
commands. This is a new technology being added to our software
products and will continue
to change and evolve over time. We welcome your suggestions
and feedback.
To turn off the Voice Assistant or change other options,
such as whether or not JAWS or ZoomText listens for the wake
word or to turn off the sounds, do
one of the following:
list of 2 items
• For JAWS, open the JAWS Utilities menu, expand the Voice
Assistant submenu, and then select Settings.
• For ZoomText or Fusion, select the Tools tab, press DOWN
ARROW on the Voice Assistant drop down button, and select
Settings.
list end
To learn more and to view a full list of voice commands for
specific actions, say "Sharky, help," or "Zoomy, help." You
can also select Getting Started
from the Voice Assistant menu.
Here are a few commands you can try to help you get
started.
For JAWS (Remember to say "Sharky" or press
INSERT+ALT+SPACEBAR before speaking each command):
list of 10 items
• Help
• Talk faster
• Talk slower
• Change settings
• Command search
• What time is it
• OCR PDF
• List links
• List headings
• List spelling errors
list end
For ZoomText or Fusion (Remember to say "Zoomy" or press
CAPS LOCK+ALT+SPACEBAR before speaking each command):
list of 10 items
• Increase zoom level
• Zoom out
• Set zoom level to 5
• Where is my focus
• What time is it
• Activate speech
• Talk faster
• Open Reader app view
• Launch finder
• Change the color enhancement scheme
list end
Improved Microsoft Teams Support
list of 6 items
• If you press ENTER on a document in the Files list which
opens the inaccessible document viewer, you can now press ESC
to return to the files list. You
are also prompted to use the SHIFT+F10 context menu and open
the document in the desktop application, which is the
suggested method.
• You can now press ALT+1 through 5 to go directly to the
first five tab pages.
• Pressing ALT+LEFT ARROW now automatically activates the back
button from anywhere in Teams.
• You can now press ALT+H to hang up a call in progress.
• You can now press ALT+T to set focus to the Teams tree view,
if visible. Note that it is usually only visible if CTRL+3 has
been pressed to show the
teams and channels list. The screen should also be maximized
to ensure this control is visible.
• Pressing ALT+R now raises or lowers your hand in a meeting.
list end
Teams also allows you to show meetings and calls in
separate windows with fewer controls. To do this, press
CTRL+COMMA to open Preferences and select the
check box labeled: "Turn on new meeting experience (New
meetings and calls will open in separate windows. Requires
restarting Teams.)" While JAWS specific
keystrokes for meetings and calls will not work in this split
mode, Microsoft has their own set of keystrokes you can review
by pressing CTRL+PERIOD.
New Keystroke for Changing the Punctuation Level
You can now press INSERT+SHIFT+2 on the number row to cycle
through the four punctuation levels which controls how much
punctuation JAWS and Fusion speak
while reading. The available levels are None, Some, Most, and
All. Similar to toggling Screen Echo (INSERT+S) or Typing Echo
(INSERT+2), the punctuation
level will revert back to the previous setting when JAWS or
Fusion is restarted. To permanently set a punctuation level,
use the JAWS Startup Wizard or
Settings Center.
Announce Most Recent Windows Notification
You can now perform the new layered command INSERT+SPACEBAR
followed by N to have JAWS repeat the last notification that
was spoken. Notifications include
an incoming Teams or Skype call, a recent Zoom message, a new
email in Outlook, and more. If you use a Focus braille
display, you can also press RIGHT
SHIFT+N (DOTS 1-3-4-5). To view and manage all your Windows
notifications, use the Microsoft keystroke WINDOWS Key+A.
FS Support Tool for Gathering System Information
The FS Support Tool is a new utility that collects
information about your computer and sends a report to our
Technical Support and Software Development
teams to help us troubleshoot any issues you may be
experiencing while running JAWS, ZoomText, or Fusion. You will
typically be asked to run this utility
during a technical support session if it is determined that
additional details about your system are needed. Some
information that is collected includes:
list of 9 items
• System information such as processor, RAM, operating system,
architecture, and more
• Event logs
• Version of Adobe Reader (if installed)
• Versions of all installed web browsers
• Information on installed Microsoft Office applications
• Crash dumps
• Installation logs
• Currently running system processes
• User settings
list end
The FS Support Tool can be started from the Help menu in
JAWS, or the Support menu in ZoomText or Fusion and guides you
through collecting and submitting
a report.
Announce Accessible Notification Events
By default, JAWS now automatically announces
Windows generated accessible event notifications in both
speech and braille. These types of notifications
are found in a variety of places including business bars in
Microsoft Office. If you do not want to hear these
announcements, open Settings Center and
clear the Enable Accessible Notification Events check box.
Take care. Mike. Sent from my iBarstool. Go dodgers!
