Hi,

To add to Brian’s points, I strongly advise people to install Windows 10 November 2021 Update (Version 21H2) as soon as it is offered to you (currently 21H2 is being prepared for release at any moment).

At least to give folks something to think about, there was a thread on another list that discussed pros and cons of Windows 11 upgrade:

winaccess@winaccess.groups.io | windows 11 pros and cons

There were issues reported in that thread that turns out to be something to do with Edge browser itself (not Windows), you can ignore Edge notes in that thread.

As for the computer itself, to Keith: ask your friend to install Windows 10 for now – just because Windows 11 is here doesn’t mean not all machines are ready for it, particularly if the processor is flagged as not supported by Microsoft documentation and PC Health Check app. If the processor is not one of the following, then you cannot upgrade to Windows 11 (there is an unofficial way, but you must be willing to “sign” a waiver (in the form of agreeing to terms) and future updates are not guaranteed):

• Intel: Core I3/I5/I7/I9 8000/9000/10000/11000/12000/10XXGn/11XXGn, some newer Xeon, Celeron, Pentium (apart from a very small handful of processors from 7^th generation, the processor must be 8^th generation (Coffee Lake) or later)
• AMD: Ryzen 3/5/7 2000/3000/4000/5000, newer Epyc and Athlon (Zen+ family and later)

You must also be licensed to use JAWS 2022 or later (subscription or SMA); 2021 will work to some extent but 2022 is better optimized for Windows 11.

Good luck.

Cheers,

Joseph

I did that, and it did not help.

Hi all,

I downgraded successfully yesterday back to Windows 10 with JAWS. I started by going to Windows update, and then followed prompts until I found the one to Go Back.

I was having three problems with Windows 11, regardless of which screen reader I used.

1. I could not navigate the task bar with first letter or number navigation.
2. No PDF files were readable with any screen reader. The text was there, because I could copy it to the clipboard and then paste it into a Word doc, but I could not read it with Adobe.
3. I could not read the options in the user access control when I went to do something that required me to select yes or no.  Yes, I know about alt-y and that did work.

Oh, there was a fourth thing.  I tried the voice typing mode, and it was very impressive, but then it stopped working.  I eventually got Microsoft support on the phone, and they discovered a pop-up that I had no awareness of.

Yes, that was my thought too.  Oh well, as I said, it’s certainly not a big deal so I will just leave it as is. 

The latest JAWS update is certainly performing faster with Outlook, so that is a good thing.

Thanks for the input, Adrian and Bill.

Pam

I know of no other solution, but this one has its risks. Imagine you get an email in which the following sentence appears:

You need read only the latest news to understand her concern.

After this dictionary change, JAWS would read the sentence this way:

You need the latest news to understand her concern.

I suppose not much meaning lost in this case, but it gives you an idea.

Hi, Pam. The solution that was offered was to put the words read only into the JAWS dictionary, and replace these words with a space character. This can either be done in the default dictionary file, (CONTROL plus SHIFT plus D), or in the dictionary file which is created when Outlook is open, and JAWS key plus D is pressed.

Hi,

Since upgrading to the latest JAWS, when I open an email in Outlook, JAWS now says “read only” before reading the email.  Does anyone know if there is a way to stop this?  It is a small thing, but gets annoying when going through a lot of email.

I think I remember seeing something about this on this list before, but can’t find it now.

Pam

I know of no other solution, but this one has its risks. Imagine you get an email in which the following sentence appears:

You need read only the latest news to understand her concern.

After this dictionary change, JAWS would read the sentence this way:

You need the latest news to understand her concern.

I suppose not much meaning lost in this case, but it gives you an idea.

Hi, Pam. The solution that was offered was to put the words read only into the JAWS dictionary, and replace these words with a space character. This can either be done in the default dictionary file, (CONTROL plus SHIFT plus D), or in the dictionary file which is created when Outlook is open, and JAWS key plus D is pressed.

Hi,

Since upgrading to the latest JAWS, when I open an email in Outlook, JAWS now says “read only” before reading the email.  Does anyone know if there is a way to stop this?  It is a small thing, but gets annoying when going through a lot of email.

I think I remember seeing something about this on this list before, but can’t find it now.

Pam

Hi, Pam. The solution that was offered was to put the words read only into the JAWS dictionary, and replace these words with a space character. This can either be done in the default dictionary file, (CONTROL plus SHIFT plus D), or in the dictionary file which is created when Outlook is open, and JAWS key plus D is pressed.

Hi,

Since upgrading to the latest JAWS, when I open an email in Outlook, JAWS now says “read only” before reading the email.  Does anyone know if there is a way to stop this?  It is a small thing, but gets annoying when going through a lot of email.

I think I remember seeing something about this on this list before, but can’t find it now.

Pam

Hi, Steve. I am aware of this as well. I am also aware that, sometimes, the migration process ends up corrupting all the JAWS Settings. That's why I called Vispero and lobbied for a way to force JAWS NOT to migrate settings while installing a new version. Thankfully, Vispero recognized my request, and put in a check box, whereby you can tell JAWS 2022 not to migrate settings from 2021.

Hi Bill,

I notice though that not all settings are migrated faithfully.

One in particular is verbosity. I have it at intermediate, but although my settings were imported, it put me back to beginner level.

So this migration thing is not perfect yet.

All the best

Steve

Bill,

I had the same experience, even though I was upgrading from 2021 to 2022. However, once directed to the import/export utility, arrowing up once to “Migrate” solved the problem easily and quickly.

Hi, Paula. Once installed, there's not an easy way to merge settings. You would need to use the Export Settings option from JAWS 2021, then use the Import Settings option to import them into JAWS 2022. These are located within the Utilities menu in JAWS. It would almost be easier to uninstall JAWS 2022, and reinstall it, using the Migrate Settings option. What I don't understand is the fact that her settings weren't migrated. This would only happen if she was trying to upgrade from an earlier JAWS version than 2021. The default behavior is to migrate settings from JAWS 2021 to JAWS 2022, and she would have had to uncheck a check box in the JAWS 2022 installer to bypass this option.

Hi all

I was working with someone yesterday who did her upgrade to Jaws 2022 but did not realise there was the option to merge settings. I have looked around as I was sure there must be an easy way to do it after the effect but I can’t find how to do it. Can someone advise me please as it would be faster than trying to go through and find all her settings again?

Cheers

Paula.

Paula Waby

ACATS Trainer

Blind Low Vision NZ

Kāpō, Matarehu Aotearoa

P: 03 466 4244 ext: 4244 | E: pwaby@...

Corner of Hillside Road & Law Street

Dunedin 9012

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Hi all,

I downgraded successfully yesterday back to Windows 10 with JAWS. I started by going to Windows update, and then followed prompts until I found the one to Go Back.

I was having three problems with Windows 11, regardless of which screen reader I used.

1. I could not navigate the task bar with first letter or number navigation.
2. No PDF files were readable with any screen reader. The text was there, because I could copy it to the clipboard and then paste it into a Word doc, but I could not read it with Adobe.
3. I could not read the options in the user access control when I went to do something that required me to select yes or no.  Yes, I know about alt-y and that did work.

Oh, there was a fourth thing.  I tried the voice typing mode, and it was very impressive, but then it stopped working.  I eventually got Microsoft support on the phone, and they discovered a pop-up that I had no awareness of.

Thanks so much Mike. We’ll try this. She is a relatively new Jaws user so maybe inadvertently ticked or unticked something when she tried the update herself.

Cheers

Paula.

Read our new resource ‘Clearing Our Way’, dedicated to the blind, deaf blind and low vision community