JAWS Scripts

DBT comes with JAWS script files which support JAWS 4.51 or higher. Please note that these are for English use and now also for Russian use. The JAWS script files for using DBT in Russian were developed by Elita Group.

When you launch DBT, a special utility checks to see if your JAWS English settings folders have up-to-date copies of the JAWS script files for DBT. If not, it asks for permission to install the English script files supplied with DBT. If you answer yes, it installs them and also makes back-up copies of any files it is replacing. It then asks for permission to restart DBT and then works on compiling the JAWS script files in each version of JAWS on the system. The JAWS script files for using DBT in Russian are not automatically installed at this point and require manual installation.

Hot keys:

• Insert + h - Provides up to date help and information.
• Alt + 7 - (on top number row) - reads the translated line.
• Alt + 8 - Reads the current style name.
• Alt + 8 Twice quickly - In tabular material, press Alt+8 twice quickly to hear the row and column numbers at the current cursor location.
• Alt + 9 - speaks the current location (page, line, and column).
• Alt + 0 - speaks the current document name.
• Alt + slash - a toggle. The first press switches to the JAWS cursor, positioned at the start of the translated line; the next press switches back to PC cursor.
• Alt + u - toggles setting that determines whether JAWS reads the translated line, when moving up or down in a braille document, is silent or announces each line as braille characters.
• Alt + i - toggles setting that determines whether JAWS announces change of style and/or blank lines implied by codes.
• Alt + o - toggle setting that determines whether requested status information appears on braille display as well as being spoken.
• Alt + p - toggles setting that determines whether JAWS speaks braille cells for keyboard entry in a braille document.

Important tip:

To hear a more generic reading of braille cells, not based on English context, go to the Global menu, select Internationalization, and set Braille encoding for Input and Display to, "Prefer Unicode patterns for braille display." (This is a Radio Button)

Also in the Global menu, select Default views, and set Default font for braille documents (and Font for translated braille line) to Print.

Other features

• For further help on using DBT with JAWS, press Insert+F1 while in DBT.
• When you are editing a braille document, or have the JAWS cursor positioned on the translated line, and you move with the left or right arrow key, you hear the "braille cell" spoken, rather than hearing the ASCII character (for example in English, you might hear "e d sign" rather than "dollar sign").
• The above type of keyboard echo is also available for keyboard entry in a braille document, be it 6-key entry or not; you can choose this with the Alt+P toggle.
• You can set JAWS so that when you are editing a braille document, and you read a line or move to a new line, JAWS speaks the back translation of the line; you can choose this with the Alt+U toggle. Reading the back translation is the default setting.
• When JAWS is reading by word in a braille document, it spells out the word as braille cells.
• When you use the Spell checker, you hear the misspelled word and then the word in context on its line.
• In coded view, when arrowing by character or word or pressing Delete or Backspace, when the item to speak is a code or style code, JAWS speaks it that way.
• When you use a movement command but the cursor does not move, JAWS tells you that you are in the same spot. An example is landing on the same character when you use the left or right arrow key in formatted view, because there is an adjacent code (in coded view).
• In Global: View preferences, if you choose Yes for Use verbose labels, the Unicode number for the current character appears on the status line after the style name. We have not set up a hot key to read that from the status line. However, if you press the JAWS SayCharacter keystroke three times quickly, JAWS uses its own system to speak the Unicode number of the current character. Then JAWS continues speaking Unicode numbers when speaking by character; press the SayCharacter keystroke just once to switch JAWS out of speaking Unicode numbers.
• JAWS tells you when you turn highlighting on or off in DBT.
• When JAWS announces text or codes within highlighted text in a .dxp or .dxb file, the announcing is more appropriate if you are using JAWS 14 or higher.
• When you press the keystroke on your braile device for brailling the next line or the prior line, JAWS brailles the desired line and does not speak it.