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JAWS Lesson: Accessing Menus in a Program

The keystroke you use to access menus in a program varies slightly from the one you used with the Start menu. To open the Start menu, you press either the Windows-Logo-key or Ctrl-Escape. To access menus in a program, you press the ALT key or the F10 key.

In the following exercises, you will access the menus and review the menu commands in WordPad. You will also use a keyboard shortcut to pull down a menu and to execute a menu command.

Accessing Menus and Menu Commands in a Program

Complete the following steps to access the menus and review the menu commands in WordPad.

1. Press Insert-T to verify you are in the WordPad program. JAWS announces, "Title Equals Document-WordPad."
   Tip: If you are not in WordPad, hold down the ALT key and repeatedly press and release the Tab key until JAWS announces, "Document-WordPad." Then, release the ALT key. Press Insert-T to read the title again.
2. Press the ALT key to move the focus to the menu bar. JAWS announces, "Menu Bar, File."
3. Press Enter to list the commands that fall under the File menu. This action is referred to as "pulling down" the menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Active New Dot Dot Dot Ctrl+N" indicating you pulled down the menu and selected the New command, the first command on the menu. This command has both a dialog box and a keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-N, associated with it. A selection cursor appears around the command.
4. Press the Down Arrow key to select the next command on the File menu. JAWS announces, "Open Dot Dot Dot Ctrl+O." The Open command has both a dialog box and a keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-O, associated with it.
5. Press the Down Arrow key to select the next command on the File menu. JAWS announces, "Save Ctrl+S." The Save command does not have a dialog box associated with it. The keyboard shortcut for this command is Ctrl-S.
   Tip: To read a selected command again, press ALT+H.
6. Press the Down Arrow key until you have read all the commands on the File menu. Notice the different options associated with each command. You have reached the last command on the menu when you hear JAWS announce "Exit." If you continue to press the Down Arrow key, the selection cursor will return to New, the first command on the menu.
7. Press Escape to close the menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Bar." The menu closes; however, a selection cursor remains around the File menu. This is very important!
8. Press the Right Arrow key to select the Edit menu, the next menu on the menu bar. JAWS announces, "Edit."
9. Press Enter to pull down the Edit menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Active Undo Grayed Unavailable Ctrl+Z." Press the Down Arrow key to read all the commands on the Edit menu. Do not close this menu.
10. Press the Right Arrow key to select the View menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Toolbar View." The Edit menu closes when you select the View menu. Because you did not close the Edit menu, the View menu automatically opens when you press the Right Arrow key to select it. Press the Down Arrow key to read the commands on the View menu.
    Note: When you move to the next menu using the Right or Left Arrow key, JAWS may not read the status of the first command. Press Insert-Up Arrow to read the selected command again.
11. 11. Press the Right Arrow key to select the Insert menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Date and Time Dot Dot Dot Insert." The View menu closes when you select the Insert menu. Again, because you did not close the View menu, the Insert menu automatically opens when you press the Right Arrow key to select it. Press the Down Arrow key to read the commands on the Insert menu.
12. Review the remaining menus on the menu bar. Press the Right Arrow key to select the Format menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Font Dot Dot Dot Format." Press the Down Arrow key to read the commands on the Format menu. Then, press the Right Arrow key to select the Help menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Help Topics Help." Press the Down Arrow key to read the commands on the Help menu.
13. Press Escape to close the Help menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Bar" when the Help menu closes. The selection cursor remains around the Help menu.
14. Press Escape again to exit the menu bar. JAWS announces, "Leaving Menu Bar Document - WordPad Edit."

Using a Keyboard Shortcut to Pull Down a Menu

You can use a keyboard shortcut to quickly activate and pull down a menu. The keyboard shortcut to pull down a menu is ALT-Menu hot key. This tutorial always directs you to use this method when activating a menu in a program. Complete the following four steps to quickly pull down a menu using a keyboard shortcut.

15. Press ALT-F to pull down the File menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Active File New Dot Dot Dot Ctrl+N."
16. Press ALT to exit the menu bar without selecting a command. JAWS announces, "Leaving Menus Document – WordPad Edit."
17. Press the ALT-O to pull down the Format menu. JAWS announces, "Menu Active Format Font Dot Dot Dot."
18. Press ALT to exit the menu bar without selecting a command. JAWS announces, "Leaving Menus Document – WordPad Edit."

Using a Keyboard Shortcut to Execute a Menu Command

You can execute a command quickly using the command's keyboard shortcut. Complete the following seven steps to execute the New and Open commands using keyboard shortcuts.

19. Press Insert-T to verify you are in the WordPad program. JAWS announces, "Title Equals Document - WordPad."
20. Press Ctrl-N to execute the New command without accessing the File menu. The New dialog box appears. JAWS announces, "New Dialog List Box Word 6 Document." This dialog box is prompting you to designate the type of new document you want to create. You will not create a new document at this time.
21. Press Escape to close the New dialog box and cancel the command. JAWS announces, "Edit" when the dialog box closes.
22. Press Ctrl-O to execute the Open command without accessing the File menu. The Open dialog box appears. JAWS announces, " Open Dialog Filename Edit." This dialog box is prompting you to open a WordPad document.
23. Press Tab to move through the fields in the Open dialog box. You will not open a document at this time.
    Tip: Press Insert-H and Insert-B for the hot keys and an overview of this dialog box.
24. When you are finished reviewing the fields in this dialog box, press Escape to close it and cancel the command. JAWS announces, "Edit" when the dialog box closes.
25. Close the WordPad program by pressing ALT-F to pull down the File menu. Then, press X to select and execute the Exit command. When WordPad closes, JAWS announces, "Leaving Menus My Computer List View Not Selected 3 1/2 Floppy (A:)." My Computer is now the active program.

What You Learned:

1. You can access the menu bar in a program by pressing the ALT key. To move the focus off the menu bar, you can press the Escape key twice or the ALT key once.
2. You can press the Left or Right Arrow key to select a new menu once the menu bar is active.
3. You can press the Up or Down Arrow key to select a new menu command once the menu is active.
4. You can use keyboard shortcuts to pull down a menu quickly.
5. You can use keyboard shortcuts to execute some menu commands quickly.

End of Lesson

by Sharon Nichols (nichols_s@tsbvi.edu) 

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