This page is intended for sighted developers testing the accessibility of Web pages on a Mac. Information about iPhone commands can be found in external links list. Apple maintains a complete VoiceOver Tutorial for Mac OS X.

Page Content

Apple’s screen reading utility VoiceOver comes standard with Mac OS X 10.4 and later. The information below is meant to help users begin to use VoiceOver’s functions.

For a comprehensive list of VoiceOver’s keyboard commands, as well as guides on getting started with VoiceOver and its newest features, see Apple Accessibility.

Activate VoiceOver

To activate VoiceOver you can:

  1. Press Command + F5 keys to toggle VoiceOver on and off.
    Note: On a laptop with
    dynamic keyboard, press Command + the fn key, then F5.
  2. VoiceOver can be toggled on and off from the Systems Preferences panel in the Accessibility settings.

VO Key

The sequence of Control + Option (Mac keyborard) or Control + Alt (PC keyboard on Mac) is called the VoiceOver or "VO" key in other documentation.

Reset VO Key

You can reset your VO key to Caps Lock or none at all in the VoiceOver Utility (Command +) .

  1. Activate VoiceOver (Command+F5).
  2. Open the VoiceOver utility (Command+Option+F8) or from the System Preferences menu by going to System Preferences : Accessibility : VoiceOver : Open VoiceOver Utility.
  3. Set the VO Key in the General window in the menu for Keys to use as the VoiceOver modifier.

Basic Commands

Note: Control + Option = VO Key

Begin/Pause Reading
Function Keyboard Command
Enter Document Control + Option + Down Arrow
Exit Document Control + Option + Up Arrow
Read All Control + Option + A
Pause VoiceOver Control
Access Software Menu Control + Option + M
Access "Right Click" Menu options Shift + Control + Option + M
Open VoiceOver Utility Command + Option + F8
Tab Next item in form/window
Shift+Tab Previous item in form/window
Enter/Exit VoiceOver Command + F5

Rotor Window

The "rotor" is a menu window in VoiceOver which presents lists of Web elements such as headings, links, images and other Web elements. It can be configured to add or remove Web page elements as well.

Rotor window - see details after image

Rotor window showing "Headings" on Accessibility Home page. The first is "2: Quick Links" indicating the presence of an H2 for Quicklinks.

Open and Browse Rotor

Note: Control + Option = VO Key

Rotor Commands
Function Keyboard Command
Open Rotor Control+Option+ U
Close Rotor Escape
Next Window Right Arrow
Previous Window Left Arrow
One List Item Down Down Arrow
One List Item Up Up Arrow
Go to Item Enter or Return
Read After Item Control + Option + A

Configure Rotor Options

The rotor can be configured to display or disable different Web page elements. This is done in the VoiceOver Utility settings in the System Preferences. To open the VoiceOver Utility

  1. Open VoiceOver (Command + F5).
  2. Open the VoiceOver Utility by pressing Control + Option + F8.
  3. Look for the rotor settings options under the Web : Web Rotor tab.
    Note: The location varies depending on operating system version.
  4. Check or uncheck the Web page elements as desired elements.
  5. Use Command + up/down arrow key to reorder elements into an appropriate sequence order.

Additional Commands

Complete lists of VoiceOver commands are available from

iPhone/iPad

A version of VoiceOver is also available for iPhone, iPad and iTouch and is based on finger gestures.

More information about VoiceOver on the iPhone is available in the external links list.

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Last Update: June 21, 2023