Michel Coornaert
Strasbourg, France

VoiceOver 10.12

Using Preview with VoiceOver Mac OS 10.12 Sierra


Preview is an application included in MacOS 10.12 Sierra which may be used to read PDF documents. The compatibility of Preview with VoiceOver is not very good. To read PDF documents with VoiceOver, one can also use Quick Look (see Using Finder), or TeXShop (see Using TeXShop), or VisioVoice (see Using VisioVoice). Remark: one encounters many problems when trying to read a PDF document with VoiceOver whatever the application used.

If a scanner is connected to the computer and properly installed, Preview may also be used to scan paper documents. Before purchasing a scanner, make sure that it is compatible with the Mac OS version on your computer.
  • Some important keys:
    Starting from the lower-left corner of your keyboard, you successively find on the same row the following keys :
    Control (= Ctrl), then Option (= Opt), then Command (= Cmd), then Space bar, then Command (= Cmd), then Option (= Opt), then Control (= Ctrl).
    On a Macbook, there is an additional Fn key on the lower-left corner of the keyboard so that you will successively find
    Fn, then Ctrl, then Opt, then Cmd, then Space bar, then Cmd, then Opt.
    The Escape key is located at the upper-left corner of the keyboard. The Shift key is at the lower-left, just above the Ctrl key (on Macbook, above the Fn key). The Home key is located below the F15 key and the End key is just below the Home key. On a Macbook, Home is obtained by pressing Fn + Left arrow and End is obtained by pressing Fn + Right arrow. The Page Up key is located on the right of the Home key. The Page Down key is located below the Page Up key. On a Macbook, Page Up is obtained by pressing Fn + Up arrow, and Page Down by pressing Fn + Down arrow.

  • Important: for the instructions below, it is assumed that VoiceOver is on and that Quick Nav is off.
    To toggle VoiceOver on or off, press Cmd + F5.
    When VoiceOver is on, press simultaneously the Right and Left arrows to toggle Quick Nav on or off.

  • To open a recently used PDF file:
    Go to the Menu Bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to the menu "File" with the Right arrow, then
    Go to the submenu "Open Recent" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press the Right Arrow, then
    Select the file with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar.

  • To open a file contained in the current folder:
    Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to "File" with the Right Arrow, then
    Go to "Open…" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Select the file by using the Up and Down Arrows, then
    Press the Return key.

  • To open a file that is not contained in the current folder:
    Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to "File" with the Right Arrow, then
    Go to "Open…" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Left Arrow a few times until reaching the radio button "column view", then
    If this has not already been done, press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar to check the column wiew radio button, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow a few times until hearing the name of the current folder followed by "pop up button", then
    Select a parent folder of the wanted file by using the Up and Down Arrows, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow a few times until hearing "column view browser", then
    Use the Arrows to select the file, then
    Press the Return key.

  • To open a file from Finder:
    Select the file in Finder (see Using Finder), then
    Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to "File" with the Right Arrow, then
    Go to the submenu "Open with" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Go to "Preview" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar.

  • To read a PDF document with VoiceOver:
    Open the PDF file with one of the above methods, then
    VoiceOver reads the name of the file, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow until hearing "collection", then
    Choose the page by moving with the Down and Up Arrows, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow twice, then
    Interact with text by pressing Ctrl + Opt + Shift + Down arrow twice, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + a to read the chosen page, then
    Press again Ctrl + Opt + a to read the next page.

  • To move inside the text of a PDF document:
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Up or Down Arrow to go from line to line and
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Left or Right Arrow to go from word to word.

  • To pause or resume speech:
    Press Ctrl.

  • To find out the name of the PDF file, the page number of the current page and the total number of pages:
    Press Ctrl + Opt + F2 (on a MacBook fn + Ctrl + Opt + F2).

  • To go to a given page:
    Stop interacting with text by pressing Ctrl + Opt + Shift + Up Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Left Arrow twice until hearing "collection", then
    Choose the page number by moving with the Up and Down Arrows, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow twice.

  • To spell out a word contained in a PDF document:
    Move to the word by using Ctrl + Opt + one of the Arrows, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + w twice.

  • To search a word in the text of a PDF document:
    Press Ctrl + Opt + f, then
    Type the word, then
    Press the Return key.
    VoiceOver reads the first occurence of the word,
    Press Ctrl + Opt + a to hear the sequel of the PDF document.
    Press Ctrl + Opt + g to go to the next occurrence of the word.
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Shift + g to go to the previous occurrence of the word.
    Remark: instead of typing a word in the search field, one can select a word use used in a previous search by moving with the Up and Down Arrows. Press Cmd + Delete to suppress a word from the list of previous searches.

  • To print:
    Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to "File" with the Right Arrow, then
    Go to "Print…" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Press the Return key.

  • To scan a paper document:
    Make sure that a scanner is connected to the computer and properly installed, then
    Go to the Menu Bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to the menu "File" with the Right arrow, then
    Go to the submenu "Import from Scanner" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press the Right Arrow, then
    Select the scanner with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Press a few times Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow until hearing "Scan button", then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Press a few times Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow until hearing "Close button", then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar.
    The scan will be saved as an image file with ".jpeg" extension in the Picture folder (one can select another folder in the first dialog box of the scanning process).
    Remark: one can convert the text contained in a image file obtained from scanning into a text file readable by VoiceOver by using an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software such as FineReader Express (see Using FineReader Express).

  • Some shortcuts:
    To undo: Cmd + z
    To open …: Cmd + o
    New from clipboard: Cmd + n
    To select all: Cmd + a
    To copy: Cmd + c
    To print…: Cmd + p
    To close the current window: Cmd + w
    To close all windows: Cmd + Opt + w
    To quit Preview: Cmd + q

  • VoiceOver Commands

  • To find out the version of Preview on your computer:
    Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to "Preview" with the Right Arrow, then
    Go to "About Preview" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Space bar, then
    Move with Ctrl + Opt + Left arrow and Ctrl + Opt + Right arrow until hearing the Preview version.

  • Preview Version: 9.0 (909.18)

    Scanners used: Epson Perfection V37

  • Please send me your questions or suggestions by e-mail


    • Last Update: August 19, 2017