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Using VoiceOver gestures
with Mac OS 10.12 Sierra
To use VoiceOver gestures,
VoiceOver must be turned on and a multi-touch trackpad is required.
One turns VoiceOver on by pressing Cmd + F5.
Recent MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro have a built-in multi-touch trackpad.
If your computer does not have a multi-touch trackpad, you can install an external one such as
Apple Magic Trackpad.
Remark: VoiceOver gestures must be done quickly in a relaxed and natural way.
Some VoiceOver gestures
To enable the trackpad:
Hold down the Ctrl and Opt keys while rotating
two fingers clockwise on the trackpad.
To disable the trackpad:
Hold down the Ctrl and Opt keys while rotating
two fingers counterclockwise on the trackpad.
To go to the Menu bar:
Double-tap two fingers near the top of the trackpad.
To go to the Dock:
Double-tap two fingers near the bottom of the trackpad.
To open the Application chooser:
Double-tap two fingers near the left of the trackpad.
To open the Window chooser:
Double-tap two fingers near the right of the trackpad.
To interact with an item:
Flick right two fingers.
To stop interacting with an item:
Flick left two fingers.
To select the next item:
Flick right one finger.
To select the previous item:
Flick left one finger.
To open a folder:
Select the folder, then
Double-tap one finger anywhere on the trackpad.
To open an application:
Select the application, then
Double-tap one finger anywhere on the trackpad.
To activate a button:
Select the button, then
Double-tap one finger anywhere on the trackpad.
To read the current page from top to bottom:
Flick up two fingers.
To read the current page from the position of the VoiceOver cursor to the bottom of the page:
Flick down two fingers.
To scroll one page up:
Flick up three fingers.
To scroll one page down:
Flick down three fingers.
To know the current page and the total number of pages:
Tap three fingers.
To pause or resume speaking:
Tap two fingers.
To move to the next option of the rotor:
Rotate two fingers clockwise.
To move to the previous option of the rotor:
Rotate two fingers counterclockwise.
To move to the next item based on the rotor option:
Flick up one finger.
To move to the previous item based on the rotor option:
Flick down one finger.
The options of the rotor depend on the current application.
The character and word options can be used to move by character or by word. In Safari, the link option can be used to move from link to link.
To close a menu or cancel an action:
Scrub two fingers left and right.
(This gesture corresponds to the Escape key).
To turn the screen curtain on or off:
Triple-tap three fingers.
To mute or unmute speech:
Double-tap three fingers.
To hear the effect of a VoiceOver gesture:
Press Ctrl + Opt + k to open Keyboard Help, then
Do the gesture.
Press the Escape key or scrub two fingers left and right for stopping Keyboard Help.
VoiceOver Commands
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Last Update: August 11, 2017