Strasbourg, France
Using
Adobe Digital Editions with VoiceOver Mac OS
10.14 Mojave
Adobe Digital Editions is a free software that can be interesting
for reading certain PDF files on a Mac computer with VoiceOver.
The compatibility of Adobe Digital Editions with the screenreader VoiceOver is rather good.
When using Adobe Digital Editions,
VoiceOver reads correctly isolated Greek letters
as well as many mathematical symbols
In PDF scientific documents.
Adobe Digital Editions can be downloaded for free on the
Adobe Digital Editions web site.
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.
Reading a document
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 "Adobe Digital Editions" with the Down Arrow, then
Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar.
VoiceOver will read the first page of the document.
To pause or resume speech:
Press the Control key.
To go to the next page:
Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
Go to "Reading" with the Right Arrow, then
Go to "Next" with the Down Arrow, then
Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar.
To go to the previous page:
Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
Go to "Reading" with the Right Arrow, then
Go to "Previous" with the Down Arrow, then
Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar.
To go to a given page:
Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
Go to "Reading" with the Right Arrow, then
Go to "Go To Page…" with the Down Arrow, then
Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
Type the page numbre, then
Press the Return key.
To copy in the clipboard the page that is currently read by VoiceOver:
Press Ctrl + Opt + Shift + c.
To go to a page containing a given word:
Toggle on the Navigation Pannel if necessary by pressing Cmd + t, then
Go to the Search field in the dialog box by moving with Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow and Ctrl + Opt + Left Arrow, then
Type the word, then
Press the Return key.
VoiceOver will read the first page containing the word.
Press the Find Next button to go to the page containing the next occurence of the word.
Adobe Digital Editions Version
To find out the version of Adobe Digital Editions on your computer:
Go to the Menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
Go to "Adobe Digital Editions" with the Right Arrow, then
Go to "About Adobe Digital Editions" with the Down Arrow, then
Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
Move with Ctrl + Opt + Left arrow and Ctrl + Opt + Right arrow until hearing the Adobe Digital Editions version.
Adobe Digital Editions Version used here:
4.5.11.187245
Some shortcuts
Next Page: Right Arrow
Previous Page: Left Arrow
To Go to Page: Cmd + Shift + p
To toggle Navigation Pannel on or off: Cmd + t
To copy in the clipboard the current page: Ctrl + Opt + Shift + c
To Open Adobe Digital Editions Preferences: Cmd + ,
To Print: Cmd + p
To Quit Adobe Digital Editions: Cmd + q
VoiceOver comands
Please send me your questions or suggestions by e-mail
Last update:
June 4, 2020