Michel Coornaert
Strasbourg, France

VoiceOver 10.11

Using Dashboard with VoiceOver Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan


Dashboard is an application included in MacOS 10.11 El Capitan containing certain mini-applications called "widgets". Some widgets such as "Calculator", "Translation", "Unit Converter" and "Weather" are already pre-installed. Other widgets may be added. One encounters accessibility issues with some widgets.
  • Note that Dashboard is disabled by default on Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan. To enable Dashboard on Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan, proceed as follows:
    Go to the Apple menu by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to "System Preferences…" with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Go to the menu bar by pressing Ctrl + Opt + m, then
    Go to "View" with the Right Arrow, then
    Go to "Mission Control" with the Down arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar, then
    Press a few times Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow until hearing "Dashboard", then
    Press again Ctrl + Opt + Right Arrow, then
    Select "As Overlay" in the pop up button by moving with the Down Arrow, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar.


  • To open or close Dashboard:
    Press F12 (on Macbook Fn + F12).

  • To open a widget:
    Press Ctrl + Opt + F2 (on Macbook Fn + Ctrl + Opt + F2) twice to access the Dashboard menu, then
    Select the widget by moving with the arrows, then
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Spacebar.

  • To close a widget:
    Press Ctrl + Opt + Cmd + Escape (on Macbook Fn + Ctrl + Opt + Cmd + Escape), then
    Press the Return key.

  • One can suppress widgets in the Finder application (see Using Finder). The widgets are located in the Widgets folder of the main Library folder.

  • Additional widgets may be downloaded from Apple Dashboard's Download page.

  • VoiceOver Commands



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    • Last Update: February 18, 2016