--- title: My Favorite Mac VoiceOver commands teaser: The world needs more accessibility tip listicles. Here's one about screen reader testing. tags: web,accessibility,voiceover,usability author: Dave Iverson published_on: 2025-11-10 --- I hop into [VoiceOver](https://support.apple.com/guide/voiceover/welcome/mac) all the time to test the websites I'm building. By testing on a screen reader I can uncover bugs that a blind or low-vision persion will encounter. Here are a few of the commands I use most often. First the basics: - Command+F5 turns on VoiceOver - The VoiceOver keys (abbreviated to VO) are Control+Option. Most VoiceOver commands use these two keys + with at least one more. - Move around with VO+Left Arrow or VO+Right Arrow. Move into groups with VO+Shift+Up Arrow and back out with VO+Shift+Down Arrow. VO+Space interacts with stuff - And, for goodness sake, increase the speech rate. The default rate is tedious ## 1. Ctrl: STOP TALKING!
Using the Control key to pause and resume VoiceOver speech on thoughtbot.com
VoiceOver gets overwhelming. The Control key halts the speech so I can take some time to process everything being said. Pressing Control again resumes where it left off. ## 2. Tab
Using the tab key to navigate through interactive elements on thoughtbot.com
This one's a bit of a cheat, but the Tab key gets extra powers when VoiceOver is on. As usual it jumps between interactive elements. But now I can close my eyes and listen - are the links and buttons and inputs described clearly? Are they missing labels or context? Are they in an unexpected order? Am I forced to tab through an entire nav section without a skip link? ## 3. VO+U: The rotor
Opening the VoiceOver rotor on thoughtbot.com to see headlines, links and landmarks
The Voiceover rotor menu is a treasure. It feels like using Mac's Spotlight. The VO+U rotor has two uses: ### See all the page element names in isolation Firstly - do I see the headlines and links and inputs and landmarks that I expect? What's missing? Secondly - can I understand what each element does? Are there links in the list named "⍰" or "click here"? I'd better fix them. Are form controls properly labeled? Do I see a button with the name "button"? Or an input named "edit text" Better fix them. ### Quick-jump to an element I love jumping to landmarks (page regions defined by `
`, `
`, `, etc.) because I can skip over the header/banner and get to the main page content. And it quickly becomes clear if the header or main or footer or navigation landmarks are missing - I'll get annoyed that I can't jump to them. Landmarks are the foundation of a quality webpage. I also love jumping to headlines to navigate to the feature under test. If I can't quickly jump to a section of the page, that's an indication that the section is missing a headline. When I'm debugging in an edit-reload-test loop, I can quickly get back to a feature by opening the rotor, typing to filter the list, and then jump straight to that element on the page. ## 4. VO+A: Start reading
Using VO+B to tell VoiceOver to read the entire page
This command tells VoiceOver to start reading the entire page starting from where I'm at. I can just sit back and listen for anomalies. VO+B will start reading from the beginning of the page. ## 5. VO+Semicolon: VO keys lock When I'm navigating through a long page it can feel tedious to keep holding down the VO keys. Especially when I'm contoring my fingers to hit the right hotkeys. The VO keys lock (VO+;) acts like Caps Lock but for Control+Option. I can just use the arrows and spacebar and free up my other hand for a mug of tea. ## Share your tricks These 5 commands + the basic navigation hotkeys probably account for 95% of my VoiceOver usage. If there are other neat VoiceOver screen reader tricks I'm missing out on, let me know on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) or [Mastodon](https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot).