NVDA allows you to read the contents of the screen, current document or current object by character, word or line. This is mostly useful in places (including Windows command consoles) where there is no system caret. For example, you might use it to review the text of a long information message in a dialog.
When moving the review cursor, the System caret does not follow along, so you can review text without losing your editing position. However, by default, when the System caret moves, the review cursor follows along. This can be toggled on and off.
Note that braille follows the focus and caret by default, rather than object navigation and text review. If you want it to follow object navigation and text review instead, you need to configure braille to be tethered to review.
The following commands are available for reviewing text:
| Name | Desktop key | Laptop key | Touch | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move to previous character in review | numpad1 | NVDA+leftArrow | flick left (text mode) | Moves the review cursor to the previous character on the current line in the text |
| Report current character in review | numpad2 | NVDA+. | none | Announces the current character on the line of text where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice reports a description or example of that character. Pressing three times reports the numeric value of the character in decimal and hexadecimal. |
| Move to next character in review | numpad3 | NVDA+rightArrow | flick right (text mode) | Move the review cursor to the next character on the current line of text |
| Move to previous word in review | numpad4 | NVDA+control+leftArrow | 2-finger flick left (text mode) | Moves the review cursor to the previous word in the text |
| Report current word in review | numpad5 | NVDA+control+. | none | Announces the current word in the text where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice spells the word. Pressing three times spells the word using character descriptions. |
| Move to next word in review | numpad6 | NVDA+control+rightArrow | 2-finger flick right (text mode) | Move the review cursor to the next word in the text |
| Move to previous line in review | numpad7 | NVDA+upArrow | flick up (text mode) | Moves the review cursor to the previous line of text |
| Report current line in review | numpad8 | NVDA+shift+. | none | Announces the current line of text where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice spells the line. Pressing three times spells the line using character descriptions. |
| Move to next line in review | numpad9 | NVDA+downArrow | flick down (text mode) | Move the review cursor to the next line of text |
| Move to start of line in review | shift+numpad1 | NVDA+home | none | Moves the review cursor to the start of the current line in the text |
| Move to end of line in review | shift+numpad3 | NVDA+end | none | Moves the review cursor to the end of the current line of text |
| Move to top line in review | shift+numpad7 | NVDA+control+home | none | Moves the review cursor to the top line of the text |
| Move to bottom line in review | shift+numpad9 | NVDA+control+end | none | Moves the review cursor to the bottom line of text |
| Say all with review | numpadPlus | NVDA+shift+a | 3-finger flick down (text mode) | Reads from the current position of the review cursor, moving it as it goes |
| Copy from review cursor | NVDA+f9 | NVDA+f9 | none | starts copying text from the current position of the review cursor. The actual copy is not performed until you tell NVDA where to copy to |
| Copy to review cursor | NVDA+f10 | NVDA+f10 | none | Copies from the position of the review cursor currently set with Copy from review cursor, to the review cursor's current position. After pressing this key, the text will be copied to the Windows clipboard |
| Report text formatting | NVDA+f | NVDA+f | none | Reports the formatting of the text where the review cursor is currently situated |
Note: numpad keys require numlock key to be turned off to work properly.
A good way to remember the basic text review commands when using the Desktop layout is to think of them as being in a grid of three by three, with top to bottom being line, word and character and left to right being previous, current and next. The layout is illustrated as follows:
| Previous line | Current line | Next line |
| Previous word | Current word | Next word |
| Previous character | Current character | Next character |