What's New in JAWS 11

Security Update for JAWS 11 posted on October 23, 2009.
If you are using JAWS 11.0.734 or later, the security update is already included. If you are running JAWS 11.0.729, please use the Check for Updates feature in the JAWS Help menu to download and install the latest JAWS release. Refer to Check for Updates if you need more information.

This page describes the new features and improvements available in JAWS version 11. Go to Enhancements in JAWS for a list of updated items in the current release. To go directly to the JAWS 11 download links on this page, choose JAWS download links.

Note: If you are not sure whether you are authorized for this version, you can look up your JAWS serial number on the Freedom Scientific Software Activation page by choosing the Continue Product Activation button, and then choosing the link labeled, “Verify the number of activation keys available for your Freedom Scientific product.” Next, type your product serial number and press ENTER. The page that appears provides specifics about your license.

JAWS 11 Features

The following features are new to JAWS 11. For a complete demonstration of these features, listen to the August 2009 FSCast.

Research It

Note: For a demonstration of Research It, listen to the September 2009 FSCast.

Features such as Web Slices in Internet Explorer 8 and gadgets saved in your Windows Sidebar are intended to make it easy for you to quickly obtain information. This material is presented in a format that is quick to scan visually. However, when using assistive technology tools, there is often extra information presented that is easier to ignore visually than when listening or reading with braille.

Research It is a new feature that provides quick access to information while also making it easy to return to your primary task. Use just a few keystrokes to look up information and display salient data in the Virtual Viewer. When you have finished researching, press another keystroke to return to the task you were performing before the research started. All that is required to use Research It is an Internet connection.

There are multiple ways to launch and use Research It. By default, Wiktionary is the primary lookup source. This means that while the cursor is on a word in a document or Web page, you can press the default keystroke, INSERT+WINDOWS Key+R, to quickly lookup the Wiktionary description for that word. You can always change the primary lookup source at any time using the JAWS Configuration Manager, which lets you select which lookup source to use as the JAWS default or as the default for individual applications. As you become more familiar with Research It, and as more lookup modules are created and made available to you, you will want to change the default lookup source used by JAWS, or just use a different lookup source on the fly.

The most efficient way to search for a term is to use the new layered keystroke, INSERT+SPACEBAR, R. By pressing and releasing INSERT+SPACEBAR, and then pressing R, you can open the Research It edit field to type a word or expression of interest. This can be a zip code, or city and state, or city and country that can be used with the Weather lookup tool to read a forecast, or a date that is used to view baseball or football schedules and scores, or a word to use with the Wikipedia search query to view its meaning or description. After viewing these results, press ESC to close the Virtual Viewer window and return to your original focus point.

If you are a software developer or script developer, you can create and customize your own lookup module DLL and tailor it to your organization's needs. For example, if your company specializes in medical equipment, you can create a lookup source that is essentially a glossary of medical and industry terms. A developer's guide that outlines formatting for rule sets and debugging techniques is available at Research It Developer's Guide.

The next section provides examples of how to use Research It. If you need more information, refer to the Research It topic in the JAWS help file.

Research It Examples

The following shows how you can use the Weather, Wikipedia, NFL Scores, and Reuters Top News Stories search options in Research It to look up specific information.

Use the Weather lookup source to receive the current weather forecast for any location based on city name, airport code, or zip code. The following example uses the INSERT+SPACEBAR, R keystroke.

Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, R to open the Research It edit field.
In the edit field, type your current location, for example, St. Petersburg, Florida, or your local airport code, for example, TPA, or your local zip code, for example, 33771, and then press ENTER.

The Research It dialog box opens with a list of available resource items. The primary search item always appears first in the list.
Use the UP and DOWN ARROWS or first letter navigation to select Weather and then press ENTER.
After a few seconds, the Virtual Viewer window opens and displays the weather forecast for the entered location. After reading the information, press ESC to close the Virtual Viewer.

You can use Wikipedia to quickly research an item. The following example uses the INSERT+CTRL+WINDOWS Key+R keystroke.

Press INSERT+CTRL+WINDOWS Key+R to open the Research It edit field.
In the edit field, type the term that you want to look up, for example, Freedom Scientific, and press ENTER.

The Research It dialog box opens with a list of available resource items. The primary search item always appears first in the list.
Use the UP and DOWN ARROWS or first letter navigation to select Wikipedia and then press ENTER.
After a few seconds, the Virtual Viewer window opens and displays the results returned from the Wikipedia lookup. Press ESC to close the Virtual Viewer.

If you want to look at the NFL schedule or scores for Sunday, October 4, 2009, use the NFL Scores lookup source as described in the following procedure.

Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, R to open the Research It edit field.
In the edit field, type the date using the MM/DD/YYYY format, for example, 10/04/2009, and press ENTER.

The Research It dialog box opens with a list of available resource items. The primary search item always appears first in the list.
Use the UP and DOWN ARROWS or first letter navigation to select NFL Scores and then press ENTER.
After 2 or 3 seconds, the Virtual Viewer window opens and displays a list of games scheduled for that day. Press ESC to close the Virtual Viewer.

For a summary of current news stories, you can set Reuters news service as your primary lookup source, and then issue the default Research It keystroke so that you can review the news summary from any application. To do this, first configure the primary lookup source as described in the following procedure.

Note: This example uses the Default.JCF file. If you want to select the primary lookup for a specific application, use JAWS Configuration Manager to open that application's .JCF file.

Press INSERT+F2 to open the Run JAWS Manager dialog box.
Press C to navigate to Configuration Manager in the list and then press ENTER.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+D to open the Default configuration file
Press ALT+S and then R to open the Research It Options dialog box.
Press UP or DOWN ARROW to select a lookup source, and then press TAB to move to the Set Primary button.
Press SPACEBAR to make the selected item the primary lookup module.
Select OK to save changes and close the Research It Options dialog box.
Press ALT+F followed by S to save Configuration Manager changes, and then ALT+F4 to close Configuration Manager.

Now that Reuters is the set as the primary lookup source, do the following to retrieve the latest news stories.

Press INSERT+WINDOWS Key+R.
After a few seconds, the Virtual Viewer window opens and displays a synopsis of the top five news stories. If you want more information about a specific story, select its Full Article link. This action closes the Virtual Viewer window and then displays the complete story in a Web browser. Otherwise, press ESC to close the Virtual Viewer.

JAWS 11 Program DVD

JAWS 11 screen reading software now ships on a DVD that combines both 64- and 32-bit versions of JAWS. When you insert the DVD, it detects if your computer is running 64-bit or 32-bit Windows and then installs the appropriate JAWS version for your operating system.

The additional space available on the DVD also lets us provide you with several RealSpeak Solo Direct English and Spanish voices, a free and full functioning DAISY book reader, a number of basic training audio files in DAISY format, and MAGic screen magnification software, which can be run together with JAWS.

FSReader 2.0

FSReader, the $79 Freedom Scientific software DAISY book reader, is now included free of charge as part of the JAWS 11 installation. Even if you do not have a JAWS 11 license, you can still install and run FSReader directly from the JAWS 11 Demo. In addition to reading all of the DAISY training material provided for free from Freedom Scientific, you can use FSReader to read DAISY books from other sources such as BookShare.org. Note that some DAISY book providers, such as RFB&D, require a valid account to access certain DAISY material. When installed, the full version of FSReader places a shortcut on your Windows desktop and has its own entry in the Programs menu.

MAGic 12, scheduled to release later in 2009, will also include FSReader for free and there is even a version of FS Reader available today for download and use on the PAC Mate Omni at no additional charge.

Word Index

Word Index (INSERT+CTRL+W) is the ideal tool for those who do a lot of reading for study and research purposes. Word Index generates a list of words that appear in a document or on a Web page. The words are sorted and appear in the list based on the number of occurrences with the highest number coming first and then alphabetized. You can scan the list for a specific word or concept, and then press enter to jump to that occurrence of the word and use the Navigational Quick Key W to move between occurrences of the word you selected. You may also choose to create a summary of all the sentences in your document containing the word and review these sentences in the Virtual Viewer. They will appear as links that take you back to that location in your document. This is a useful timesaver since you can get a feel for the context of the word, and then move to the appropriate section of the document and continue reading.

Use Word Index when reading Web pages or Microsoft Word, Outlook, Outlook Express, Notepad, WordPad, or Adobe Acrobat files.

Focus 40 Blue Braille Display Support

JAWS supports the new Focus 40 Blue braille display, a 40-cell display with both USB hardware and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Refer to the Focus 40 Blue user documentation for general information about the unit. For a brief overview of Bluetooth partnership information, refer to the Focus Bluetooth Connection topic in the JAWS help file.

PlaceMarker Enhancements

When you add a PlaceMarker to a page that is frequently updated, the PlaceMarker can drift from its original position or even disappear as Web content is added and removed. In JAWS 11, you can now anchor PlaceMarkers to specific text or HTML elements such as heading tags. This allows greater flexibility when adding temporary or permanent PlaceMarkers on dynamic Web pages. For more information, refer to the PlaceMarkers topic in the JAWS help file.

Filter Duplicate Links

JAWS 11 introduces a new feature that filters duplicate and consecutive Web page links so that only the text link is announced. This is useful when a graphic link and text link, which both point to the same URL, appear side by side on a Web page. Hearing duplicate links can be both confusing and annoying to novice and experienced JAWS users.

The Filter Duplicate Links check box, which is selected by default, is a new Links page control for HTML Options in Configuration Manager. You can also toggle this feature on or off using INSERT+V or INSERT+SHIFT+V with your Web browser or Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Speaking Number Strings as Single Digits

JAWS is now configured to read telephone numbers, serial numbers, and other long number strings as individual digits. For example, JAWS will read the telephone number 727-803-8000 as 7 2 7 – 8 0 3 – 8 0 0 0 instead of seven hundred twenty-seven dash eight hundred three dash eight thousand.

This change has been made by adding the "Speak Single Digits if Number Contains" combo box and the "Dashes" check box to the Text Processing dialog box in Configuration Manager. They are located in the Number Processing group. Select a value in the combo box to set a threshold for JAWS so that if several digits appear in a row, JAWS will announce the digits individually instead of as a large number. Select the Dashes check box so that JAWS knows how to read the number string if it contains dashes without spaces. These changes are both active by default.

Show Word Comments, Footnotes, Endnotes, or Revisions in Virtual Viewer

You can now quickly see a list of comments, endnotes, footnotes, or revisions in a Virtual Viewer window when running Microsoft Word. When you press WINDOWS Key+SEMICOLON, the Items to Display in Virtual Viewer dialog box opens. From this dialog box, you can choose to view comments inserted in a document, footnotes or endnotes that appear in a document, or, if Track Changes is turned on, any revisions made to a document. After selecting which type of item to view, JAWS searches the document and shows the results in a Virtual Viewer window.

Multiple Sound Card Support

Multiple sound card support, originally introduced in JAWS 10, has been expanded so that now both JAWS speech and JAWS event sounds are output to the same sound card. This means that the WAV sound files heard when you enter and exit Forms Mode are sent to the same audio device as JAWS speech. Previously, if these sounds interfered with your audio output, it was necessary to turn off the Forms Mode Indication sounds using Configuration Manager. Note that non-JAWS sounds, such as system sounds, continue to be sent to your Windows default audio card.

Having JAWS speech and sounds directed to the same sound card is also beneficial during a JAWS Tandem session. The JAWS user on the controller system can now hear when he or she navigates in and out of edit fields and combo boxes while in Auto Forms Mode on the target system.

JAWS Tandem Sounds

During a JAWS Tandem session, events that generate sounds on the target system, such as a Windows program error, entry and exit of Auto Forms Mode, or other JAWS sounds associated with the Speech and Sounds Manager, can be heard on the controller system. This means that when an event occurs on the target system, JAWS sends a notification to the controller system so that the controller computer plays the same or a similar WAV file. This is very helpful to support personnel and trainers running the JAWS Tandem session.

Outlook Message List Customization

An Outlook message list is a list box, such as the Inbox and Sent Items lists, that contains e-mail messages. These lists typically contain multiple columns, such as From, Subject, and Received, that provide information about each e-mail message. In JAWS 11, you can use the Customize Outlook Message List feature, which is available by pressing INSERT+F2 and then selecting Customize Outlook Message List, to arrange the column order, determine if certain columns are read, and configure if JAWS announces these columns with speech or braille. The Customize Outlook Message List dialog box functions very similar to the way the Customize List View dialog box operates.

Skype Enhancements

Several improvements for JAWS support of Skype versions 3.8 and 4.1 have been made. Dialog boxes and controls are now speaking as expected in most areas of the application. In addition, there are several third-party Skype scripts available for use with JAWS. For more information about these scripts, visit http://users.visi.com/~dgl/skype/. As with all third party scripts, this information comes from another source. Always use your own discretion when downloading and installing third party scripts.

AOL Instant Messenger 7

New scripts are now available for AIM 7. These scripts support the latest AIM 7 features such as Lifestream and Me tabs, IM Bubbles, and real time messaging. For more information about AIM 7 support, refer to the AOL Instant Messenger topic in the JAWS help file, or the AOL Instant Messenger Web page.

Windows 7 Calculator

New scripts have been created to provide JAWS support for the Windows 7 Calculator, which is available in the Windows 7 operating system scheduled to release in October of 2009. JAWS will work with the expanded calculator modes of Standard, Scientific, Programmer, and Statistics, and will also support Basic, Unit Conversion, Date Calculation, and Template controls. Improvements have also been made to the Function List (INSERT+F8) to eliminate confusion and provide full function names.

UIA Support

User Interface Automation (UIA) support is available in JAWS 11 and later. UIA is successor to the older Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) framework. It is an Application Programming Interface (API) for User Interface (UI) accessibility that is designed to help Assistive Technology products such as JAWS and MAGic to interact with standard and custom UI elements of applications or the operating system.

ARIA Drag-and-Drop Support

JAWS 11 supports the ARIA drag-and-drop properties known as aria-grabbed and aria-dropeffect. When a Web content author applies these properties to objects on a Web page or application, it makes it easier for assistive technology to identify objects that can be selected, moved to another location, and released.

The WINDOWS Key+CTRL+EQUALS keystroke opens the ARIA Drag and Drop dialog box. It shows a list of droppable objects, as tagged by the author, on the current Web page. When you select one of these objects, JAWS will move focus to that object. If no droppable objects are available, JAWS will announce the message, “No droppable elements were found on the page” instead of opening the dialog box.

Use this keystroke with Internet Explorer 8 or later and Firefox 3 or later.

ARIA Live Region Text Filter

An ARIA live region is a dynamic section of a Web page that receives constant updates, such as news headlines, business information, and weather updates. JAWS will announce when text in a region is updated. You may turn this off in the Adjust JAWS Options dialog box using the Announce Live Region Updates option.

Using the ARIA live region text filter, you can determine if JAWS speaks when updates occur, based on a given text string. Open the text filter by pressing WINDOWS Key+CTRL+DASH. Next, type a string of text into the edit field that may be contained in a live region update. Finally, select one of the radio buttons to have JAWS announce only those updates that contain the filter text, or to make JAWS ignore updates that contain the filter text. As a JAWS user, this gives you greater control over the information that is announced when the live region of a Web page updates.

Lost Focus Message

The Lost Focus message is a JAWS alert feature that you can turn on to let you know when a window loses focus, becomes invisible, or becomes inoperable. When these conditions exist for longer than three seconds, JAWS will announce, “Lost focus,” and if tutor messages are turned on, you will also hear, “Press ALT TAB,” which will let you regain focus of an open application, window, or desktop. The Lost Focus message is turned off by default. To turn it on, press INSERT+V and choose the Focus Loss Announcement option to toggle it on. The setting of this option is saved to the Default.JCF file and is constant across applications and JAWS sessions.

A window can lose focus for a number of reasons, for example, when installing or closing an application. When this occurs, the computer can be left in a state where nothing is in focus, which is why the Lost Focus message is such a useful aid.

Application Specific Voice Profiles

For JAWS 11, voice profiles have been modified to make it very easy to select, create, change, and save voice settings for use with JAWS or specific applications. Previously when changing voice profile settings, you had to choose between making a Global Voice Adjustment or an Individual Voice Adjustment, and then decide if the changes would apply as the default setting for all of JAWS or just the current open application. Now when modifying settings, you open one dialog box, Voice Adjustments, configure the profile, and save it. Next, using INSERT+CTRL+S you can select any available profile to use as the JAWS default, and also select the same or a different profile for the current application open on your computer.

JAWS ships with several factory voice profiles based on the synthesizers installed on your computer. This makes it easy for you to use these settings as a template for future voice profiles that you create and save for JAWS and other applications. To create a new profile from a factory default profile, open Voices from the Options menu in the JAWS user interface, and then choose Voice Adjustments. Select any of the available factory settings from the Profile Name combo box, make the necessary voice adjustment changes, and save the profile using a name that can easily be identified with the profile.

Control Description and Verbosity Preferences

Control Description is a new item available for Verbosity Options in Configuration Manager. When selected, JAWS will announce any descriptive MSAA text associated with content or controls such as edit boxes, combo boxes, radio buttons, and so on. This functionality is off by default except when using Beginner Preferences or Intermediate Preferences with Internet Explorer or Firefox.

To toggle Control Description on or off, do the following. Press INSERT+F2 and select Configuration Manager. Next, press ALT+S and choose Verbosity Options. Choose the Beginner Preferences, Intermediate Preferences, or Advanced Preferences button. Move to the Control Description check box, and press SPACEBAR to select or clear the check box. Close the Preferences dialog box and save the verbosity settings.

Third Party Braille Displays

When installing the 32-bit version of JAWS, all braille display drivers previously shipped in earlier versions of JAWS will continue to be provided and work with JAWS 11 as expected.

For JAWS 64-bit, Freedom Scientific braille displays, such as the Focus, PAC Mate Portable, and PowerBraille displays, will be included and installed as part of the JAWS 11 installation. Third party braille display manufacturers will be provided separately from the manufacturers themselves. At the time of this writing, only Papenmeier in Germany has completed and published their drivers for JAWS 11 and JAWS 10 on 64-bit Windows.

After the support files are installed on your computer, you will continue to use the JAWS Synthesizer and Braille Manager to add a third party braille display to use with JAWS.

Table Reading Keystrokes

The keystrokes to read the previous or next row and previous or next column in a table now include the ALT keystroke to avoid conflicts with the Windows 7 operating system. Use the following keystrokes when reading by row or column in a table:

Read prior row: WINDOWS Key+ALT+UP ARROW
Read next row: WINDOWS Key+ALT+DOWN ARROW
Read prior column: WINDOWS Key+ALT+LEFT ARROW
Read next column: WINDOWS Key+ALT+RIGHT ARROW

Virtualize Current Window Keystroke

The Virtualize Current Window keystroke is now INSERT+ALT+W. The previous keystroke, INSERT+CTRL+W, is now used for Word Index.

Virtualize Current Control Keystroke

The Virtualize Current Control keystroke is now INSERT+ALT+SHIFT+W. The previous keystroke was INSERT+CTRL+SHIFT+W.

Messenger Conversation Keystrokes

The keystrokes to cycle between Windows Live Messenger or MSN Messenger conversations, WINDOWS Key+1 through 0, have changed due to conflicts with the Windows 7 operating system. In Messenger, you now press INSERT+SPACEBAR+1 through 0 to switch to a different conversation. For Windows 7 and Windows Vista computers, the WINDOWS Key+1 through 0 keystrokes launch or cycle between applications on the Taskbar.

Script Utility Mode Keystroke

The name of the Home Row Utility has been changed to Script Utility Mode. In addition, the keystroke to toggle this mode on or off is now INSERT+WINDOW Key+NUM PAD MINUS instead of INSERT+SPACEBAR. Script Utility Mode is a function for advanced scripters. The laptop keystroke for Script Utility Mode is CAPS LOCK+WINDOWS Key+DASH.

Drag and Drop for Laptop Layout Mode Keystroke

The laptop keystroke for Drag and Drop has changed from CAPS LOCK+CTRL+8 to CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+8.

Toggle Outlook Reminder and Research It Keystroke

The keystroke previously used to toggle into and out of an Outlook reminder dialog box, INSERT+WINDOWS Key+R, is now used to launch the new Research It feature. If you want to continue using the ToggleOutlookReminder script, open the default.jkm file and assign a new keystroke.

Basic Training Updated for JAWS 11

The JAWS 11 Basic Training has been revised and includes the latest information about the new JAWS 11 features. The training is available in text and audio DAISY format as well as individual MP3 modules. For more information about these and other DAISY and MP3 training files, visit the Freedom Scientific Training Headquarters.

Enhancements in JAWS 11.0.734 (October 2009)

The following was addressed between the final JAWS 11.0.729 release and the JAWS 11.0.734 posting. All enhancements since the initial public beta release are included in this release.

Security update for JAWS 11.

Enhancements in JAWS 11.0.729 (October 2009)

The following is a list of items addressed during the JAWS 11 development cycle and public beta releases.

JAWS

Resolved a reported issue where, when trying to use JAWS and DecTalk Access32 without authorization, the pitch and rate settings for Eloquence were set to the maximum values.
Resolved an issue where JAWS was preventing certain processing of non-English characters in Console Applications when using non-English keyboard layouts.
Resolved an issue with Power Braille not properly re-initializing after returning from Standby.
Resolved reported issues where Research It lookups were failing in 64-bit Windows operating systems.
JAWS announces the correct value that is exposed via the valuenow attribute when interacting with a widget in Internet Explorer.
JAWS reads IBM Eclipse popup windows.
JAWS successfully works with FSBraille after using multiple accounts to log on to Windows.
Run JAWS from the command line with the /seloq switch, or /sRealSpeak switch, and Eloquence and RealSpeak pitch and speed are set to maximum and RealSpeak speaks Spanish.
The PowerBraille display works when installing the JAWS Network Client.
The Network JAWS client can switch to RealSpeak Solo Direct or SAPI5 synthesizers from Eloquence.
Resolved issue where SAPI4 synthesizers were not showing up in the Voice Profile list.
With PAC Mate Desktop running, voice parameters for the current synthesizer can be changed.
When you perform a search using Research It and you read the results in braille, the Virtual Viewer window no longer shows table coordinates for every line.
When you enter a date for an NFL or MLB game in the past, Research It no longer reports today's schedule or scores.
Resolved an issue where firewall settings may be causing problems with yielding Research It results
Updated the PlaceMarkers help topic with the proper keystrokes to allow users to move to PlaceMarkers 1 through 4.
Resolved a reported issue where screen corruption could occur at the location of the I-Beam mouse pointer in Windows XP on a notebook using an ATI Radeon X300.
JAWS incorrectly translates "and" in the braille rendering of the word fandom.
Resolved an issue with the PowerBraille 65/80 where braille F8+F9 caused an unknown function call to braillegrade2translatecurrentword.
Resolved a reported issue with speech being maintained on the PAC Mate when voice adjustments are made and an attempt is made to save changes. Note that this happened when users were using the PAC Mate Remote option only.
ResearchItByEnteringTerm has been added to INSERT+SPACEBAR, R.
Resolved a reported issue where the wrong rule set was getting called when choosing the Weather lookup in certain cases.
A Research It query now accepts Unicode and other special characters used in search strings.
Synchronizing scripts in JAWS 11 results in compilation failure
Synthesizer does not change but other settings do change when switching back to controller during a JAWS Tandem session.
If client is using DECTalk Express and likely other hardware, starting JAWS on the server renders wrong default DECTalk settings.
JAWS correctly announces that ALT+V is the access key for the Voice group when navigating controls in the Voice Adjustment dialog box.
JAWS now reads the Shutdown button on the Windows 7 Start menu when you press TAB to move to it.
Adjusted the Word navigation keyboard commands list so it now reads JAWS Key+Z instead of INSERT+Z.
All text is now spoken when scrolling through the Index list in the JAWS help file.
The functions ScreenEchoToggle and PunctuationSetLevelTextOutput now use different messages instead of cmsg15_l. This resolves a previous localization issue.
Rule files (.rul), for all Research It rule sets, now contain a version number.
The Weather lookup source in Research It now accepts airport codes.
A clear and concise message now appears in the Virtual Viewer window if a time-out error occurs when using Research It.
When you press WINDOWS Key+INSERT+R, the first line in the Virtual Viewer window contains the name of the lookup source that is being used followed by the term that you are searching for when using Research It.
FSTxtSvc supports composition selection function.
The beta version of Online Bible 3 runs with JAWS 11.
In the Windows XP Control Panel User Account dialog box, JAWS now speaks the highlighted user account in the account grid.
Contracted English Braille: nowise should not use the ow-sign.
Contracted English Braille: Outdistance should not use the st-sign.
Contracted English Braille: Psychedelic should not use the ed-sign.

Adobe Flex

When navigating a treeview, JAWS now announces information for different levels.
Resolved an issue where unexpected text was added to a list item's name.
JAWS no longer double-speaks when navigating a list of items in treeview.

Adobe Reader

Resolved a reported issue in Acrobat Reader where JAWS would not always navigate away from combo or list boxes after entering and exiting Forms Mode.
The Virtual buffer location now follows the document's visual location when using CTRL+PAGE DOWN.

Apple iTunes 9

Resolved an issue in iTunes 9 where the Virtual Cursor was always sent to the top of the page after pressing a preview button on an album page. Note that resolving this issue will result in the Virtual Cursor not always being at the top of new pages when they load. In this case, you will have to press CTRL+HOME to move to the top if you want to start reading there.
Resolved issues reported in iTunes 9 regarding empty virtual buffers in the iTunes store.
Resolved an issue where the iTunes process remained running after performing a search in the iTunes store and then closing the iTunes application.
Resolved problems that started in Version 9 of the iTunes Store's HTML content. After searching for music, you no longer need to press INSERT+ESC to refresh the virtual buffer to see updated information such as album details, podcast information, and so on.
Resolved an issue where text was not read correctly in the search edit field if you pressed BACKSPACE to remove text you had typed. Turning on Enhanced Edit in the iTunes.jcf file also addressed the issue for JAWS 10.
Resolved an issue where the Virtual buffer was not active, and, as a result, much of the store content was not accessible.

DotNet

Resolved an issue where JAWS 10 was not reading next or prior characters when the PC Cursor is in a read-only text box.

Eudora E-mail

Eudora e-mail scripts have been updated and include updated help messages when viewing Eudora settings from the Adjust JAWS Options dialog box (INSERT+V).

Internet Explorer

Resolved an issue when using Internet Explorer 8 on non-English Windows XP operating systems where pressing TAB to move to the compatibility button on the tool bar would result in a lock-up or instability.
Resolved an issue reported in Internet Explorer 7 where, after using ALT+DOWN ARROW to open a combo box, JAWS would not announce the highlighted item while navigating a Web page.
Resolved an issue where JAWS would not properly disable Flash content on Web pages in the JAWS Options dialog box.
JAWS no longer reads the wrong page at www.dominos.ca.
When using CTRL+TAB or CTRL+SHIFT+TAB to move between tab pages in Internet Explorer, the sluggishness that was once observed when using ARROW Keys to move about a Web page has been resolved.
When using the JAWS Find feature, if the search string included more than 10 characters, the search feature will now wrap from the bottom of the Web page to the top to continue the search.
Resolved an issue where JAWS was inserting unnecessary blank lines on pages when a braille user set the Document Presentation option to Screen Layout.
The announcement of Frame Name and Text was not automatically being announced when using the TAB key to navigate to it. This has been resolved.
Resolved an issue in Internet Explorer 8 where the Virtual Viewer was not appearing on screen with the Hot key help when pressing INSERT+H.
Resolved a reported issue where there were no blank lines between search results on www.altavista.com.
It is easier to move to the message body of a new e-mail message with JAWS while using the Hotmail Web interface.
Resolved an issue where certain graphics in Outlook Web Access were not showing in braille.
Resolved an issue reported where copy and paste from Internet Explorer to an HTML e-mail in Outlook was not including all markup. The example was a live link which was also a heading. In this case, it was being pasted as a heading only.
HTML buttons are now being read correctly.
JAWS now announces items instead of saying "Not selected" when navigating through the list of items that appear in the Internet Explorer Download dialog box on a Windows 7 computer.
INSERT+F7 on www.liveatc.net now shows all links found on the page.
Resolved a specific issue in Internet Explorer where pressing SPACEBAR on a check box, with Forms Mode off, did not echo the prompt and state of the check box.
JAWS now correctly reads Web page content at the Motley Fool Web site.
Resolved an issue where the ARIA "dialog" role was not working properly in Internet Explorer 8 with JAWS 11.
Resolved an issue where some of the form controls on a Web page were skipped when navigating the page using the F Navigation Quick Key.
You can now select the preview songs buttons on CDBaby.com

Java

Resolved a reported issue where JAWS was not reading submenus correctly in Java applications.

MAGic

Resolved an issue where scripts, written and provided in MAGic for an application, would not always load while running JAWS and MAGic together, even though JAWS does not have scripts for the application.
Resolved an issue where the Oval and Triangle cursor enhancement attributes in MAGic were not fully visible when running JAWS and MAGic together.
When running JAWS and MAGic together, you can successfully select words in a Word document by double-clicking with the mouse.
When running JAWS and MAGic together, you can move the mouse across a line of text in an application without interrupting JAWS speech and having JAWS repeat the text.

Microsoft Access

Resolved a reported issue in Microsoft Access where JAWS was not properly tracking in grid controls.

Microsoft Excel

Resolved a reported problem where the JAWS feature to return to a previous cell, CTRL+SHIFT+GRAVE, after having moved to a monitor cell was not working as expected.
Excel Title Reading Verbosity and Title Reading row and column definitions are being ignored after saving.
Identified an issue in Microsoft Excel when trying to use the JAWS feature to "Append To Clipboard" WINDOWS Key+C. This problem was causing a crash of Excel in some cases so we disabled the Append to Clipboard JAWS feature for this application only.
Help messages for setting column and row titles through Adjust JAWS Options have been updated.
When you navigate to a monitor cell in a worksheet, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+GRAVE, focus will now return to the cell that had prior focus.
In an Excel worksheet, where the view is set to Split Window or Freeze Panes Window, JAWS will now list cells with comments when you press CTRL+SHIFT+APOSTROPHE.
Page Break Detection, CTRL+SHIFT+B, can be turned on or off for the current Excel worksheet using the INSERT+V, Adjust JAWS options, keystroke.
Using CTRL+SHIFT+B, you can view a list of cells located at horizontal and vertical page breaks in an Excel worksheet.
Form Control Detection, used to identify list boxes, check boxes, and similar form controls, can be turned on or off for the current Excel worksheet using INSERT+V.
If a worksheet contains a text box, JAWS can show the contents of the text box in a Virtual Viewer window when you press CTRL+SHIFT+T.
JAWS now reports meaningful color control values when navigating the controls of the Fill tab in the Format Cells dialog box (CTRL+SHIFT+P).
Addressed a reported issue where workbooks that contain multiple worksheets would sometimes read cell text from the wrong worksheet when switching back and forth.

Microsoft Office

JAWS can now see the buttons in the Microsoft Office 2007 installer on Windows 7 computers.
When using the Scope attribute with the <TD> tag in an HTML table, JAWS correctly processes the tag and reads table row and column headings.
The keyboard help message for CTRL+T now states that the keystroke creates a hanging indent when used while working in a Word document or composing an Outlook e-mail message. Otherwise, the keystroke will perform its default action.
JAWS now selects and announces all characters and punctuation when using Extended Mode (F8) to select characters or punctuation in a Word or Outlook document.
The ALT+1 through ALT+4 keystrokes in Office 2007 applications, such as Word and PowerPoint, have been unassigned in JAWS to avoid conflicts with any quick access toolbar functions native to those applications.

Microsoft Outlook

Resolved reported issues where prompts were not read properly when saving message attachments in Outlook 2003.
Resolved an issue where the sender of a message was not being announced if there was no subject for the message.
Resolved an intermittent issue in Outlook 2003 where, when an e-mail message is opened, JAWS announces "dal= on" at the top of the message.
Addressed several reported issues that occurred when using CTRL+D to delete Outlook e-mails. In some cases, JAWS was not reading other HTML e-mail messages after deleting the current message. This has been resolved.
Resolved a reported issue where the presence of a Flag associated with a message was not being indicated while navigating through the Outlook 2003 Inbox.
Resolved an issue where there was speech delay when using the ARROW Keys to move through Outlook 2007 menus on a Windows XP computer.
Resolved a reported issue where Outlook 2007 failed to close for 30 seconds or more when using a braille display connected via USB.
Resolved an issue where JAWS would announce "0 items" when switching from a folder with no items to a folder that contains items.
Resolved a reported issue where Rich Text messages were being read in Outlook XP and Outlook 2003.
JAWS no longer misreads Header fields with shortcut keys after focus is placed in the Tasks notes field.
Resolved an issue where JAWS was very sluggish when navigating through grouped messages in Outlook message folders.
Resolved an issue when reading an e-mail sent from Outlook 2003 would insert a space character on each blank line.
Blank lines are inserted before DIV tags when they should only cause a new line. This causes excessive white space in e-mail messages.
Text is now entered when typing in the Text Search Pattern edit field of the Skim Reading dialog box in an Outlook 2007 message.
Resolved a reported issue with sluggish performance in Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 when navigating through messages in an Exchange Server folder with Windows Vista and VPN access.
With Outlook AutoPreview turned on, move through the message list and JAWS now speaks the Preview window.
Folder names are announced correctly when you press TAB to move from the message list to the Folder tree view.
Resolved an issue reported in Outlook 2003 where the message list appeared to be empty except for message flags in certain situations.
Resolved reported issues when using CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW to select text was not always announcing the text in Outlook and Word.
The first two lines of a highlighted message are now read when AutoPreview is on.
Resolved a reported issue where Navigation Quick Key mode was not working correctly when reading or reviewing messages.
Now able to read text when composing an out of office note in Outlook 2007 and using UP and DOWN ARROW keys.
In Outlook, JAWS now announces the sender of the message when there is no text in the Subject field.
Resolved an issue where JAWS speech stopped after pressing the Reply Directly to Sender command (JAWS Key+SHIFT+R).
INSERT+F1 help messages for the JAWS list of links feature have been updated for link fields.
If you have two identical messages that are sent one after the other, JAWS will now read both messages when navigating through the Sent Items list box.
Complete message information is now displayed or spoken when pressing ESC to exit a menu or dialog box that is at least two levels deep.
In Outlook 2003, JAWS is now speaking correctly when you select non-contiguous items in the address book when addressing a message.
Information is now announced by JAWS when navigating forward or backward through the checkbox options that appear in the Toolbar's Customize dialog box under the View menu.
In the new contact dialog box, phone number labels are correctly announced as business, home, mobile, and so on.
JAWS no longer announces additional date and time abbreviations when moving through Calendar time slots using UP or DOWN ARROW.
When you press CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW to select paragraphs in an e-mail message, JAWS now reads the selected paragraph text.
When using the ARROW Keys to navigate through the list of results in the Advance Find dialog box, the highlighted messages are now announced only once.
JAWS now correctly reads the Subject line information of any e-mail message that begins with the word "Attachment" in its subject line.
JAWS now announces location elements once when using the UP or DOWN ARROW keys to move through the New Appointments dialog box.
The Location label is now announced by JAWS when you press TAB to move through the Appointment dialog box.
If you launch the Research It feature from an open e-mail message, pressing ESC to close the Virtual Viewer window no longer closes the e-mail message too.
Sluggishness, once seen when moving through various dialog boxes, no longer occurs in Outlook.
When you move from a message list to a folder tree view, JAWS now announces the number of unread messages for the selected folder.
If the current view is set to show all appointments, active appointments, or reoccurring appointments in Calendar, JAWS now reads the currently highlighted item when using the UP and DOWN ARROWS to move through the list.
JAWS correctly speaks and displays in braille any items that are highlighted when using the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to move through a list of tasks and appointments.
When an appointment starts and ends, for example at 18:15 and 18:45, when the Regional and Language settings are configured for French, the end time slot is now tagged as containing the appointment.
When composing an e-mail while the Font dialog box is open in Outlook Express, JAWS no longer plays the Forms Mode On sound when you first enter the dialog box.
The Microsoft Outlook 2007 key map file (.jkm) has been updated to include the following keystrokes and functionality: F8 = Selection by Unit Mode, SHIFT+F8 = Reduce Selection by Unit, and CTRL+SHIFT+F8 = Selection by Movement Mode.
Now, when reading link text in an Outlook 2007 e-mail message, JAWS no longer announces the words “end link” after reading a link in an HTML e-mail message. If you want to restore this announcement, you can do so by pressing INSERT+V to open the Adjust JAWS Options dialog box and then toggling on the Announce End Links in a Message item in the Reading Options group.
W, the Navigation Quick Key for the Word Index List feature, works with Outlook 2007 read-only messages.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Resolved a reported issue where PowerPoint 2003 would not always unload from memory when it was closed while running JAWS.

Microsoft Project

Resolved a reported problem in Microsoft Project when attempting to open Properties or Information for different items.

Microsoft Word

Resolved an issue where text selected using CTRL+SHIFT+UP ARROW or CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW was not being announced.
Resolved an issue in Word 2007 where JAWS was not echoing the proper text when selecting by word.
Resolved a reported problem where, after turning on Navigation Quick Key mode, no indication about tables was given when using the Navigation Quick Key T.
Commands for reading next and previous columns, ALT+WINDOWS Key+RIGHT ARROW and ALT+WINDOWS Key+LEFT ARROW, work in non uniform tables.
Applying a style to a document no longer causes JAWS to see the document as a table.
Revision and bookmark information now appears in braille as the document is navigated.
When selecting text, braille now moves off the top line of the selection; it is now possible to accurately see what is selected when only using braille.
Line reading is available after pressing ESC, SPACEBAR, or ENTER, and then ESC from the Apply button of Style dialog box.
Resolved an issue in Word where JAWS was not recognizing tables or table reading commands.
When using WINDOWS Key+SEMICOLON to open and view a list of comments, end notes, footnotes, or revisions in a Word document, JAWS will now announce the number and type of items in the document. For example, if a document contains 16 comments, JAWS will announce this when the Virtual Viewer window opens.
The description for the Word Classic scheme, selected from the Speech and Sounds Manager in Configuration Manager, now clearly states that superscripts and subscripts are suppressed when reading a Word document.
JAWS now announces field data as you navigate a Word document by line.
Resolved an issue where there was a mismatch between the keyboard help message and functionality of some Navigation Quick Keys in Microsoft Word.
Many keystrokes, such as first-letter navigation and SPACEBAR are now available in JAWS and other dialog boxes when Navigation Quick Keys mode is turned on.
JAWS correctly reads items when navigating through the Header list.
In a Word document, you can press the Navigation Quick Keys H or SHIFT+H to jump to the next or previous heading. Now, after turning on Navigation Quick Keys, you can press 1 through 9 to jump to the next heading at that heading level. For example, 2 will move focus to the next level 2 heading in the Word document. SHIFT+2 will move focus to the previous level 2 heading.
If a document contains insertion and deletion markup, and you set the Tracking view to Final, JAWS no longer announces any of the Tracking changes in the document.
When the Show all Formatting Marks check box is selected in Word, JAWS announces all formatting marks including Paragraphs marks.

Mozilla Firefox

JAWS now correctly speaks screen text information on Web sites with buttons whose text value is different from screen text, such as travelocity.com.
Resolved a reported problem where Flash buttons, such as Play and Pause, were not appearing on youtube.com.
Resolved an issue where AutoForms mode turns on when you navigate into a disabled edit field.
When Auto Forms Mode is on and you navigate out of a multi-line edit field using the UP or DOWN ARROW keys, JAWS now moves focus to the next line after the edit field.
Resolved a reported problem where some radio buttons were not properly identified by JAWS 11 with Firefox 3.5.
Resolved an issue when trying to exit Forms Mode when running Firefox on a Windows XP computer.
Resolved an issue where Forms Mode would turn off when entering the message edit area of a Gmail message.
Resolved an issue where JAWS would insert a new line before and after HTML <tt> tags on a Web page.
Focus not placed on edit field when opening home page or new page.
Headings that span more than one line, such as Facebook status headings, are now correctly announced when you cycle through headings using H or SHIFT+H.
JAWS now announces all content when navigating the Microsoft Genuine Microsoft Software Web page.
Added range functionality to IME scripts involved with composition
In Application mode, when using TAB to navigate a virtual document, JAWS correctly announces links.

PAC Mate

Landmark keystrokes are now available for PAC Mate Remote.
The configured Voice settings for JAWS on the desktop now hold on the PAC Mate when a PAC Mate desktop session is launched.

Skype

Incorrect functionality observed while pressing SHIFT+TAB in the Options dialog box.
JAWS speaks and shows in braille the same information when navigating a Skype treeview list.
You can use braille panning to read longer controls or static text.
The Skype 4.0 upgrade message now recommends that you upgrade to Skype 4.1 or later.
JAWS correctly announces changes when increasing or decreasing slider values in Skype 3.8.
Updated screen-sensitive help messages for Skype 4.1 and later.

Windows 7

Improved speech and braille in Start menu of Windows 7.
Improved handling of Windows Explorer in Windows 7.
Windows Media Player 12 has the same level of support found in Windows Media Player 11.
Enhancements have been made to the INSERT+F11 keystroke for Task Tray operation.
Improved handling of common dialog boxes found in Windows 7 and Windows 7 applications. These dialog boxes include File, Save As, and Open, and various properties dialog boxes such as volume control, File and Folder Options, Taskbar, and Start Menu options.
Conflicts with previous Messenger Conversation keystrokes have been resolved as mentioned in the Messenger Conversation Keystrokes section of this page.

Windows Explorer

Resolved a reported issue where JAWS would not always speak when trying to select non-contiguous items by holding the CTRL key, and then pressing SPACEBAR on the different items in the list view.
Addressed an issue reported when selecting multiple pictures in Windows Explorer and then attempting to e-mail these items while JAWS is running on a Windows Vista computer.

Windows Live Mail

Graphics are now labeled so that message flags are properly announced in Windows Live Mail.

Windows Live Messenger 14

Resolved an issue with 64-Bit Windows Vista where outgoing and incoming messages were not spoken as expected.
When running Windows Live Messenger on a Windows XP computer, JAWS now announces the number of available contacts when you navigate through the list using the UP or DOWN ARROW.
Resolved a reported issue where JAWS was not recognizing incoming and outgoing Braille Flash Messages in Windows Live Messenger.
Resolved an issue where the previous message was announced instead of the current message when using the ALT+1 through ALT+ 0 keystrokes in Windows Live Messenger.
Typing a message sound is now heard during a conversation.
When using the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to move through your list of contacts, JAWS no longer says "not selected" after announcing contact information. This issue occurred only on Windows XP computers.
JAWS now announces the selected item as you navigate combo boxes in Windows Live Messenger 14.

Windows Presentation Foundation

Windows Presentation Foundation applications do not completely shut down when running with JAWS.

Download JAWS 11

The following briefly describes how to download, save, and install the JAWS 11 release. If your corporate firewall prevents you from downloading files using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), use the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) links instead.

Select the appropriate FTP or HTTP download link that appears at the end of this procedure.
When the dialog box opens, choose Save and select a location where you can easily find the downloaded executable file.
Run the executable and follow the talking installer.

Note: If your corporate firewall prevents you from downloading files using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), use the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) links instead.

Non-Tandem builds

Check for Updates

To check for updates after installing the release, do the following:

Press INSERT+J to open the JAWS application window.
Press ALT+H to open the Help menu.
Press P to select Check for Updates. The update feature determines if you have the most current release. If you do not, select one or more items from the list and then select INSTALL to begin the update. All enhancements since the initial public beta release are included in the update.

Demo Software

To try a free demo version of JAWS, select the appropriate FTP or HTTP link from the above Download JAWS 11 section and run JAWS in 40-minute demo mode.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: If I download the JAWS 11 release from the Web, should I install JAWS from the DVD when I receive it?

Answer: No. However, you should check for updates by pressing ALT+H from the JAWS program window, and then pressing P to select Check for Updates.

Question: If I wait until my DVD arrives to install JAWS 11, should I also download the version that is available on the Web?

Answer: No, but once you have installed JAWS 11 from the DVD, you should check for updates by pressing ALT+H from the JAWS program window, and then pressing P to select Check for Updates.

Question: If I remove my existing version of JAWS before installing JAWS 11, should I remove shared components?

Answer: Yes, however, remember that you will not have speech between removing your current JAWS version and installing JAWS 11. If you download JAWS 11 from the Web, copy the executable file to a location that is easy to find without speech.

Question: If I recently received JAWS 10, how do I get JAWS 11?

Answer: If you purchased JAWS 10 after September 1, 2009, you can download the JAWS 11 release for free from the Freedom Scientific Web site. To verify if you are entitled to the current version, visit the Freedom Scientific Software Activation page. You will need your serial number.

Question: If my SMA expires, will I receive a notice?

Answer: Customers in the U.S. will receive notification in the mail shortly after the JAWS 11 DVD arrives. The envelope will have a braille label on the outside, and it will contain an SMA Renewal letter explaining the process in print and braille. The JAWS SMA Renewal Form is also available for download from the JAWS Headquarters on the Freedom Scientific Web site.