This page lists the new features and bug fixes in MAGic versions 9.0 through 9.50.

MAGic 9.50
MAGic 9.30
MAGic 9.2
MAGic 9.0 Update
MAGic 9.0

New Features in MAGic 9.50

MAGic 9.50 (released in August 2005) is a free update for all MAGic 9.x customers. This update contains the following enhancements and bug fixes.

Features and Enhancements

User Specific and Shared Profiles

MAGic 9.50 introduces a new approach to settings files and customization. Just as Windows provides a "My Documents" folder for each user on a computer or server, MAGic now allows each user to have his or her own profile. This profile contains the user's custom MAGic settings and schemes. This allows different users on the same system to set up and run MAGic in completely different ways.

In addition to these user specific profiles, MAGic also sets up a shared profile. MAGic uses the settings in this shared profile whenever the user has not specifically defined his or her own custom settings. The shared profile allows a network administrator to set up a baseline configuration for MAGic according to the needs of that network's users.

Run MAGic from the System Tray

You can now run MAGic from the Windows system tray. If you use this feature, the MAGic window no longer appears in the Windows taskbar with other programs that you are currently using. In addition, the MAGic window does not appear in the list of active windows when you press ALT+TAB. Instead, an icon appears in the Windows system tray (located in the bottom right corner of the screen) to indicate that MAGic is running. Double-click this icon or press MAGic Key+U to display the MAGic program window. If you minimize the MAGic window, it is removed from the taskbar again.

To run MAGic from the system tray, do the following:

1. From the File menu, choose Preferences.
2. Select the Run MAGic from System Tray check box.
3. Choose OK.
4. From the File menu, choose Save Settings.
5. Quit MAGic. When you start MAGic again, the program will run from the system tray instead of appearing on the taskbar.

MAGic Mimics JAWS NUM PAD Commands

With the addition of three new keystrokes, MAGic now mimics the standard JAWS reading commands available on the num pad. To read from the beginning of the line to the current position of the cursor, press INSERT+HOME. To read from the current position of the cursor to the end of the line, press INSERT+PAGE UP. To read the bottom of the active window, press INSERT+PAGE DOWN. This area usually contains the window's status bar. The type of information displayed in the status bar varies depending on the program you are using.

New Keystroke to Show/Hide the MAGic User Interface

You can now press MAGic Key+U to show or hide the MAGic user interface.

Internet License Manager Authorization

MAGic 9.50 features new Internet License Manager (ILM) authorization. ILM replaces the older 3.5-inch disk (Quella) authorization system for new MAGic 9.50 customers. Using this new authorization method, you can quickly activate MAGic over the Internet. If you do not have an Internet connection, you can activate by telephone, fax, or with the assistance of a trusted third-party. ILM authorization is also available for network licenses. For network authorization, you designate a computer on your local area network (LAN) to be your license server. The license server has a fixed number of tokens that it can distribute to any computer on the network to authorize MAGic. After the user quits MAGic, the token is returned to the license server and is ready to be reassigned.

Note: Only new MAGic customers who purchase version 9.50 will use ILM for authorization. Existing customers who upgrade from a previous version will continue to use their original authorization method.

Start MAGic from the Run Dialog Box

You can now start MAGic from the Windows Run dialog box. To start MAGic this way, press WINDOWS Key+R, type "MAGic" followed by the version number (with no decimal point), and then press ENTER. For example, to start MAGic 9.50, type "MAGic950" in the Run dialog box and press ENTER.

HTML Help

MAGic 9.50 features a new HTML Help system, which replaces the older WinHelp system. HTML Help is also easier to use with JAWS, allowing you to use the full range of JAWS HTML features and options.

MAGic Basic Training

MAGic now features audio training in DAISY format to help get you started. In this audio training, you'll learn the basics of using and customizing MAGic to suit your low vision needs. You can listen to this audio training with the included demo version of FSReader.

New Default Installation Folder

By default, Setup installs MAGic 9.50 in C:\Program Files\Freedom Scientific\MAGic\9.50. The MAGic user specific settings files are stored in a different location than the program files and shared settings (see User Specific and Shared Profiles). Authorization files are stored in C:\Program Files\Freedom Scientific\Activator and C:\Program Files\Freedom Scientific\Authorization.

Display Excel Information Using either Speech or a Message Box

When you perform the commands to post column headings (ALT+SHIFT+C), row headings (ALT+SHIFT+R), or monitor cells (ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+1 through 0), MAGic determines how to display the information based on your speech settings. If speech is disabled, MAGic displays the information in a message box. If speech is enabled, MAGic speaks the information. However, you can press the keystroke twice quickly to display the information in a message box even when speech is active.

Shortcuts for Accessing Settings and Program Files

MAGic now provides shortcuts to folders containing your user settings, shared settings, and program files. These shortcuts are automatically created in the MAGic program group when you install the program. To find these shortcuts, open the Start menu and choose Programs or All Programs, MAGic 9.50, and open the Explore MAGic folder.

Authorization Tools

The Tools submenu in the MAGic program group provides shortcuts for utilities that help you manage your ILM product license. Dongle Viewer allows you to view license information for the dongle currently connected to your computer. ILM Authorization Viewer allows you to view details of your MAGic ILM software license. Remove Product Activation allows you to delete your ILM licenses for all versions of MAGic installed on this computer.

Note: These options are only available to customers who use ILM for authorization.

FSReader Demo

MAGic now includes a free demonstration version of FSReader, Freedom Scientific's new DAISY reader program. DAISY stands for Digital Accessible Information System. DAISY books have enhanced navigation features and can combine both audio and text versions of the material. FSReader Demo can only read DAISY books created by Freedom Scientific, such as the MAGic Basic Training. The full version of FSReader can read any DAISY book.

FSReader Demo is installed automatically when you install MAGic. To start FSReader Demo, open the Start menu, open the MAGic 9.50 program group, and choose FSReader Demo. For more information on using FSReader, start the program, open the File menu, and choose Open. Select the DAISY book "FSGettingStarted" and press ENTER.

To obtain the full version of FSReader for the Desktop, contact Freedom Scientific Sales.

Bug Fixes

The following issues were fixed in version 9.50 of MAGic:

• MAGic now reads lines with superscript and subscript characters correctly. When correctly formatted strings are found on a line, MAGic reads them without splitting the superscript or subscript characters apart.
• Performance when reading PDF documents with Adobe Acrobat/Reader 7.0 and later has been greatly improved.
• MAGic now surrounds words completely when highlighting them in PDF documents.
• MAGic no longer gets stuck tracking and speaking, "Type a contact to find," while in Outlook 2003 with the toolbar above the menu bar.
• When typing echo is set to "Word by Word," MAGic uses the typing echo speech rate instead of the reading speech rate. Note that when you use the UP or DOWN ARROW keys to navigate a document, MAGic still uses the reading rate rather than the keyboard echo rate. This is because using the UP or DOWN ARROW keys is regarded as a form of manually reading through a document.
• If you set the color of your mouse enhancements pointer to "Black," the color is no longer lost when you select an enhancement style.

New Features and Fixes in MAGic 9.30

MAGic 9.30 (released in March 2005) contains the following enhancements and bug fixes.

Features and Enhancements

New Keystrokes for Reading Text

MAGic 9.30 includes several new keystrokes for reading text. These keystrokes are identical to those used for the equivalent JAWS for Windows commands. Now users that want to combine the magnification features of MAGic with JAWS speech do not need to learn a different set of keystrokes for each program. Even users that do not have JAWS can benefit from these keystrokes because the most frequently used reading commands are within easy reach of each other on the num pad. The following new keystrokes are available in MAGic 9.30:

• Read Title – INSERT+END
• Read All from Current Location (Say All) – INSERT+DOWN ARROW
• Say Current Word – INSERT+NUM PAD 5
• Say Next Word – INSERT+RIGHT ARROW
• Say Prior Word – INSERT+LEFT ARROW
• Say Line – INSERT+UP ARROW

Note: The original MAGic keystrokes for these commands are still available. To change the keystroke for a MAGic command, open the Keyboard menu and choose Keyboard Assignments.

Bug Fixes

The following issues have been resolved in this update:

• Typing echo now announces the first letter of Polish words when they start with an accented character.
• MAGic speech no longer splits words in Eastern European languages into syllables when they contain accented characters.
• Typing echo now announces characters entered with the ALT GR key (the right ALT key) on systems with international keyboard layouts.
• Resolved an issue where MAGic options for Microsoft Excel (MAGic Key+O) could not be set unless you pressed ALT+TAB to move to a different program, and then pressed the keystroke again to return to Excel.
• In Internet Explorer, mouse echo now speaks ALT tags for images, even if they contain more than one line of text.
• When you save your settings so that MAGic starts with an incremental magnification level (such as 1.8x), MAGic no longer starts at 2x magnification.
• When switching the speech language to a central european language with RealSpeak, such as Polish, MAGic now announces the selected language.
• Resolved an issue where MAGic sometimes truncated the announcement of items in the Start menu and proceeded to read the ToolTip instead.
• When the MAGic Key is set to CAPS LOCK, you can now assign keystrokes that include the INSERT key.

New Features and Fixes in MAGic 9.2

MAGic 9.2 (released in December 2004), contains the following enhancements and bug fixes.

Features and Enhancements

Incremental Magnification Levels between 1x and 2x

You can view the magnified area using nine incremental magnification levels between 1x and 2x magnification. This allows you more flexibility to choose the level of magnification that is best suited to your vision needs. To select one of these magnification levels, press MAGic Key+NUM PAD PLUS or MINUS, use the Magnification Level buttons, or go to the Display dialog box.

Toggle between 1x Magnification

To quickly toggle between your current magnification level and 1x magnification, press MAGIC Key+DELETE+SHIFT. You can carry out this command again to switch back to your previous magnification level. This feature allows you to view the entire screen area while retaining your mouse, cursor, and color enhancement settings and then quickly switch back to your previous magnification level.

Support for SAPI 5 Synthesizers

MAGic now includes support for speech engines that use the SAPI 5 interface. Synthesizers that support SAPI 5 include some versions of RealSpeak, AT&T Natural Voices, Cepstral, and more. To change your synthesizer, open the Speech menu and choose Voices.

Bug Fixes

The following issues have been resolved in this update:

• A system error no longer occurs while panning on a laptop computer with an nVidia Gforce 2Go video adapter.
• Fixed video corruption/distortion caused by the mouse pointer in certain programs such as VisualStudio .Net and Norton Ghost 9.0.
• Edge tracking now works correctly when using any magnification view.
• Increasing or decreasing magnification quickly no longer causes MAGic to speak each magnification level in between the original and final levels.
• MAGic speech no longer splits Spanish words that start with an opening question mark or exclamation mark.
• Changing the MAGic Key to another key now frees up the original key for normal use.
• When MAGic automatically speaks a Web page, the page now scrolls down properly.
• MAGic now smoothes text that you select in Microsoft Word.
• MAGic now correctly pronounces the first word in Windows XP information balloons and System Tray tool tips with multiple lines.

New Features and Fixes in the MAGic 9.0 Update

The MAGic 9.0 update (released in July 2004), contains the following enhancements and bug fixes.

Features and Enhancements

Read Columns of Text

You can now press MAGic Key+C to begin reading a column of text from your current location.

New Keystroke for the Say Clipboard Command

The keystroke to hear the contents of the Clipboard has been changed from MAGic Key+C to MAGic Key+X. The keystroke MAGic Key+C can now be used to read a column of text from your current location.

Spanish Help System

MAGic now includes online Help topics in Spanish. This lets you use the Enable Bilingual Interface option to change the language of the help system to Spanish. To change the language of the Help system and user interface, do the following:

1. From the Speech menu, choose Voices.
2. On the Secondary Language tab, select “Eloquence” in the Synthesizer list.
3. In the Language list, select either “Castilian Spanish” or “Latin American Spanish,” and then choose OK.
4. From the File menu, choose Preferences.
5. Select the Enable Bilingual Interface check box, and then choose OK.
6. Press MAGic Key+F11 to switch to your secondary language. MAGic’s menus, dialog boxes, and help information are now displayed in your secondary language. You can press MAGic Key+F11 to switch back to your primary language at any time.

Note: You can also specify Spanish as the primary language and choose another language as your secondary language. When you switch to English or Spanish with MAGic Key + F11, the user interface and Help will also switch to that language. If you switch to a language other than English or Spanish, MAGic only changes the synthesizer language.

Bug Fixes

The following issues have been resolved in this update:

• MAGic no longer speaks some dialog box control information twice when you use the TAB key to move through dialog boxes.
• Improved dialog box reading is now more direct when reading the control with the focus when the dialog box first opens.
• Occasional spelling of the current line when you use ALT+TAB to switch back to a text editing window is fixed.
• Punctuation is now spoken properly when you type or navigate documents with the arrow keys.
• In Windows XP, tracking and speech is synchronized correctly when you navigate the classic Start menu.
• MAGic now interrupts speech correctly when you close submenus in the classic Start menu
• The Dynamic Lens view now resizes correctly when you navigate the Start menu. When you select an item in the Start menu, both the icon and the text are now visible, as is the submenu symbol (when applicable).
• MAGic no longer turns on personalized menus for the classic Start menu in Windows XP.
• Mouse, cursor, and color enhancement scheme names can now contain extended characters, such as umlauts and accented letters.
• The Say "Cap" before uppercase letters option in the Typing Echo dialog box now recognizes umlauts and accented characters.
• Settings for inverting colors are now saved properly for Windows 95/98/ME systems.
• MAGic now returns visual focus to the cursor location in a document when exiting menus.
• The Yes and No buttons in some dialog boxes were not being spoken correctly. This has been fixed.
• The Say Word and Spell Word commands now say and spell the word at the cursor or mouse pointer correctly.
• In the View Properties dialog box, the Size group box is now handled properly. Previously, MAGic moved to the unselected item "Line" first. Pressing the TAB key again returned the focus to the selected item.
• In the Color Enhancements dialog box, MAGic reads the Active Color Switches list label correctly when color switching rules are defined.
• MAGic reads the Length and Height sliders in the Unmagnified Area tab of the Mouse Enhancements dialog box.
• On all the enhancement schemes tabs, MAGic now reads the Scheme list properly when a Windows XP theme is in use.
• In the Quick View Frames dialog box, MAGic reads the Border Color list correctly.
• In the Document and Text Reading dialog box, MAGic no longer announces the Color list as, "HT Style," instead of, "Color.”
• You can now replace gray with other colors when creating color switching rules. The color Windows assigns to dialog boxes (the default is gray) is the color that MAGic replaces when you choose “Dialog Gray” in the Color list.
• MAGic now moves the magnified area to the cursor after you open or close a dialog box. This fix affects programs such as Microsoft Word, Notepad, and WordPad.
• You can now turn cursor enhancements on and off with MAGicKey+F8 in Microsoft Word.
• In multi-page dialog boxes, MAGic now reads tabs when you move to them by pressing CTRL+TAB or clicking the tab.
• The Mouse Echo Toggle command (MAGic Key+M) now correctly announces when you toggle mouse echo between line, word, and off.
• Network MAGic functionality has been restored.
• The Magnification button is no longer missing from the MAGic user interface on systems configured to use enlarged fonts.

New Features in MAGic 9.0

Use the links below to learn more about the new features and enhancements in MAGic version 9.0 (released in March 2004). For detailed information on any of these new features, visit the MAGic Documentation page and download the MAGic User's Guide or Quick Start Guide.

Color Enhancements
Cursor Enhancements
Mouse Enhancements
Schemes
Quick View Frame
More Tracking Options
Preferences
Dynamic Lens View
Mouse Speech Delay
Keyboard Options
Additional Highlight Options
More Reading Commands
Uppercase Letter Announcement
Automatically Speak Web Pages
New Support for PDF Document Reading
Support for Java Programs
Enhanced Support for Microsoft Excel

Color Enhancements

Color enhancements allow you to define how MAGic displays colors on your screen. This feature greatly expands the former Invert Colors function and lets you replace and swap colors, adjust the brightness and contrast, apply tinting, make your screen monochrome (black-and-white, yellow-and-white, and so on), and invert the brightness and colors of your screen. You can apply color enhancements to the magnified area, unmagnified area, or both. Activate your color enhancements by clicking the Color Enhancements button on the Quick Access Window.

Cursor Enhancements

MAGic now allows you to control the appearance of your cursor in the magnified and unmagnified areas of the screen. Cursor enhancements make the cursor easier to follow when editing or writing text. MAGic lets you choose from a wide selection of styles and colors for these enhancements, and you can even define your own custom colors. You can also control the transparency, length, height, and thickness of the enhancements. This allows you to dynamically control both the shape and size of the enhancement. Additionally, you can control when the cursor enhancements display on your screen (for example, you may want the enhancements to only appear when you press the MAGic Key). Activate the cursor enhancements by clicking the new Cursor Enhancements button on the Quick Access Window.

Mouse Enhancements

Mouse enhancements let you control the appearance of your mouse while in the magnified and unmagnified areas. These enhancements make the mouse pointer easier to track and maneuver on your screen. MAGic lets you choose from a wide selection of styles and colors for these enhancements, and you can even define your own custom colors. Additionally, you can customize each enhancement style by changing the length, height, thickness, and transparency. You can also control when the mouse enhancements display on your screen (for example, you may want the enhancements to only appear when you are moving the mouse).

Note: The mouse navigation options have been moved to the Tracking dialog box.

Schemes

MAGic 9.0 introduces schemes for mouse, cursor, and color enhancements. A scheme is a group of settings that you can apply at a single time. Schemes allow you to quickly switch between different configurations of mouse, cursor, or color enhancements, according to your current needs.

Tip: If you right-click the Mouse Enhancements, Cursor Enhancements, or Color Enhancements button, you can use the context menu to quickly switch to a different scheme.

Quick View Frame

The Quick View Frame allows you to monitor a portion of your screen while you continue to work in other areas. Any changes that occur in the area you are monitoring are immediately shown in the Quick View Frame. The Quick View Frame lets you keep a specific area of the screen constantly in view.

More Tracking Options

MAGic lets you control how it tracks the cursor, mouse pointer, menus, dialog box options, and highlighted text on your screen. Choose centered tracking if you want MAGic to continuously follow the item, ensuring that it is always in the center of the magnified area. Choose edge tracking if you want MAGic to move the magnified area only when the item is no longer visible on the screen. In addition, the Tracking dialog box now lets you toggle the mouse navigation options auto switch, mouse line lock, and tether to display.

Preferences

From the File menu, choose Preferences to change the way you use MAGic on your computer. You can use this dialog box to start MAGic when your computer starts, disable your screen saver while MAGic is running, minimize MAGic when it starts, enable/disable the bilingual user interface, specify whether MAGic should prompt you before overwriting schemes, and determine whether MAGic asks you to save your settings when you quit.

Note: The Disable Screen Saver and Enable Bilingual User Interface check boxes have been moved to the new Preferences dialog box. The functionality of the Run MAGic at Startup command (on the File menu) has also been moved into this dialog box.

Dynamic Lens

The Dynamic Lens is a new magnified view that opens a small rectangular window, which is magnified, while leaving the rest of the screen unmagnified. This window follows the mouse pointer or your current location within a document or dialog box if you are using the keyboard. In addition, when you move to a dialog box option or menu command, MAGic automatically resizes the lens so that it only magnifies the currently selected item. If you type in an edit box or document window, the lens expands to the width of the entire screen so you can see as much of the text as possible. You can switch to this new magnified view by selecting Dynamic Lens in the Magnified Views list located on the MAGic Quick Access Window.

Mouse Speech Delay

You can now specify the length of time you want MAGic to wait before it reads the word or line at the current location of your mouse pointer. The delay is measured in tenths of seconds. If you move the mouse pointer away before the delay has elapsed, MAGic does not read the word or line.

Keyboard Options

The options allowing you to differentiate between left and right ALT, CTRL, and SHIFT when assigning hot keys have been moved from the Options dialog box to the Keyboard Assignments dialog box. This allows you to switch functionality on the fly while assigning keystrokes to functions without having to close the dialog box. An Apply button has been added to this dialog box so you can test your keystrokes as you assign them.

Additional Highlight Options

The Document and Text Reading dialog box gives you even more control over how MAGic highlights text while speaking. You can choose from three different highlight styles, and you can adjust the color, transparency, and thickness of the highlight.

More Reading Commands

MAGic 9.0 includes several new commands that you can use to read documents and text. To read the current line, press MAGic Key+L. To read the current sentence, press MAGic Key+S. To read the next sentence, press MAGic Key+SHIFT+S. To read the current paragraph, press MAGic Key+P. To hear the contents of the Windows Clipboard, press MAGic Key+C. Say Block has been changed to Say Color Block and reads connected words with the same foreground and background colors. The keystroke for this function is MAGic Key+CTRL. You can also use this command to read text that you have selected.

Uppercase Letter Announcement

If you select this option, MAGic says, "Cap," before reading capital letters that you have typed or moved to with the arrow keys. You can enable or disable this option in the Typing Echo dialog box or by pressing MAGic Key+F2.

Note: You must enable typing echo if you want MAGic to announce uppercase letters.

Automatically Speak Web Pages

You can now choose to have MAGic automatically begin reading when you view Web pages or other HTML documents.

New Support for PDF Document Reading

MAGic now supports reading PDF documents with Adobe Acrobat or Reader 6.01 or later. MAGic can smooth black text in PDF documents and follow your movement through documents, menus, and dialog boxes. Text in PDF documents is highlighted and tracked when you read them with MAGic. Mouse speech also works when in PDF documents.

Support for Java Programs

MAGic 9.0 includes support for Java-based programs. You can now use MAGic to magnify and speak Java programs, just as you would any other Windows program. MAGic tracks your movement through menus and dialog boxes, and you can use the reading commands to read text.

Enhanced Support for Microsoft Excel

Cell coordinates and contents are announced when you move to any cell in an Excel spreadsheet. You can also choose to hear row and column heading information when you move to a new cell.