For Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) working in early education, this page aims to introduce you to the benefits of utilizing JAWS Voice Assistant as a tool to expose your young students to synthesized speech and screen readers. The Voice Assistant serves as a helpful companion within JAWS, providing voice-activated access to selected JAWS features and helps empower your students and enhance their educational experience.

What is JAWS Voice Assistant (Sharky)?

JAWS Voice Assistant, also known as Sharky, enables you to interact with various JAWS features using spoken commands. To issue a command, you must first say “Hey Sharkey.” This alerts Sharky that you are ready to speak a particular voice command. For example, “Hey Sharky, what time is it?”

While Sharky provides voice-activated control over certain JAWS functions, it is important to note that it does not have complete control over the computer. This means that you will not be able to use Sharkey for things like saving or opening files, or accessing specific features in Windows.

Benefits of JAWS Voice Assistant (Sharky) for Early Education

• Accessible Learning: Sharky serves as a valuable tool to make computers and digital resources accessible to visually impaired students in the early stages of their education. It provides an engaging and interactive way for them to explore the digital world.
• Speech Synthesis Exposure: By utilizing Sharky, students are exposed to synthesized speech, which helps develop their auditory skills and learn to associate spoken words with on-screen content.
• Screen Reader Familiarity: Introducing Sharky at an early age helps students become familiar with screen reading technology. It establishes a foundation for future keyboarding skills and independent computer usage.
• Hands-Free Interaction: With Sharky, students can use voice commands to navigate the computer, interact with applications, read documents, and perform selected tasks. This hands-free interaction encourages independence and boosts confidence.

Getting Started with JAWS Voice Assistant (Sharky)

To introduce Sharky to your early education students, follow these steps:

1. Ensure JAWS is installed on the computer your students will be using. Contact your school’s IT department for assistance if needed.
2. Voice Assistant (Sharky) should be enabled by default when you start JAWS. To confirm this, press INSERT+J to open the JAWS application window, open the Utilities menu, select the Voice Assistant submenu, and choose Settings. While in the Voice Assistant Settings dialog, you can also make sure Sharky is using the correct microphone.
3. Familiarize yourself with the wake word, “Hey Sharky,” which is used to begin any voice command.
4. Consider showing a video demonstration or perform a live demo of Sharky in action, highlighting how to activate Sharky with the wake word and performing selected tasks within JAWS.
5. Guide students through the process of activating Sharky by saying “Hey Sharky” and using voice commands to perform selected JAWS functions. Encourage active listening and appropriate interactions.
6. Allow students to independently interact with Sharky and use voice commands for selected JAWS functions. Provide support as needed to ensure a positive experience.
   
   

Here are a few voice commands that may be useful for practicing with your students.

• Check the time: “Hey Sharky, what time is it?”
• Check the current date: “Hey Sharky, what is today’s date?”
• Check the computer’s battery and network connection status: “Hey Sharky, battery.”
• Turn JAWS Keyboard Help on or off: “Hey Sharky, toggle Keyboard Help.”
• Have JAWS tell a joke: “Hey Sharky, tell me a joke.”
• Increase voice rate: “Hey Sharky, speak faster.”
• Decrease voice rate: “Hey Sharky, speak slower.”
• Select text: “Hey Sharky, start selection.” Use the ARROW keys to move to the end of the text you want to select and then, “Hey Sharky, finish selection,” to select all content between the two locations.
• Access JAWS settings: “Hey Sharky, Settings.”
• Close and restart JAWS: “Hey Sharky, restart JAWS.”

Complete Listings of All Supported Voice Commands

The following are examples of supported and suggested voice commands to perform various actions. Practice and try your own variations of these commands. Remember to say “Hey Sharky” before speaking each command.

General Voice Commands

Voice commands for general use.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Display Voice Assistant help topic	Help
Say the time	What time is it?
Say the date	What is today’s date?
Display the Window List dialog box	Window list
Display the Select a System Tray Icon dialog box	System tray
Speak the battery level and network connection status	Battery
Display messages from Freedom Scientific	Open message center
Display the history of recent notifications	Show notifications
Speak the most recent Windows notification	Notification
Display the Commands Search dialog box	Command search
Turn Keyboard Help on/off	Toggle keyboard help
Display the Keyboard Manager dialog box	Keyboard Manager
Display the Dictionary Manager dialog box	Dictionary Manager
Display the Settings Center dialog box	Settings
Display the Braille Math Editor	Math editor
Turn the Screen Shade on or off	Screen shade
Turn Audio Ducking on or off	Audio ducking
Turn Braille Viewer on or off	Braille viewer
Turn Text Viewer on or off	Text viewer
Tell a joke	Tell me a Joke

Voice Commands for Speech Settings

Voice commands for changing speech settings.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Temporarily increase the voice rate	Speak faster
Temporarily decrease the voice rate	Speak slower
Temporarily set the voice rate to a specific number	Voice rate [number] (Example, voice rate 50.)
Toggle between Speech On Demand and Full Speech	Speech on demand
Display the Select a Voice Profile dialog box	Voice profile
Route JAWS speech left and current application audio right	Speech left or Sound left
Route JAWS speech right and current application audio left	Speech right or Sound right
Restore sound balance to the default	Speech balance or Sound balance

Voice Commands for Selecting Text

Voice commands for selecting text.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Begin selecting a block of text	Start selection
Select all text between your current location and where you marked the start of the selection	Finish selection
Say currently selected text	Read selection
Return to start of selection	Return to marked place
Append selected text to the clipboard	Append

Voice Commands for Cursors

Voice commands for activating various cursors.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Use the JAWS Cursor	JAWS Cursor
Use the PC Cursor	PC Cursor
Use the Touch Cursor	Touch Cursor
Turn the Virtual PC cursor on or off	Virtual PC cursor

Voice Commands for Convenient OCR

Voice commands for Convenient OCR.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
OCR the selected file	OCR file
OCR the currently opened PDF file	OCR PDF
OCR the current window	OCR window
OCR the screen	OCR screen
OCR the current control	OCR control
OCR from a camera	OCR camera
OCR from a scanner	OCR scanner
Stop the OCR	Stop OCR

Voice Commands for Speech History

JAWS voice commands for using speech history.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Display the JAWS speech history	Show speech history
Copy speech history to clipboard	Copy speech history
Clear the speech history	Clear speech history

Voice Commands for Web Pages

JAWS voice commands for use on web pages.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Display the list of links	List links
Display the list of headings	List headings
Display the list of graphics	List graphics
Display the list of tables	List tables
Display the list of form fields	List form fields
Next glance highlight	Move to next glance highlight
Previous glance highlight	Move to previous glance highlight
Display the list of glance highlights	List glance highlights
Announce address of currently selected link	Tell me the address
Assign a custom label	Custom label

Voice Commands for Navigation in Word

Voice commands for navigating in Microsoft Word documents.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Display the list of links	List links
Display the list of graphics	List graphics
Display the list of comments	List comments
Go to the first comment	First comment
Go to the next comment	Next comment
Go to the previous comment	Previous comment
Go to the last comment	Last comment
Display the list of grammatical errors	List grammatical errors
Go to the next grammatical error	Next grammatical error
Go to the previous grammatical error	Previous grammatical error
Display the list of spelling errors	List spelling errors
Go to the next spelling error	Next spelling error
Go to the previous spelling error	Previous spelling error
Display the list of headings	List headings
Go to the first heading	First heading
Go to the next heading	Next heading
Go to the previous heading	Previous heading
Go to the last heading	Last heading
Display the list of tables	List tables
Go to the first table	First table
Go to the next table	Next table
Go to the previous table	Previous table
Go to the last table	Last table
Go to the first page	First page
Go to the next page	Next page
Go to the previous page	Previous page
Go to the last page	Last page
Display the list of form fields	List form fields
Go to the first form field	First field
Go to the next form field	Next field
Go to the previous form field	Previous field
Go to the last form field	Last field
Go to the first section	First section
Go to the next section	Next section
Go to the previous section	Previous section
Go to the last section	Last section
Set temporary PlaceMarker in document	Set PlaceMarker
Open the Math Viewer	Math viewer

Voice Commands for General Outlook Navigation

Voice commands for general navigation in Microsoft Outlook.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Go to the Calendar view	Calendar
Go to the Messages view	Messages
Go to the Contacts view	Contacts
Go to the Tasks view	Tasks
Go to the Notes view	Notes

Voice Commands for Navigating Outlook Messages

Voice commands for navigating messages in Microsoft Outlook.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Go to Attachments	Attachments
Announce address of currently selected link	Tell me the address
Display the list of links	List links
Display the list of headings	List headings
Go to the first heading	First heading
Go to the next heading	Next heading
Go to the previous heading	Previous heading
Go to the last heading	Last heading
Display the list of graphics	List graphics
Display the list of tables	List tables
Go to the first table	First table
Go to the next table	Next table
Go to the previous table	Previous table
Go to the last table	Last table
Display the list of form fields	List form fields
Go to the first form field	First field
Go to the next form field	Next field
Go to the previous form field	Previous field
Go to the last form field	Last field
Move to the next reply in an open email message thread	Next reply
Move to the previous reply in an open email message thread	Previous reply

Voice Commands for Use When Editing Outlook Messages

Voice commands for use when editing messages in Microsoft Outlook.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Display the list of grammatical errors	List grammatical errors
Go to the next grammatical error	Next grammatical error
Go to the previous grammatical error	Previous grammatical error
Display the list of spelling errors	List spelling errors
Go to the next spelling error	Next spelling error
Go to the previous spelling error	Previous spelling error

Voice Commands for Support and Troubleshooting

Voice commands useful for support or troubleshooting.

To perform this action…	Say this command…
Start or end a Tandem session	Tandem
Display text of current control in Virtual Viewer	Virtualize control
Copy text of current control to clipboard	Copy control
Display text of current window in Virtual Viewer	Virtualize window
Copy text of current window to clipboard	Copy Window
Announce application version details	Say version
Display application version details in Virtual Viewer	Virtualize version info
Copy application version details to clipboard	Copy version info
Close and restart JAWS	Restart JAWS