Screen Readers That Work With Google Drive
Google Drive works with these supported screen readers so you can store, edit, and share your files:
- ChromeVox: You don’t need to do any additional setup to use Drive with ChromeVox on Chrome OS.
- NVDA: Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are the recommended browsers, along with the latest version of NVDA. For the best experience, NVDA should be in Focus mode.
- JAWS: Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are the recommended browsers, along with the latest version of JAWS. For the best experience, JAWS should be in Forms mode, or the virtual cursor should be disabled.
- VoiceOver: Google Chrome is the recommended browser. If you use Safari instead of Chrome, turn on Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage in advanced settings. For the best experience, turn off VoiceOver’s Quick Nav feature.
Navigate in Google Drive With a Screen Reader
Use these areas of the Drive web interface to navigate with your screen reader:
- Navigation panel: Open a Google Drive view or one of your folders.
- The Google Drive views are My Drive, Shared with me, Google Photos, Recent, Starred, and Trash.
- To go to the navigation panel, press g then n.
- To move through the navigation panel, press the down or up arrows.
- To open a subfolder, press the right arrow.
- To select a folder or view, press Enter.
- Main content area: Browse through your files and folders, either in a list or a grid format.
- To go to the main area, press g then l.
- To navigate through the list or grid, use the arrow keys.
- To open an item, press o or Enter.
- To change between grid and list view, press v.
- Details: Find information about a file or folder, such as the owner, the size, and when it was last modified.
- To go to the details pane, press g then d.
- There are two tabs in the details pane: Details and Activity.
- To review the Details or Activity tab, turn on the virtual cursor or browse mode.
- Google bar: The Google bar is at the very top of the interface, above the Google Drive buttons and menus.
- This area contains the Apps pop-up menu, with links to other Google Apps, the Google notifications button, and other options.
- Keyboard shortcuts:
- To move quickly through Drive, you can use Drive keyboard shortcuts.
- To open a list of shortcuts in Drive, press Ctrl + / (forward slash) on Windows or Chrome OS, or ⌘ + / (forward slash) on a Mac.
- Search for files:
- To go to the Search box, press / (forward slash).
- Type your search terms, then press Enter.
- The focus moves to the list of files and folders that match your search terms.
- To browse the search results, use the arrow keys.
- To do an advanced search:
- Go to the Search box by pressing / (forward slash).
- To move to the Search options menu, press Tab, then press Enter.
- Use the menus and text fields in the search options dialog to refine your search.
- Navigate to the Search button, then press Enter.
- The focus moves to the list of files and folders that match your search terms.
- To browse the search results, use the arrow keys.
- Sort files:
- Press r to open to the Sort menu.
- To move through the menu, use the down or up arrow.
- Listen for checked or not checked as you navigate through the sorting options, such as Name and Last modified.
- To select a sorting option, press Enter.
- Your focus returns to the files and folders list.
- Help and feedback:
- To read help documentation or send feedback:
- Press t to open the Google Drive Settings menu.
- Navigate through the menu to Help.
- Search for help articles or use Send feedback to send your feedback to Google.
Manage Files in Google Drive With a Screen Reader
Create a new file or folder: To create new items in Drive, use the shortcuts below.
- The new, untitled file opens in a new tab.
- Shift + t: New text document
- Shift + p: New presentation
- Shift + s: New spreadsheet
- Shift + d: New drawing
- Shift + o: New form
- To create a new folder, press Shift + f.
- The New folder dialog opens, and your cursor is in the text box.
- Type a new name for your folder, then press Enter.
- Your focus returns to the Drive list view, with the new folder selected.
- As an alternative to the keyboard shortcuts above, press c to open the New menu.
- Use the down arrow to navigate through the menu, then press Enter to select one of the options.
- Share a file or folder.
- You can share files or folders so that other people can view, comment, or edit the item.
- To open the sharing settings for a selected folder or file, press . (dot).
- For more details, visit How to share.
- To choose how visible to make your file or folder, visit Stop, limit, or change sharing.
- The options vary based on whether your item was created within a domain and the sharing policies that your domain administrator has set.
- Move a file or folder.
- To move files into folders, or to move folders into other folders, follow these steps:
- To focus on the list of items, press g then l.
- To select a file or folder, use the arrow keys. To select multiple items, hold Shift, and use the arrow keys.
- To open the Move dialog, press z.
- To choose a folder, press the arrow keys.
- Navigate to the Move button, then press Enter.
- You might need to press Escape to exit the dialog.
- To move a file or folder to the trash, follow these steps:
- In a files and folders list, select one or more items to remove.
- Press # to remove.
- If you remove an item that you own, it’s moved to the trash.
- If you remove an item that you don’t own, it’s removed from your Drive but not from anyone else’s Drive.
- To upload files or folders in Drive, follow these steps:
- Press c to open the New menu.
- Select File upload or Folder upload.
- Select the file or folder that you’d like to upload, then press Enter.
- To download a file or folder from Google Drive, follow these steps:
- Select the file that you want to download.
- Press a to open the Actions menu.
- Select “Download.”
- To make a copy of a file, follow these steps:
- In a file and folder list, select the file that you want to copy.
- Press a to open the Actions menu.
- Select “Make a copy.”
- A copy of the item is created in My Drive, called Copy of [the original title.]
Add Caption Tracks to Your Video Files
- You can make your video content available to a larger audience when you add captions.
- If you want to reach deaf, hard-of-hearing viewers, or speakers of different languages, captions help these groups understand your videos.
- You can use two types of caption files:
- Caption file (recommended): This file contains the text and other information to time your captions with your video.
- Transcript file: This file only contains the text.
- If you upload a transcript, the video player will have to determine when the words should be displayed.
- Transcript files take extra time to process and only work for English and Japanese.