JAWS - Speaks spacemarker and other non-printing chatacers when reading a Word document

JAWS - Speaks spacemarker and other non-printing chatacers when reading a Word document

Problem

When pressing UP/DOWN ARROW keys within a Microsoft Word document space marker and other non-priting characters are spoken with the document text.


Applies to

  1. JAWS and Microsoft Word

Resolution

Microsoft Word may be set to display special formatting characters that are not normally displayed, when enabled JAWS will read them as well as the text which can be distracting.  Use the methods below in sequence to try to resolve the problem.


Method 1 - use hotkey

Press CONTROL+SHIFT+8 on the number row.

Method 2 - Use ribbon accelerator keys

Press the following keys in sequence (not as a chord) ALT, H, 8.

Method 3 - Use JAWS Office ribbon navigation

Provided JAWS ribbon navigation support is enabled one may navigate to the Show/Hide button using the steps below:

  1. Press ALT to navigate top the ribbon bar.
  2. Press ENTER on the Home tab in the ribbon when it is highlighted.
  3. Press CONTROL+RIGHT arrow twice to move to the paragraph group where the Bullet split button will be highlighted.
  4. Press TAB or right arrow until you reach “Show All” button, then press SPACEBAR toggle the state.

Method 4 - Change document display settings.

The instructions below can be used to disable the display of any formatting characters regardless of the status of the Show/Hide button in the ribbon menu.
  1. Press ALT+F to open File menu.
  2. Then press DOWN ARROW until you reach Options  and press ENTER.  If you only see More Options press ENTER on it, then down arrow and press ENTER again on Options.
  3. In the new dialogue window press DOWN ARROW to Display.
  4. Then press TAB until you reach Tab Characters checkbox then press SPACEBAR to uncheck it, do likewise for the other checkboxes shown below.
  5. Then presss TAB key to reach OK button and press SPACEBAR on it.

  6. Spaces
  7. Paragraph marks
  8. Hidden Text
  9. Optional Hyphens
  10. Object Anchors
  11. Show All Formatting Marks

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