1orca(1) General Commands Manual orca(1)
2
6 orca - is a scriptable screen reader
7
9 orca [option...]
10
12 orca is a screen reader for people with visual impairments, it provides
13 alternative access to the desktop by using speech synthesis and
14 braille.
15 In addition, orca only provides access to applications/toolkits that
17 support the assistive technology service provide interface (AT-SPI),
18 which include GTK, Mozilla, Firefox, Evolution, OpenOffice, StarOffice,
19 Java/Swing, etc.
20 WARNING: suspending orca, e.g. by pressing Control-Z, from an AT-SPI
22 enabled shell (such as gnome-terminal), can also suspend the desktop
23 until Orca is killed.
24
26 -t, --text-setup
27 When starting orca, initiate the text-based configuration.
28 -u, --user-prefs-dir=dirname
30 When starting orca, use dirname as an alternate directory for
31 the user preferences.
32 -e, --enable=speech|braille|braille-monitor|main-window
34 When starting orca, force the enabling of the supplied options.
35 -d, --disable=speech|braille|braille-monitor|main-window
37 When starting orca, force the disabling of the supplied options.
38 -l, --list-apps
40 Prints the names of all the currently running applications.
41 This is used primarily for debugging purposes to see if orca can
42 talk to the accessibility infrastructure. Note that if orca is
43 already running, this will not kill the other orca process. It
44 will just list the currently running applications, and you will
45 see orca listed twice: once for the existing orca and once for
46 this instance.
47 --debug
49 Enables debug output for orca and sends all debug output to a
50 file with a name of the form 'debug-YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS.out' in
51 the current directory. The YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS portion will be
52 replaced with the current date and time.
53 --debug-file=filename
55 Enables debug output for orca and sends all debug output to the
56 given filename.
57 -v, --version
59 outputs orca version number and exits.
60 -h, --help
62 displays orca help and exits.
63 --replace
65 Replace a currently running orca process. By default, if orca
66 detects an existing orca process for the same session, it will
67 not start a new orca process. This option will kill and cleanup
68 after any existing orca process and then start a new orca in its
69 place.
70 KEYBOARD SETTINGS
74 Orca provides two keyboard modes, Desktop and Laptop keyboard
75 layout. The Orca_Modifier key is Insert in desktop keyboard lay‐
76 out and Caps_Lock in laptop keyboard layout.
77 Orca uses default GNOME keyboard shortcuts to navigate the desk‐
79 top and interact with various applications. The flat review com‐
80 mands provide an alternative method of interaction in certain
81 inaccessible applications. It should not be confused with flat
82 review functionality provided by other screen readers.
83
86 Flat review commands
87 Numpad-7 move the flat review cursor to the previous line and read it.
89 Numpad-8 read the current line.
91 Numpad-9 move the flat review cursor to the next line and read it.
93 Numpad-4 move the flat review cursor to the previous word and read it.
95 Numpad-5 read the current word.
97 Numpad-6 move the flat review cursor to the next word and read it.
99 Numpad-1 move the flat review cursor to the previous character and read
101 it.
102 Numpad-2 read the current character.
104 Numpad-3 move the flat review cursor to the next character and read it.
106 Numpad-slash perform a left mouse click at the location of the flat
108 review cursor.
109 Numpad-star perform a right mouse click at the location of the flat
111 review cursor.
112 Bookmark commands
114 Alt+Insert+[1-6] assign a bookmark to a numbered slot. If a bookmark
116 already exists in the slot it will be replaced with the new one.
117 Insert+[1-6] go to the position pointed to by the bookmark bound to
119 this numbered slot.
120 Alt+Shift+[1-6]
122 'Where am I' information for this bookmark relative to the current
123 pointer location.
124 Insert+B and Insert+Shift+B move between the given bookmarks for the
126 given application or page.
127 Alt+Insert+B save the defined bookmarks for the current application or
129 page.
130 Miscellaneous functions
133 Numpad+Plus
135 'say all' command; reads from the current position of the caret to the
136 end of the document.
137 Numpad+Enter
139 'Where am I' command; speaks information such as the title of the cur‐
140 rent application window, as well as the name of the control that cur‐
141 rently has focus.
142 Insert+H enter into orca's 'learn mode'; press Escape to exit.
144 Insert+Shift+Backslash toggle live regions monitoring on and off.
146 Insert+F speak font and attribute information for the current charac‐
148 ter.
149 Insert+Space Launch the orca Configuration dialog.
151 Insert+Ctrl+Space reload user settings and reinitialize services as
153 necessary. Also launches the orca Configuration dialog for the current
154 application.
155 Insert+S toggle speech on and off.
157 Insert+F11 toggle the reading of tables, either by single cell or whole
159 row.
160 Insert+Q quit orca.
162 Debugging
164 Ctrl+Alt+Insert+Home report information on the currently active script.
166 Ctrl+Alt+Insert+End print a debug listing of all known applications to
168 the console where orca is running.
169 Ctrl+Alt+Insert+Page_Up print debug information about the ancestry of
171 the object with focus.
172 Ctrl+Alt+Insert+Page_Down print debug information about the hierarchy
174 of the application with focus.
175
178 Flat review commands
179 Caps_Lock+U move the flat review cursor to the previous line and read
181 it. Double-click to move flat review to the top of the current window.
182 Caps_Lock+I read the current line. Double-click to read the current
184 line along with formatting and capitalization details.
185 Caps_Lock+O move the flat review cursor to the next line and read it.
187 Double- click to move flat review to the bottom of the current window.
188 Caps_Lock+J move the flat review cursor to the previous word and read
190 it. Double-click to move flat review to the word above the current
191 word.
192 Caps_Lock+K read the current word. Double-click to spell the word.
194 Triple-click to hear the word spelled phonetically.
195 Caps_Lock+L move the flat review cursor to the next word and read it.
197 Double- click to move flat review to the word below the current word.
198 Caps_Lock+M move the flat review cursor to the previous character and
200 read it. Double-click to move flat review to the end of the current
201 line.
202 Caps_Lock+Comma read the current character. Double-click to pronounce
204 the character phonetically if it is a letter.
205 Caps_Lock+Period move the flat review cursor to the next character and
207 read it.
208 Caps_Lock+7 perform a left mouse click at the location of the flat
210 review cursor.
211 Caps_Lock+8 perform a right mouse click at the location of the flat
213 review cursor.
214 Caps_Lock+8 perform a right mouse click at the location of the flat
216 review cursor.
217 Bookmark commands
219 Alt+Caps_Lock+[1-6]
221 add a bookmark to the numbered slot. If a bookmark already exists for
223 the slot it will be replaced with the new one.
224 Caps_Lock+[1-6] go to the position pointed to by the bookmark bound to
226 this numbered slot.
227 Alt+Shift+[1-6]
229 'Where am I' information for this bookmark relative to the current
230 pointer location.
231 Caps_Lock+Band Caps_Lock+Shift+B move between the given bookmarks for
233 the given application or page.
234 Alt+Caps_Lock+B save the defined bookmarks for the current application
236 or page.
237 Miscellaneous functions
239 Caps_Lock+Semicolon
241 'Say all' command; reads from the current position of the caret to the
242 end of the document. Caps_Lock+Enter
243 'Where am I' command; speaks information such as the title of the cur‐
244 rent application window, as well as the name of the control that cur‐
245 rently has focus.
246 Caps_Lock+H enter learn mode (press Escape to exit).
248 Caps_Lock+Shift+Backslash toggle live regions monitoring on and off.
250 Caps_Lock+F speak font and attribute information for the current char‐
252 acter.
253 Caps_Lock+Space launch the orca Configuration dialog.
255 Caps_Lock+Ctrl+Space reload user settings and reinitialize services as
257 necessary; also launches the orca Configuration dialog for the current
258 application.
259 Caps_Lock+S toggle speech on and off.
261 Caps_Lock+F11 toggle the reading of tables, either by single cell or
263 whole row.
264 Caps_Lock+Q quit orca.
266 Debugging
268 Caps_Lock+Alt+Ctrl+Home report information on the currently active
270 script.
271 Caps_Lock+Alt+Ctrl+End prints a debug listing of all known applications
273 to the console where orca is running.
274 Caps_Lock+Alt+Ctrl+Page_Up prints debug information about the ancestry
276 of the object with focus.
277 Caps_Lock+Alt+Ctrl+Page_Down prints debug information about the object
279 hierarchy of the application with focus.
280
283 ~/.orca
284 Orca user preferences directory
285 ~/.orca/user-settings.py
287 Orca user preferences configuration file.
288 ~/.orca/orca-customizations.py
290 Orca user customizations configuration file
291 ~/.orca/orca-scripts
294 Orca user orca scripts directory
295 ~/.orca/bookmarks
297 Orca user bookmarks directory
298 ~/.orca/app-settings
300 Orca user application specific settings directory
301
305 Orca originated as a community effort led by the Sun Microsystems Inc.
306 Accessibility Program Office and with contributions from many community
307 members.
308
310 For more information please visit orca wiki at
311 <http://live.gnome.org/Orca> ⟨http://live.gnome.org/Orca⟩
312 The orca mailing list <http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-
314 list> To post a message to all orca list, send a email to orca-
315 list@gnome.org
316GNOME 12 May 2012 orca(1)