Using Speech with Fusion 2020

Fusion™ combines two of the best vision accessibility tools available – ZoomText® Magnifier/Reader and JAWS® for Windows screen reader – into a single installation with one authorization.

If you have previously used ZoomText Magnifier/Reader, you will be very familiar with magnification operation when running Fusion. Because all screen reading is controlled by JAWS, you may notice differences with speech operation when running Fusion. The following briefly describes these differences and how to use speech with Fusion.

After Installing Fusion

When you first install and run Fusion, magnification is set at 2x, and speech is on by default with Eloquence as the default synthesizer.

Allowing Fusion to speak can help to reduce eye fatigue. When using magnification tools, such as the mouse pointer, text cursor, and focus enhancements, speech can also help you locate your position on the screen.

Shortcut Icons

When Fusion is installed, three icons are placed on the desktop.

Shortcut	Description
	Click the Fusion icon to run Fusion. The Fusion user interface controls screen magnification. The JAWS menu, located in the notification area of the Windows taskbar, lets you change speech and braille settings, and use extra speech features. Press INSERT+J to open the JAWS menu.
	Click the ZoomText icon to run only ZoomText. The ZoomText user interface is used along with ZoomText speech features. To learn more about ZoomText operation, refer to the ZoomText help (press F1 from the ZoomText toolbar).
	Click the JAWS icon to run only JAWS. The JAWS user interface is used, and there is no magnification. To learn more about JAWS operation, refer to the JAWS help (press INSERT+J, and click Help > JAWS Help Topics).

If Fusion is authorized and licensed to run on your computer, these installed versions of ZoomText and JAWS are also authorized. If Fusion is not authorized, Fusion, ZoomText, and JAWS run in 40-minute mode. When 40-minute mode expires, you must reboot your computer to continue using Fusion, ZoomText, or JAWS.

Full Speech, Speech On Demand, or No Speech

Speech On Demand is a speech setting that limits the amount of speech you hear while navigating windows and documents or performing other actions with the mouse or keyboard.

For some users who see well enough to track focus on the screen, or users who rely heavily on braille, there are times when too much speech can be overwhelming. This is where Speech On Demand is helpful since it limits speech to just a few reading commands and hotkeys, for example, the Say commands such as INSERT+DOWN ARROW for Say All. You can continue to use other commands and hotkeys; however, they are not spoken by Fusion. For example, pressing H to navigate a web page by heading still moves focus from one heading to the next, but Fusion does not speak the heading text.

Note: By default, mouse echo and keyboard echo are off when using Speech On Demand. You can turn them on at any time using the Fusion Reader tab or the Echo hotkeys.

Switching from Full Speech to Speech On Demand or Mute

Fusion can run in one of two speech modes: Full Speech and Speech On Demand (default mode), or Full Speech and Mute.

When you install Fusion, speech is on by default and is always an option that you can quickly select using Voice on the Reader tab or CAPS LOCK+ALT+ ENTER. While Fusion is running, you can switch from full speech to either Speech On Demand, which limits speech output to a few reading commands and hotkeys, or Mute, which turns off all speech.

To switch from full speech to limited speech or no speech, do one of the following:

• On the Reader tab, click Voice, or
  
• Press CAPS LOCK+ALT+ENTER or INSERT+SPACEBAR, S when using desktop keyboard layout
• Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, S when using laptop keyboard layout

For more about keyboard layouts, see Choosing a Hotkey Layout.

Note: To stop speech while Fusion is speaking, press CTRL.

Changing Speech Settings

Fusion has three speech settings: Full Speech, Speech On Demand, and Mute. Full Speech is always available when running Fusion. Using the speech settings, you can pair Full Speech with Speech On Demand, or Full Speech with Mute.

To change speech settings using the Reader tab, do the following:

1. On the Reader tab, click the top half of the Voice button to turn off Full Speech.
   
2. Click the lower half of the Voice button to show the Voice menu.
   
3. Do one of the following:
   • Select Mute to switch Fusion between Full Speech and Mute
   • Select Speech On Demand to switch Fusion between Full Speech and Speech On Demand
4. Click the top half of the Voice button again to turn on Full Speech.

To change speech settings using hotkeys, do the following:

1. Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, S to turn off Full Speech.
   Fusion announces “Speech On Demand” or “Mute” when speech is turned off.
2. Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, followed by SHIFT+S to select a speech setting.
   Fusion announces “Speech Off. Set to Speech On Demand” or “Speech Off. Set to Speech Mute” to indicate the selected setting.
3. To change the setting again, press INSERT+SPACEBAR, followed by SHIFT+S.
4. To return to Full Speech, press INSERT+SPACEBAR, S again.

Changing the Voice Rate

To control how fast or slow Fusion speaks, do one of the following:

• Use the Rate box on the Reader tab, or
  

For desktop layout:

• Press CAPS LOCK+ALT+UP ARROW for faster speech
• Press CAPS LOCK+ALT+DOWN ARROW for slower speech

For laptop layout:

• Press CTRL+ALT+PAGE UP for faster speech
• Press CTRL+ALT+PAGE DOWN for slower speech

Several hotkeys are available to make temporary and permanent changes to the voice rate. For more information, see Voice Rate Hotkeys.

Vocalizer Expressive Voices (Version 2)

Fusion supports Vocalizer Expressive voices from Nuance® to add variety beyond the default Eloquence synthesizer. These voices offer very responsive, high quality, human-sounding speech in a wide variety of languages and dialects. They are offered in two forms: compact voices and individual high premium voices.

The compact voices are smaller files and take up less disk space on your computer. As a result, you can download a single file that contains all voices and dialects for a selected language. These voices offer very good speech quality at fast speech rates. The high premium voices are larger files, but offer the highest quality speech.

Downloading Vocalizer Expressive Voices

To download the voices, do the following:

1. Go to the Synthesizer Downloads web page.
   Note: To download voices using the JAWS menu, press INSERT+J, and choose Help > More Voices.
2. In your web browser, select Vocalizer Expressive 2 in the Synthesizer list.
3. Select a language in the Language list.
4. Do one of the following:
   • Click Download Compact Voices to download all voices for that language
   • Click Download Premium High for an individual voice. Once the file is downloaded, you can continue to download other Premium High voices.
5. Locate and install the downloaded voice file.
6. Restart Fusion so that the new voices are detected and available for use. To select and use a new voice, see Changing Voices.

Changing Voices

To change the current voice, do the following:

1. On the Reader tab, click the lower half of the Voice button and select Settings.
   The Voice Adjustment dialog box opens.
   
2. In the Voice Adjustment dialog box, select a synthesizer from the Profile Name list. For example, select Vocalizer Expressive – Factory to switch from Eloquence to Vocalizer Expressive version 2.
3. In the Person list, select a voice. Click OK to save the change and close the dialog box.
   

Accessing Speech Settings with the JAWS Menu

The JAWS menu provides access to numerous JAWS settings and functions. For example, you can fine-tune speech settings, enable or disable mouse echo, download additional voices, configure braille settings, view help, and more.

JAWS runs in the notification area, also known as the system tray, and does not appear in the Fusion ribbon tabs.

Note: The JAWS icon may display or be hidden in the notification area of the taskbar depending on your Windows taskbar settings.

Opening the JAWS Menu

The hotkey INSERT+J is the fastest way to open the JAWS menu. Pressing INSERT+J smoothly moves the magnified screen view to the JAWS menu as shown below.

Note: You can also right-click the JAWS icon to open the menu.

Screen Shade for Additional Privacy

Screen Shade is a privacy feature that makes your screen go blank while still letting Fusion speak. This is helpful if you are conducting business in a public space (such as entering a password or credit card number), and you do not want others looking at your magnified screen.
To toggle Screen Shade on and off, do the following:

• Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, F11 to toggle Screen Shade on and off
• When Screen Shade is on, you can also right-click anywhere on your screen to turn it off
• You can also click Screen Shade on the Fusion menu to turn it on, and use one of the methods mentioned above to turn it off

Important: When running Fusion with full speech, Fusion will announce that Screen Shade is on when you press INSERT+SPACEBAR, F11. This message is not heard when running Fusion in Speech On Demand mode, or when speech is muted. To turn Screen Shade off, remember to right-click anywhere on the screen or press INSERT+SPACEBAR, F11.

Convenient OCR

Convenient OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a feature that recognizes text in inaccessible PDF documents, screen images, and image files. You can also use it with a Freedom Scientific PEARL reading camera or a flatbed scanner to capture and recognize pages in printed documents. Once recognition is complete, the text appears in the Results Viewer window where you can read it using standard reading commands, or select and copy it to other applications.

The following briefly describes different methods for using Convenient OCR. To learn more about Convenient OCR, refer to the JAWS help (press INSERT+J, and click Help > JAWS Help Topics > Convenient OCR).

Acquiring Documents with PEARL Reading Camera or Scanner

You can use Fusion with a PEARL reading camera or a flatbed scanner to acquire and read documents and other printed pages. Refer to the PEARL or scanner user guide for hardware information.

To acquire and read a document, do the following.

1. Position your document under PEARL or on your scanner.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, A, or
   • On the Tools tab, click OCR
     
3. In the Camera and Scanner Recognition dialog box, select PEARL or your scanner.
   To recognize multiple images using PEARL, select Motion Detect Multi-page Recognition.
   To automatically stop recognition if PEARL detects no motion after 30 seconds, select Timeout.
   To recognize images using a scanner with an auto-document feeder, select Use Auto-document feed.
   
4. Click Acquire to start text recognition.
5. After a few seconds, you will hear a shutter sound, which indicates recognition is complete, followed by the recognized text appearing in the results viewer.
   In the results viewer, you can use standard reading commands to review the text or select and copy it to other applications.
   Note: When recognizing multiple pages with PEARL, place the next page under PEARL after hearing the shutter sound.
6. If you are recognizing multiple pages, you can press INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, A to manually stop recognition when finished.

Recognizing Text in an Inaccessible PDF Document

If you open a PDF that is not accessible, Fusion displays an “Alert: Empty document” message stating that the document may be an image that needs to be scanned before it can be read.

In the alert dialog box, do one of the following:

• Select Yes, and Fusion acquires and processes the document. This may take a few seconds to complete.
• If you select No, but then decide that you want to read the text, make sure focus is on the PDF, and press INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, D. Fusion acquires and processes the document.

Note: A reading camera or scanner is not required to recognize text in an image file.

Recognizing Text in an Image File

Fusion can recognize text in image files saved as BMP, JPG, JPEG, GIF, TIF, TIFF, PNG, PCX, or PDF.

In File Explorer, do the following:

1. Move focus to the image file.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, F, or
   • Press the APPLICATION key to open the context menu and choose “Recognize File with Fusion.”
3. The recognized text displays in the results viewer where you can use standard reading commands to review the text or select and copy it to other applications.

On the Desktop, do the following:

1. Move focus to the image file.
2. Press the APPLICATION key to open the context menu and choose “Recognize File with Fusion.”
3. The recognized text displays in the results viewer where you can use standard reading commands to review the text or select and copy it to other applications.

Note: A reading camera or scanner is not required to recognize text in an image file.

Recognizing Images on the Screen

Sometimes, you will encounter application screens or controls that are only images of text. When this occurs, you can press INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, W to recognize the current application window, INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, S to recognize the entire screen, or INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, C to recognize the current control. Fusion will quickly recognize the image and activate the JAWS cursor so you can navigate the resulting text. The recognized text will be in the same location as the actual image on the screen. In order to differentiate the recognized text from other text that may be in the window, Fusion will use a different voice when it encounters the recognized text. When you activate the PC Cursor, or switch to another application or dialog box, the text is removed and you will need to perform the OCR again.

For example, if you are trying to install an application and the setup process does not appear to have any readily available text when pressing TAB or using the JAWS Cursor to navigate and read, you can try Convenient OCR. Start with the PC Cursor and press INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, W to recognize the text of the welcome screen graphic. You can then use the JAWS Cursor and NUM PAD SLASH (left mouse button) to move to and choose what are possible buttons and links.

Note: A reading camera or scanner is not required to recognize images on the screen.

Convenient OCR Hotkeys

Description	Command
Recognize images captured from a camera or scanner	INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, A
Recognize the currently selected image file	INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, F
Recognize the currently open PDF document	INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, D
Recognize the current application window that has focus.	INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, W
Recognize the entire screen	INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, S
Recognize the currently selected control, such as a graphical button	INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, C
Cancel recognition while it is in progress	INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, Q
Hear a brief help message describing the commands in the OCR layer	INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, QUESTION MARK

Advanced Screen Reader Settings

JAWS Startup Wizard

Use the JAWS Startup Wizard to fine tune some of the more commonly changed speech and braille options.

To open Startup Wizard, press INSERT+J, and select Help > Startup Wizard.

Settings Center

Settings Center provides access to all JAWS settings. Use it to quickly configure and globally apply JAWS settings, or configure and apply settings for specific applications.

To open Settings Center, press INSERT+F2 and select Settings Center.

To learn more about Settings Center, see “Settings Center Overview” in the JAWS help.

JAWS Keyboard Help

With keyboard help, you can press any combination of keys and hear a description of what they do. The command is not performed while in this mode.

To use this feature, press INSERT+1 (number row key) to turn on keyboard help, and press any key combination. When finished, press INSERT+1 again to exit keyboard help.

JAWS Command Search

The JAWS Command Search is an excellent tool to help you quickly find hotkeys for various speech functions.

To use this tool, press INSERT+SPACEBAR, J, enter a brief description, for example, read current line, and then press ENTER.

Common Keyboard Commands

The following is a brief list of magnification and voice commands to get you started with Fusion.

Note: JAWS uses desktop keyboard layout by default. Desktop layout lets you use your keyboard’s numeric keypad to type commands (hotkeys). If your keyboard does not have a numeric keypad, use laptop keyboard layout instead. For more about keyboard layouts and how to avoid conflicts between ZoomText and JAWS commands, see Choosing a Hotkey Layout.

Magnification

Description	Desktop Layout Command	Laptop Layout Command
Zoom In / Out	CAPS LOCK+UP ARROW / DOWN ARROW	CAPS LOCK+ALT+UP ARROW / DOWN ARROW
Zoom to 1x (toggle)	CAPS LOCK+ENTER	CAPS LOCK+ALT+ENTER
Enhance Colors On/Off	CAPS LOCK+C	CAPS LOCK+ALT+C
Show User Interface	CAPS LOCK+CTRL+U	CAPS LOCK+CTRL+ALT+U
All Magnification and Speech On/Off without exiting Fusion	CAPS LOCK+CTRL+ENTER	CAPS LOCK+CTRL+ALT+ENTER

Speech

Description	Desktop Layout Command	Laptop Layout Command
Voice On/Off or Voice On/Speech On Demand	CAPS LOCK+ALT+ENTER or INSERT+SPACEBAR, S	INSERT+SPACEBAR, S
Change Voice Settings	INSERT+SPACEBAR, SHIFT+S	INSERT+SPACEBAR, SHIFT+S
Quiet	CTRL	CTRL

Voice Rate

Description	Command
Increase voice rate – permanent	CTRL+ALT+WINDOWS Key+PAGE UP
Decrease voice rate – permanent	CTRL+ALT+WINDOWS Key+PAGE DOWN
Increase voice rate – temporary	CTRL+ALT+PAGE UP
Decrease voice rate – temporary	CTRL+ALT+PAGE DOWN
Increase voice rate while reading	PAGE UP
Decrease voice rate while reading	PAGE DOWN

Say Commands

Description	Desktop Layout Command	Laptop Layout Command
Say All for continuous reading of web pages or documents	INSERT+DOWN ARROW	CAPS LOCK+DOWN ARROW
Quiet	CTRL	CTRL
Say Character	NUM PAD 5	CAPS LOCK+COMMA
Say Word	INSERT+NUM PAD 5	CAPS LOCK+K
Spell Word	INSERT+NUM PAD 5 twice	CAPS LOCK+K twice
Say Prior Word	INSERT+LEFT ARROW	CAPS LOCK+Y
Say Next Word	INSERT+RIGHT ARROW	CAPS LOCK+L
Say Line	INSERT+UP ARROW	CAPS LOCK+I
Say To Cursor	INSERT+HOME (7)	CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+J
Say From Cursor	INSERT+PAGE UP (9)	CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+L
Say Bottom Line Of Window	INSERT+PAGE DOWN (3)	CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+N
Say Top Line Of Window	INSERT+END (1)	CAPS LOCK+SHIFT+Y

Choosing a Hotkey Layout

In Fusion, JAWS and ZoomText each provide hotkeys for operating their respective features. The key combinations assigned to these hotkeys depends on the selected hotkey layout—Desktop Layout or Laptop Layout—which is selected on the Fusion user interface by choosing Fusion > Hotkey Layout > {layout mode}. Below is an explanation of the two layouts and how they differ from each other.

Why are there two hotkey layouts?

There are two good reasons for having both desktop and laptop hotkey layouts. In favor of the desktop hotkey layout are the many JAWS users that are accustomed to the JAWS hotkeys that utilize the large INSERT key located on the keyboard’s numeric keypad, which is included on almost all desktop keyboards, but rarely included on laptop keyboards. In favor of the laptop hotkey layout are users that have migrated to a laptop that lacks a separate numeric keypad and large INSERT key, and therefore require the alternate set of JAWS hotkeys for a laptop layout.

What are the differences in the JAWS desktop and laptop hotkey layouts?

When using Desktop Layout Mode, JAWS uses the INSERT key as the main modifier in many of its hotkeys, as listed in the JAWS Help system. But when using the Laptop Layout Mode, JAWS uses the CAPS LOCK key as the main modifier (instead of INSERT). So, for example, when using Desktop Layout Mode, you would press INSERT+SPACEBAR to activate the JAWS® layered keystrokes, but in Laptop Layout Mode you would press CAPS LOCK+SPACEBAR to activate the layered keystrokes.

What are the differences in the ZoomText desktop and laptop hotkeys layouts?

When using Desktop Layout Mode, the key combinations used for ZoomText hotkeys are as they appear in the ZoomText Help system. When using the Laptop Layout Mode, you must add the ALT key to the key combination for each of active ZoomText hotkeys. So, for example, in Desktop Layout Mode, you can press CAPS LOCK+CTRL+U to open the ZoomText user interface, but in Laptop Layout Mode you must press CAPS LOCK+CTRL+ALT+U to open the ZoomText user interface.

Note: When running Fusion, JAWS provides the screen reading functionality. The ZoomText screen reading features and associated hotkeys are disabled.

Getting Help

There are several ways to quickly get help while using magnification or speech.

• When you hover the mouse pointer over an item in the Fusion user interface, a tooltip appears displaying the name, a brief description, and the hotkeys for that control. Tooltips are on by default, but can be turned off.
• Pressing INSERT+F1 is similar to using tooltips except the name and description appear in a Virtual Viewer message window. INSERT+F1 messages are always available and are ideal for getting information when changing speech settings in JAWS.
• You can browse the topics in the ZoomText help for complete details about magnification features and operation. To access help, press F1 while in the Fusion user interface.
• You can browse the topics in the JAWS help for complete details about speech features and operation. To access help, press INSERT+J, and choose Help > JAWS Help Topics.

Restoring Factory Defaults – Magnification Only

When you restore factory default settings in Fusion, only the ZoomText magnification settings are restored. This action has no effect on JAWS speech settings.

To restore magnification settings, choose Fusion > Configurations > Restore Factory Defaults in the Fusion user interface.

ZoomText Features Not Available in Fusion

Listening Group

The Listening group (Background Reader and Recorder) on the Tools tab is unavailable.