Orca Screen Reader

Orca is a free, open source, flexible, and extensible screen reader that provides access to the
graphical desktop via speech and refreshable braille.
a. Braille Support
Braille output is supported through BRLTTY and is tightly integrated with Orca. BRLTTY offers
support for nearly every refreshable Braille.
b. Speech
Orca provides interfaces to both gnome-speech and emacspeak speech services. Currently available
voices for Orca are restricted by the speech engines supported by the available speech services.
Some of the following speech engines are available:
Free engines:
eSpeak
Festival
FreeTTS
Commercial engines:
Fonix DECtalk
Loquendo
Eloquence
Cepstral
Orca works with applications and toolkits that support the Assistive Technology Service Provider
Interface (AT-SPI), which is the primary assistive technology infrastructure for Linux and Solaris.
Applications and toolkits supporting the AT-SPI include the GNOME Gtk+ toolkit, the Java
platform's Swing toolkit, LibreOffice, Gecko, and WebKitGtk. AT-SPI support for the KDE Qt
toolkit is being pursued. Orca is a part of the GNOME platform and its releases are coupled with the
GNOME platform releases.

1. Launching Orca
a. GUI
: The method for launching Orca screen reader will depend upon which desktop
environment you use. For instance, in GNOME 3.x this option can be found in the Universal Access
Control Center panel.
b. Terminal : Type orca, along with any optional parameters, in a terminal window or within the
Run dialog (Alt+F2) and then press Enter.

Load-Time Options From Terminal

The following options can be specified when launching Orca in a terminal window or
within the Run dialog:
-h, --help: Show the help message
-v, --version: Show the version of Orca
-t, --text-setup: Set up user preferences (text version)
-u, --user-prefs-dir=dirname: Use dirname as the alternate directory for user preferences
-e, --enable=option: Force use of option, where the option can be one of the following:
speech
braille
braille-monitor
-d, --disable=option: Prevent the use of an option, where the option can be one of the
following:
speech
braille
braille-monitor
-i, --import-file=filename: Import a profile from a given Orca profile file
--replace: Replace a currently-running Orca
-l, --list-apps: Print the known running applications
--debug: Send debug output to debug-YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS.out
--debug-file=filename: Send debug output to the specified file

2. Quitting Orca
1. Press Insert+Q in the desktop mode or CapsLock+Q in the laptop layout mode, to quit Orca.
2. Select Quit from Orca GUI.
3. If the system does not respond, you can perform any one of the following:
Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get to a virtual console and enter orca --quit command. Then,
press Alt+F7 to get back to the desktop. This procedure kills the Orca process and
reclaims system resources. You can then restart Orca by using the previously outlined
methods.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to end your login session and get back to the graphical
login prompt.

3. Orca Configuration
If you want to configure Orca, you can do one of the following: .
Pass the --text-setup option to Orca to re-run Orca's text-based setup.
Get into the Preferences dialog by pressing Orca Modifier+Space from within any
accessible application

3.1. Using Text Setup

Orca has a text setup feature which allows the user to perform basic configuration of Orca
even if the graphical desktop is not running.
1. Open a Run dialog. For most distros, this can be accomplished by pressing Alt+F2.
Alternatively, you can use a terminal window or the system text console.
2. Type orca --text-setup or orca -t and press Return.
Few questions will be asked like below:
1. Select desired speech system
The choices that follow will depend on which speech systems you have installed on your
system. Type the number associated with your desired speech system and press Return.
2. Select desired speech server
The choices that follow will depend on which speech synthesizers you have installed on
your system. Type the number associated with your desired speech server and press Return.
3. Select desired voice
The "voices" correspond with the languages available. In the case of speech-dispatcher, there
are approximately 60 languages and dialects supported with more being added regularly.
Type in the number of your language choice (e.g., 7 for American English) and press Return.
You do not need to wait for the entire list to be spoken. In addition, Orca attempts to make
your default language the first choice, so in many cases you can simply type 1 and press
Return without having to listen to the full list of voices.
4. Enable echo by word?
This option causes Orca to speak words as you finish typing them. Type y or n and press
Return.
5. Enable key echo?
This option causes Orca to speak all keys as they are pressed. Type y or n and press Return.
If you indicate that you would like key echo enabled, setup will then ask you about the types
of key echo you can enable or disable. For each one, type y to enable it or n to disable it and
press Return. The types are:
alphanumeric and punctuation keys
This option controls whether or not keys like a, b, c, ;, ?, and so on should be spoken
when pressed.
modifier keys
This option controls whether or not Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Meta should be spoken when
pressed.
locking keys
This option controls whether or not Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, and Num Lock should
be spoken when pressed.
function keys
This option controls whether or not F1 through F12 should be spoken when pressed.
action keys

This option controls whether or not BackSpace, Delete, Return, Escape, Tab, Page
Up, Page Down, Home, and End should be spoken when pressed.
6. Select desired keyboard layout.
Orca has two keyboard layouts: Desktop and Laptop.
The layout you choose impacts which key is used as the Orca Modifier.
If you are using the Laptop layout, the default Orca Modifier will be CapsLock
If you are using the Desktop layout, the Orca Modifier will be both Insert and
KeyPad Insert, the latter being the same key as KeyPad 0.
The layout also determines the keystrokes associated with a number of Orca's commands,
especially in the areas of Flat Review, Where Am I, and Say All.
Type 1 for Desktop layout or 2 for Laptop layout and press Return.
7. Enable Braille
This functionality assumes a BrlTTY-compatible device is available. Type y or n and press
Return. Note that you can usually just enter y here; Orca will recover gracefully and function
even if it cannot find BrlTTY.

3.2. Orca Configuration GUI

The Orca Configuration GUI enables you to customize the behavior and features of
Orca, such as speech, Braille. To open the Orca Configuration GUI, press Orca
Modifier+Spacebar, where Orca Modifier is the Insert key when you use the Desktop
keyboard layout and CapsLock key when you use the Laptop keyboard layout. To change
settings for a single application, press Ctrl+Orca Modifier+ Spacebar while the
application has focus.

3.2.1. Enabling General Preferences

The General page enables you to customize general settings of Orca such as selecting the
keyboard layout and Profile. The options in the General page are described in the following
sections.

a. Keyboard Layout
The keyboard layout radio button group allows you to specify if you will be working on a desktop
(i.e. with a numeric keypad) or laptop keyboard. Which layout you choose will determine both the
Orca Modifier as well as a number of keyboard shortcuts for performing Orca commands.
Default value: Desktop

b. Present Tooltips
When checked, this option will tell Orca to present information about tooltips when they appear as
the result of mouse hovering. Specific actions to force tooltips to appear, such as pressing Ctrl+F1
when an object has focus, will always result in tooltips being presented, regardless of this setting.
Default value: not checked

c. Speak Object Under Mouse

When checked, this option will tell Orca to present information about the object under the mouse
pointer as you move it around the screen.
Default value: not checked

d. Time Format and Date Format

The Time Format and Date Format combo boxes allow you to specify how Orca will speak and
braille the time and the date.
Default value: use the system locale's format for each

e. Profiles
The Profiles group of controls, which appear at the bottom of the General page, make it possible for
you to maintain and use multiple configurations.
The Active Profile combo box displays the current profile and allows you to select a
different profile to load.
The Load button will cause Orca to load the profile indicated in the Active Profile combo
box.
The Save As button allows you to save the current set of options from the preferences dialog
box to a named profile.
The Start-up Profile combo box allows you to select the profile which should be
automatically loaded each time you launch Orca.

3.2.2. Enabling Voice and Speech Preferences

The Speech page enables you to customize the Orca speech synthesis settings.

a. Enable speech

The Enable speech check box controls whether or not Orca will make use of a speech synthesizer.
Braille-only users will likely want to uncheck this checkbox.

b. Text-To-Speech Options

Speech system
This combo box allows you to select your preferred speech system from those you have installed.
Examples include Speech Dispatcher and GNOME Speech.
Speech synthesizer
This combo box allows you to select the speech synthesizer to be used with your chosen Speech
system.
Voice settings
This combo box makes it possible for you to use different voices so that you can better distinguish
uppercase and linked text from other text, and on-screen text from text added by Orca.
Configuring Multiple Voices
For each voice you wish to configure, first select the voice in the Voice settings combo box. Then
configure the person, rate, pitch, and volume to be used for that voice.
Person
This combo box allows you to choose which "person" or "speaker" should be used with the selected
voice. For instance, you might wish to have David speak by default, but have hyperlinks spoken by
Alice. Note that what you find in the Person combo box will depend on which speech synthesizers
you have installed.

c. Rate, Pitch, and Volume

These three left-right sliders allow you to further customize the sound of the person you have just
selected.

d. Punctuation Level

The Punctuation Level radio button group is used to adjust the amount of punctuation spoken by the
synthesizer. The available levels are None, Some, Most, and All.
None
Choosing a punctuation level of None would, as you expect, cause no punctuation to be spoken.
Note, however, that special symbols such as subscripted and superscripted numbers, unicode
fractions, and bullets are still spoken at this level, even though some might consider these types of
symbols punctuation.
Some
Choosing a punctuation level of Some causes all of the previously-mentioned symbols to be spoken.
In addition, Orca will speak known mathematical symbols, currency symbols, and "^", "@", "/",
"&", "#".
Most
Choosing a punctuation level of Most causes all of the previous-mentioned symbols to be spoken.
In addition, Orca will speak all other known punctuation symbols other than "!", "'", ",", ".", "?".
All
Choosing a punctuation level of All, as expected, causes Orca to speak all known punctuation
symbols.

e. Verbosity

The Verbosity setting determines the amount of information that will be spoken in various
situations. For example, if it is set to verbose, and you arrow into a word that is misspelled, Orca
will announce that the word is misspelled. When the level is set to brief, this announcement will not
be made.
Default value: Verbose

f. Table Rows

The Table Rows radio button group determines what gets spoken when navigating amongst rows in
a table. The available options are speak row and speak cell.
Consider the process of examining the list of messages in your Inbox. In order to have Orca
announce the sender, subject, date, and presence of attachments you would need speak row. On the
other hand, when navigating amongst rows in a spreadsheet, hearing the full row may not be
desired. In that case, speak cell should instead be chosen.
Default value: Speak row

g. Progress Bar Updates

Enabled
If the Enabled checkbox is checked Orca will periodically present the status of progress bars.
Default value: checked
Frequency (secs)
This spin button determines how often the announcement is made.
Default value: 10
Restrict to
This combo box allows you to control which progress bars should be presented, assuming the
presentation of progress bar updates has been enabled. The choices are All, Application, and
Window.
Choosing All will result in Orca presenting updates for all progress bars, regardless of where the
progress bars are located.
Choosing Application will result in Orca presenting updates from progress bars in the active
application, even if they are not in the active window.
Choosing Window will result in Orca only presenting updates for progress bars in the active
window.
Default value: Application

h. Only speak displayed text

Checking this checkbox causes Orca to only speak actual text displayed on screen. This option is
intended primarily for low vision users and users with a visual learning disability.

i. Speak multicase strings as words

In some texts, and especially when working with code, one often comes across a "word" consisting
of several words with alternating case, such as "MultiCaseString." Speech synthesizers do not
always pronounce such multicase strings correctly. Checking the Speak multicase strings as words
checkbox will cause Orca to break a word like "MultiCaseString" into separate words ("Multi,"
"Case," and "String") prior to passing it along to the speech synthesizer.

j. Break speech into chunks between pauses

Depending on the enabled speech settings, Orca may have quite a bit to say about a particular object
such as its name, its role, its state, its mnemonic, its tutorial message, and so on. Checking the
Break speech into chunks between pauses checkbox will cause Orca to insert brief pauses in
between each of these pieces of information.

k. Say All By

The Say All By combo box allows you to specify whether Orca speaks a sentence at a time or a line
at a time when doing a "Say All" of a document.

l. System Information

The following items control the presentation of a variety of supplemental, "system" information
about the item with focus. Because the associated text does not appear on screen, this information is
presented in Orca's System voice.
Configuration of System Information
The follow items will not be available for configuration if the Only speak displayed text checkbox
is checked.
Speak blank lines
If the Speak blank lines checkbox is checked, Orca will say "blank" each time you arrow to a blank
line. If it is unchecked, Orca will say nothing when you move to a blank line.
Speak indentation and justification
When working with code or editing other documents it is often desirable to be aware of justification
and indentation. Checking the Speak indentation and justification checkbox will cause Orca to
announce this information.

Speak object mnemonics

If the Speak object mnemonics checkbox is checked, Orca will announce the mnemonic associated
with the object with focus (such as Alt+O for an OK button).
Speak child position
Checking the Speak child position checkbox will cause Orca to announce the position of the
focused item in menus, lists, and trees (e.g. "9 of 16").
Speak tutorial messages
If the Speak tutorial messages checkbox is checked, as you move amongst objects in an interface,
Orca will provide additional information, such as how to interact with the currently-focused object.

3.2.3. Enabling Braille Preferences

a. Enable Braille Support

This check box toggles whether or not Orca will make use of a braille display. If BrlTTY is not
running, Orca will recover gracefully and will not communicate with the braille display.
Default value: not checked
If you configure BrlTTY later on, you need to restart Orca in order to use braille.

b. Enable Contracted Braille

Orca supports contracted braille via the liblouis project. Because many distros include liblouis, you
will likely automatically have access to contracted braille support in Orca.
To enable contracted braille on a system where liblouis has been installed, be sure that the Enable
Contraced Braille checkbox is checked. Then choose your desired translation table from the
Contraction Table combo box.
Default value: not checked

c. Abbreviated Role Names

This check box determines the manner in which role names are displayed and can be used to help
conserve real estate on the braille display. For instance, if a slider had focus, the word "slider"
would be displayed if abbreviated role names is not checked; if it were checked, "sldr" would be
displayed instead.
Default value: not checked

d. Disable end of line symbol

Checking this checkbox tells Orca to not present the "$l" string at the end of a line of text.
Default value: not checked

e. Verbosity

This radio button group determines the amount of information that will be brailled in certain
situations. For example, if it is set to verbose, keyboard shortcut and role name information is
displayed. This information is not displayed in brief mode.
Default value: Verbose

f. Selection and Hyperlink Indicators

The Selection Indicator and Hyperlink Indicator radio button groups allow you to configure Orca's
behavior when displaying selected text and hyperlinks. By default, when you encounter either, Orca
will "underline" that text on your braille display with Dots 7 and 8. If you would prefer, you can
change the indicator to only be Dot 7, only be Dot 8, or not be present at all.
Default value: Dots 7 and 8

3.2.4. Enabling Key Echo Preferences

The Key Echo page enables you to specify the behavior of Orca when pressing keys on the page
and whether words are spoken as you complete them.

a. Enable key echo

Orca's key echo setting controls what happens each time you press a key. To enable key echo, check
the "Enable key echo" checkbox. Doing so causes additional checkboxes to become available
through which you can choose exactly which keys should and should not be echoed to best suit your
needs.
Default value: checked
Enable alphanumeric and punctuation keys
This option controls whether or not keys like a, b, c, ;, ?, and so on should be spoken when pressed.
Default value: checked
Enable modifier keys
This option controls whether or not Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Meta should be spoken when pressed.
Default value: checked
Enable locking keys
This option controls whether or not Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, and Num Lock should be spoken when
pressed.
Default value: checked
Enable function keys
This option controls whether or not F1 through F12 should be spoken when pressed.
Default value: checked
Enable action keys
This option controls whether or not BackSpace, Delete , Return, Escape, Tab, Page Up, Page Down,
Home, and End should be spoken when pressed.
Default value: checked
Enable navigation keys
This option controls whether or not Left, Right, Up, and Down should be spoken when pressed.
This option also applies to any key combination in which Orca Modifier is being held down, for
instance when flat review is being used.
Default value: not checked
Enable non-spacing diacritical keys
This option controls whether or not "dead keys" used to generate accented letters should be spoken
when pressed.
Default value: not checked

b.Enable echo by character

Enabling this option causes Orca to echo the character you just typed.
While echo by character seems quite similar to the key echo of alphanumeric and punctuation keys,
there are important differences, especially with respect to accented letters and other symbols for

which there is no dedicated key:

Key echo causes Orca to announce what you just pressed.
Character echo causes Orca to announce what was just inserted.
Thus to have accented characters spoken as you type them, you should enable character
echo.
Default value: not checked
Enabling both key echo and character echo:
If you like key echo and you frequently type accented characters, consider enabling
both. Orca's character echo logic attempts to filter out characters which were spoken as a
result of key echo, thus minimizing the likelihood of "double speaking" as you type.
c. Enable echo by word and Enable echo by sentence

Checking the Enable echo by word checkbox causes Orca to echo the word you just typed.
Similarly, checking the Enable echo by sentence checkbox causes Orca to echo the sentence you
just typed.
Default value: not checked

3.2.5. Enabling Key Bindings Preferences

The Key Bindings page enables you to examine and modify the key bindings for Orca.

a. Orca Modifier Keys

The Orca Modifier Keys combo box allows you to select which key or keys will serve as the Orca
Modifier. The available options are:
KP_Insert (the same key as the 0 on the numeric keypad)
Insert
Insert, KP_Insert
Caps_Lock
b. The Key Bindings Table

The key bindings table provides a list of Orca operations and the keys that are bound to them.
The Function column is a description of the Orca operation to be performed.
The Key Binding is the primary way to invoke the function from the keyboard. Note that the
key binding may include the word "Orca". This indicates that the Orca Modifier key
should be held down along with the other keys. You can modify the value of this column by
pressing Return, pressing the keys for the new binding, and pressing Return again.
The Alternate column allows you to specify an additional keybinding for this function. You
can modify the value of this column by pressing Return, pressing the keys for the new
binding, and pressing Return again.
The Modified column serves both as an indicator to what has been changed and as a way to
restore the default bindings associated with that function.
Beneath the list of Orca keybindings, you will find a group of "unbound" commands. These are
commands which we feel will be very useful for some users, but not needed by most users. Rather
than "use up" a keystroke for such commands, we have left them unassigned by default. At the end
of the list are the braille bindings, for use with a refreshable braille display.

3.2.6.Enabling Pronunciation Preferences

Sometimes your speech synthesizer might not correctly use words to convey or pronounce a
particular string. For example, you might prefer to hear "laughing out loud" rather than "LOL," or a
name or a technical term the synthesizer might mispronounce.
On the pronunciation page, you can add, edit, and delete Orca's pronunciation dictionary entries.
Because the Pronunciation page is also part of the application-specific settings, you can customize
your entries on an as-needed basis for each application you use.

To Add a New Dictionary Entry

1.
2.
3.
4.

Press the New Entry button or Alt+N.

Type the text of the new entry and press Return to finish editing the actual string.
Move to the Replacement String column and press Return to begin editing.
Type the text that you would like to have spoken instead. Press Return to finish editing the
replacement string.

To Edit an Existing Dictionary Entry

1. Move to the cell you want to edit and press Return to begin editing.
2. Make your changes and then press Return to finish editing.
To Delete an Existing Dictionary Entry
1. Move to the entry you want to delete.
2. Press the Delete button or Alt+D.

3.2.7.Text Attributes Page

The term "text attributes" refers to all of the font, style, alignment, and other formatting associated
with a given character or series of characters. Orca's Text Attributes page allows you to customize
which text attributes Orca will present in speech, along with the order in which they should be
presented, and which ones Orca will indicate in braille.

a. The text attributes table

The text attributes table is where you specify what attributes will and will not be presented and
under what conditions. Each row consists of four columns.
Attribute Name: The name of the text attribute.
Speak: Check this checkbox if you would like Orca to speak this attribute when you press
Orca+F.

 Mark in braille: Check this checkbox if you would like Orca to "underline" this attribute on
your braille display.
Present Unless: This editable field allows you to specify when an enabled attribute is not of
interest.
For example, by default the "underline" text attribute has a value of "none". This causes
Orca to inform you about underlined text as long as the text is actually underlined. If you
always want this attribute to be spoken irrespective of whether or not the text is underlined,
the Present unless column should be empty for underline. In addition, you should be sure
that the Speak column for underline is checked.

b.Undoing changes
Beneath the list of text attributes, there is a Reset button (Alt+R) which will restore the values of
the table to what they were when the dialog was first displayed.

c. Rearranging the order of presentation

Options for Controlling the Order in Which Attributes Are Presented

When you initially display the text attribute page, all of your enabled attributes are placed at the top
of the table in the order in which they will be spoken. There are four buttons which can be used to
rearrange the order of presentation.
Move to top (Alt+T): moves the selected attribute to the top of the list.
Move up one (Alt+U): moves the selected attribute up one row.
Move down one (Alt+D): moves the selected attribute down one row.
Move to bottom (Alt+B): moves the selected attribute to the bottom of the list.

d. Braille indicator
Options for Configuring Braille "Underlining" for Formatting

Beneath the push buttons is the Braille Indicator group of radio buttons. Here you can select the cell
or cells to be used to indicate text which has at least one of the specified attributes.

 None: Do not underline text attributes in braille (the default)

Dot 7: Underline text attributes with only Dot 7
Dot 8: Underline text attributes with only Dot 8
Dots 7 and 8: Underline text attributes with both Dots 7 and Dots 8

4. Orca Keyboard Commands

The Key Bindings page provides a complete list of the available keyboard commands. To open the
Orca Configuration GUI, press Orca Modifier+Spacebar.
To enter Orca's Learn mode while running Orca, press Orca Modifier+H. When in Learn mode,
Orca will intercept all keyboard and Braille input events and indicate what the effect would be. To
exit Learn mode, press the Escape key.
Orca provides additional commands for some applications, such as Firefox. To display the list of
additional commands for an application, press Ctrl+Orca Modifier+Spacebar when that application
has focus. The Orca Configuration GUI opens in the application-specific state, and additional
commands appear in the Key Bindings page.

4.1. Using the Desktop Layout Commands

The following sections list the common Orca keyboard commands for desktop keyboards arranged
by category.

4.1.1. Flat Review Keyboard Commands

The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts for the flat review commands when you use the
desktop layout.
Keys
Numpad+7
Numpad+8
Numpad+9
Numpad+4
Numpad+5
Numpad+6
Numpad+1
Numpad+2
Numpad+3
Numpad+Slash
Numpad+Asterisk
Numpad+Minus sign

Function
Moves the flat review cursor to the previous line and reads it
Reads the current line
Moves the flat review cursor to the next line and reads it
Move the flat review cursor to the previous word and reads it
Reads the current word
Moves the flat review cursor to the next word and reads it
Moves the flat review cursor to the previous character and reads
it
Reads the current character
Moves the flat review cursor to the next character and reads it
Performs left mouse click at the location of the flat review
cursor
Performs right mouse click at the location of the flat review
cursor
Toggles between flat review and focus tracking modes

Note - These commands apply when working with objects as well as when working with text. For
example, if the flat review cursor is positioned on a menubar, issuing the read current line
command would speak the names of all visible menus. Similarly, issuing the read next word
command would speak the object to the right of the flat review cursor on the same line, or move flat
review to the next line if no more objects were found.

4.1.2 Bookmark Keyboard Commands

The following table lists the shortcut keys for the bookmark commands when you use the desktop
layout.
Keys
Alt+Insert+[1-6]

Insert+[1-6]
Alt+Shift+[1-6]
Insert+B and Insert+ Shift+B
Alt+Insert+B

Function
Assigns a bookmark to a numbered slot. If a bookmark
already exists in the slot, the bookmark is replaced with a
new one.
Goes to the position pointed to by the bookmark bound to
this numbered slot.
Where Am I information for this bookmark relative to the
current pointer location.
Moves between the given bookmarks for the given
application or page.
Saves the defined bookmarks for the current application or
page.

4.1.3 Miscellaneous Functions

The following table lists the shortcut keys for miscellaneous functions when you use the desktop
layout.
Keys
Numpad+Plus sign
Numpad+Return

Insert+H
Insert+F
Insert+Spacebar
Insert+Ctrl+Spacebar

Insert+S
Insert+F11
Insert+Q

Function
Say All command. Reads from the current position of the
caret to the end of the document.
Where Am I command. Speaks information such as the
title of the current application window, as well as the
name of the control that currently has focus.
Enters Learn mode. Press Escape to exit.
Speaks font and attribute information for the current
character.
Displays the Orca Configuration dialog box.
Reloads user settings and reinitializes services as
necessary. Also, displays the Orca Configuration dialog
box for the current application.
Toggles speech on and off.
Toggles reading of tables, either by a single cell or a
whole row.
Quits Orca.

4.1.4 Debugging Keyboard Commands

The following table lists the shortcut keys for the debugging commands when you use the desktop
layout.
Keys
Function
Ctrl+Alt+Insert+Home Reports information on the currently active script.
Note - To use the next three commands, Orca must be started from a
virtual console or through the gnome-terminal. Output is sent to the
console only and not to speech or Braille.
Ctrl+Alt+Insert+End
Ctrl+Alt+Insert+ Page
Up
Ctrl+Alt+Insert+ Page
Down

Prints a debug list of all the known applications to the console where Orca
is running.
Prints debug information about the ancestry of the object with focus.
Prints debug information about the hierarchy of the application with
focus.

4.2. Using the Laptop Layout Commands

Following is a list of common Orca keyboard commands for laptop keyboards arranged by
category.

4.2.1 Flat Review Keyboard Commands

The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts for the flat review commands when you use the
Laptop layout.
Keys
Caps Lock+U

Caps_Lock+I
Caps Lock+O

Caps Lock+J

Caps Lock+K
Caps Lock+L

Caps Lock+M

Caps Lock+Comma

Function
Moves the flat review cursor to the previous line and reads it.
Double-click to move flat review to the top of the current
window.
Reads the current line. Double-click to read the current line
with formatting and capitalization details.
Moves the flat review cursor to the next line and reads it.
Double-click to move flat review to the bottom of the current
window.
Moves the flat review cursor to the previous word and reads
it. Double-click to move flat review to the word above the
current word.
Reads the current word. Double-click to spell the word.
Triple-click to hear the word spelled phonetically.
Moves the flat review cursor to the next word and reads it.
Double-click to move flat review to the word below the
current word.
Moves the flat review cursor to the previous character and
reads it. Double-click to move flat review to the end of the
current line.
Reads the current character. Double-click to pronounce the

character phonetically if it is a letter.

Caps Lock+Period
Moves the flat review cursor to the next character and reads it.
Caps Lock+7
Performs a left mouse click at the location of the flat review
cursor.
Caps Lock+8
Performs a right mouse click at the location of the flat review
cursor.
Caps Lock+p
Toggles between flat review and focus tracking mode.
These commands apply when working with objects as well as when working with text. For
example, if the flat review cursor is positioned on a menubar, issuing the read current line
command speaks the names of all visible menus. Similarly, issuing the read next word command
speaks the object to the right of the flat review cursor on the same line, or move flat review to the
next line if no more objects were found.

4.2.2 Bookmark Keyboard Commands

The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts for the bookmark commands when you use the
laptop layout.
Keys
Alt+Caps Lock+[1-6]
Caps Lock+[1-6]
Alt+Shift+[1-6]
Caps Lock+B
Alt+Caps Lock+B

Function
Adds a bookmark to the numbered slot. If a bookmark already
exists for the slot, it is replaced with the new one.
Goes to the position pointed to by the bookmark bound to this
numbered slot.
Where Am I information for this bookmark relative to the
current pointer location.
Moves between the given bookmarks for the given application
or page.
Saves the defined bookmarks for the current application or
page.

4.2.3 Miscellaneous Keyboard Commands

The following table lists the shortcut keys for the miscellaneous functions when you use the Laptop
layout.
Keys
Caps Lock+Semicolon
Caps Lock+Return

Caps Lock+H
Caps Lock+F
Caps Lock+Spacebar
Caps Lock+Ctrl+Spacebar

Caps Lock+S

Function
Say All command. Reads from the current position of
the caret to the end of the document.
Where Am I command. Speaks information such as the
title of the current application window, as well as the
name of the control that currently has focus.
Enters Learn mode. Press Escape to exit.
Speaks font and attribute information for the current
character.
Starts the Orca Configuration dialog.
Reloads user settings and reinitialize services as
necessary. It also starts the Orca Configuration dialog
for the current application.
Toggles speech on and off.

Caps Lock + F11

Caps Lock + Q

Toggles reading of tables, either by single cell or whole

row.
Quits Orca.

4.2.4 Debugging Keyboard Commands

The following table lists the shortcut keys for the debugging commands when you use the Laptop
layout.
Keys
Function
Caps
Reports information on the currently active script.
Lock+Alt+Ctrl+Home
Caps
Prints a debug listing all known applications to the console where Orca is
Lock+Alt+Ctrl+End running.
Caps Lock+Alt+Ctrl+ Prints debug information about the ancestry of the object with focus.
Page Up
Caps
Prints debug information about the object hierarchy of the application with
Lock+Alt+Ctrl+Page focus.
Down

4.3. Application-Specific Information

Orca is designed to work with applications and toolkits that support the Assistive Technology
Service Provider Interface (AT-SPI).

4.3.1. Making Application-Specific Settings

1. To customize the settings for a particular application, start that application.
2. Ensure that the application has focus and then press Orca Modifier+Ctrl+Spacebar.
A tabbed dialog window similar to the Orca Configuration dialog is displayed with the
following differences:
No initial General pane.
The Speech System and Speech Synthesizer options on the Speech pane are inactive.
Any application-specific key bindings appear at the top of the list on the Key
Bindings pane.
Adjust your application-specific settings. For example, you might have Key Echo disabled
generally in Orca but would like to specifically have it enabled for the GNOME Calculator
application.
When you have customized your application settings, click OK. These settings are written to
your ~/.orca/app-settings directory in a file called APPNAME.py, where APPNAME is the
name of the application.
Orca automatically writes these files. The contents of the file are overwritten each time you
change your application settings for that application.
To retain any application-specific settings or code, copy them to a file called
~/.orca/app-settings/APPNAME-customizations.py. This file is automatically read when the
settings for the application are loaded.

5. Troubleshooting Orca
This section describes troubleshooting topics in Orca.
Desktop Is Unresponsive
1. Press Alt+F2 to open the Run dialog.
2. Type orca and press Return to start a new instance of Orca.
This will force any existing Orca processes to exit and then restart Orca.
Sometimes, this step might cause the desktop to hang, which is usually because of an
ill-behaved application.