Edit videos with a screen reader

You can edit videos on your computer using a screen reader for text-to-speech feedback, such as ChromeVox, NVDA, JAWS, or VoiceOver.

First, make sure that you turn on Docs screen reader support.

If you use a Windows computer or Chromebook with touch input, follow the tips to use touch input with a screen reader.

Move around in your video

When you open a video in Google Vids, the first scene of your video is in focus.

Use keyboard shortcuts

Vids is different from a typical website, so some standard screen reader shortcuts don't apply. For the best experience, use Vids shortcuts while editing your video.

For example, use the shortcuts below to move within the video editor:

• Canvas: To get to the scene’s canvas from any other area, press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + c (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + Option + Shift + c (Mac).
• Timeline: The video editor contains a timeline with all scenes in the video. To move focus to the timeline, press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + t (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + Option + Shift + t (Mac). Once you're in the timeline, move between scenes using the up and down arrows.

To open a list of shortcuts in your video, press Ctrl + / (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + / (Mac). You can search for actions such as insert or scene. To return to your video, press Escape.

Take quick actions by searching the menus

1. Press Alt + / (Windows, Chrome OS) or Option + / (Mac).
2. Type a command, such as Rename or Insert.
3. To hear search results, press the down arrow. For example, if you type Insert, the options include adding an image, a comment, and other choices.
4. To choose an action, press Enter.

Play your video

The following browsers and screen readers work best for playing videos:

• On Chrome OS, use ChromeVox with Chrome.
• On Windows, use NVDA or JAWS with Chrome.
• On Mac, use VoiceOver with Chrome.

To play your video:

1. Use the shortcut key for your browser to start play:
   • Chrome OS: Ctrl + Search + 5
   • Windows: Ctrl + F5
   • Mac: ⌘ + Shift + Enter
2. To navigate the content of your video, press Tab until the focus is on the scene content.
3. To go to the next or previous scene, press the down or up arrow.
4. To exit play mode, press Escape.

Use the menus, top-level buttons & toolbar

Important: If there are no buttons and menus at the top, press Ctrl + Shift + f (Windows, Chrome OS, or Mac).

To browse the menus:

1. Open the File menu using the shortcut key for your browser:
   • Windows with Chrome browser: Alt + f
   • Windows with other browsers: Alt + Shift + f
   • Chrome OS: Alt + f
   • Mac: First press the pass-through keys Ctrl + Option + Tab, then Ctrl + Option + f
2. To explore other menus, including Edit, View, Insert, Scene, Format, Arrange, Tools, Table, Help, and Accessibility, press the right arrow.

Tip: To get help, open the Help menu and select Vids Help. Press Tab to reach the search box, then type your search, such as Images, and press Enter. The help opens in a box where you can read or navigate to other topics. To return to the video, press Escape.

From the menus, you can move to two other sets of controls:

• Top-level buttons: These buttons are for video-level actions, such as renaming, starring, sharing, or moving the video to a different folder. From the menus, press Shift + Tab.
• Toolbar: The toolbar has options for editing and formatting, such as colors and borders. From the menus, press Tab.

Use the Accessibility menu to read or move around your video

1. Open the Accessibility menu using the shortcut key for your browser:
   • Windows with Chrome browser: Alt + a
   • Windows with other browsers: Alt + Shift + a
   • Chrome OS: Alt + a
   • Mac: First press the pass-through keys Ctrl + Option + Tab, then Ctrl + Option + a
2. To hear options, such as "Verbalize to screen reader," "Comments," and more, press the down arrow.
3. To open a sub-menu, and press the right arrow, and to explore options in the sub-menu, press the down arrow.
4. To select an option, press Enter.

Editing and formatting basics

In your video, you can add or change content and formatting.

Add a text box, image, or table

1. Go to the scene where you'd like to add a text box, image, or table.

2. To search the menus, press Alt + / (Windows, Chrome OS) or Option + / (Mac).

3. To get a list of items you can add, type insert.
4. To explore the list, use the arrow keys.
5. To make your selection, press Enter.

Announce or change formatting

To announce the text or paragraph formatting at your cursor's current location, press Ctrl + Alt + a then f (Windows, Chrome OS) or Ctrl + ⌘ + a then f (Mac).

To explore the formatting styles that you can apply, open the Format menu in the menu bar:

1. Open the Format menu using the shortcut key for your browser:
   • Windows with Chrome browser: Alt + o
   • Windows with other browsers: Alt + Shift + o
   • Chrome OS: Alt + o
   • Mac: First press the pass-through keys Ctrl + Option + Tab, then Ctrl + Option + o
2. To hear options, press the down arrow, then to select, press Enter.

Learn more about how to customize video, audio, and image formatting.

Change the order of scenes

1. To go to the timeline, press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + t (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + Option + Shift + t (Mac).

2. To find the scene that you want to move, press the up and down arrows.

3. To select multiple scenes to move, press Shift as you press the arrow keys.

4. To move the selected scenes left or right, hold Ctrl (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ (Mac) and press the left or right arrow.

Spell-check a video

Vids automatically finds misspellings in your video.

1. To go to the next misspelling, press Ctrl + apostrophe (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + apostrophe (Mac).
2. To go to the previous misspelling, press Ctrl + semicolon (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + semicolon (Mac).
3. To correct a misspelling, open the context menu by pressing Ctrl + Shift + x (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + Shift + x (Mac).
4. From the context menu, select the correctly spelled suggestion, and press Enter.

Learn more about spell-check and automatic corrections.

Add alt text for an object

1. Select the object.

2. Press Ctrl + Alt + y (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + Option + y (Mac).

3. In the Alt text dialog, enter a description for the object, then select Enter.

Learn about Google Vids availability.