LionMail Accessibility
Columbia University is committed to ensuring equal access to information, programs, and activities through its technologies, web pages, services, and resources for all its constituencies, including people with disabilities. The infrastructures behind LionMail and LionMail Calendar are available with client software such as Outlook, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail; these clients can in turn be used with common screen-reader software. Guidelines on improving the accessibility of Google Docs and Sheets within LionMail Drive are provided below.
Attention Faculty: At no time can LionMail Drive be made a course requirement.
LionMail Drive Accessibility
Please use the general guidelines below for making your Google Documents accessible to people with disabilities. The Google Administrator Guide to Accessibility provides further information on accessibility and Google Apps, including Google Drive.
LionMail Drive, which includes Google Documents, provides a web-interface with customized keyboard commands for composing and editing documents in a collaborative fashion. Because of the collaborative nature of the application, it is especially important that your shared files are as accessible as possible so that all users who need to access your documents can comprehend the content. This page contains some general guidelines for making your Google Docs accessible.
We would like to thank our colleagues at Stanford University and Penn State for allowing us to quote some of their documentation.
It is the responsibility of the author to create accessible documents. It is strongly recommended that you create accessible documents as you develop content, and that you make your documents accessible before completion.
For blind or visually-impaired individuals using a screen-reader application, Google recommends the Chrome browser with the ChromeVox screen-reader extension to best utilize the Google Drive web interface. The combination of JAWS for Windows and Firefox web browsers may be used but may not provide full support within the Google Drive interface.
Because Google Documents is missing some key accessibility functions, its use is not recommended for sharing documents with tables
Headings provide context for your document, and allow screen reader users to quickly recognize its major sections. A screen reader will not recognize bold text or a large font size as indicating a heading.
Specifying heading styles such as Heading 1, Heading 2 or Heading 3 will allow a screen reader user to easily navigate your page. The document title should be in Heading 1, major subsections in Heading 2, further subsections in Heading 3 and so forth.
Designate headings in Google Documents by using the drop-down Styles menu.
Alternative text provides screen reader software with the information that an image is meant to convey, and provides a fuller understanding of the document to visually-impaired or blind readers. It is now possible to add "alt text" (alternative text) to an image embedded in a Google Document.
NOTE: Uploading an image already equipped with alt text (e.g. by pasting a URL in the Insert Image menu) will not preserve the alt text in the Google Doc.
Use one of the list tools to create either bulleted or numbered lists, instead of manually inserting bullets, numbers, asterisks or other symbols. As with headers, this tool enables screen readers to process list items more efficiently for visually-impaired or blind readers.
Numbered lists with multiple levels should use a different numbering scheme on each level. For instance, if the topmost level uses "1, 2, 3," the next level should use "a, b, c."
Create a list in Google Docs by using one of the Insert List icons in the formatting toolbar.
Screen reader users often scan a document for hyperlinks, so it is important to make sure your links make sense without their surrounding content. For example, a link should say "Readings for the week of February 14" rather than "Readings for the week of February 14. Click here."
Click the Insert Hyperlink icon to create a hyperlink in Google Docs.
Simple, sans-serif fonts (such as Calibri or Arial) are generally more legible than serif fonts that have embellishments (like Times New Roman), particularly on a monitor.
If any text is given a colored "highlight," ensure that there is sufficient contrast between the highlight color and the text itself. Color schemes (text color vs. background color) should have enough contrast between light and dark. If too little contrast is provided, colorblind or low vision users may have difficulty reading the content. Certain color combinations (often those with bright colors) can even cause headaches for some users.
Adding a table of contents can help screen reader users navigate your document quickly and easily, in addition to making the file more generally usable by providing a preview of upcoming content.
You must designate headings to generate a table of contents, as these are what is used to specify the sections of the document.
Select Table of Contents from the drop-down Insert menu to create a table of contents in Google Docs.
LionMail Drive, which includes Google Documents, provides a web-interface with customized keyboard commands for composing and editing documents in a collaborative fashion. Because of the collaborative nature of the application, it is especially important that your shared files are as accessible as possible so that all users who need to access your documents can comprehend the content. This page contains some general guidelines for making your Google Docs accessible.
We would like to thank our colleagues at Stanford University and Penn State for allowing us to quote some of their documentation.
It is the responsibility of the author to create accessible documents. It is strongly recommended that you create accessible documents as you develop content, and that you make your documents accessible before completion.
For blind or visually-impaired individuals using a screen-reader application, Google recommends the Chrome browser with the ChromeVox screen-reader extension to best utilize the Google Drive web interface. The combination of JAWS for Windows and Firefox web browser may be used but may not provide full support within the Google Drive interface.
Because Google Documents is missing some key accessibility functions, its use is not recommended for sharing documents with images and/or tables.
- For long documents, use the Heading styles (Heading 1 through Heading 6) to break passages of text into multiple sections.
- All images, except those used for purely decorative purposes, should be accompanied by a caption or be described in the main text.
- Use one of the list tools to create lists, instead of inserting list items manually.
- Make sure that any hyperlink text clearly describes its target page.
- Sans-serif fonts are preferable to serif fonts with regard to on-screen legibility. If any text is given a colored "highlight," ensure that there is sufficient contrast between the highlight color and the text itself.
- A table of contents can help users navigate your document quickly, in addition to providing a preview of its content, both of which enhance its general usability.
Headings
Headings provide context for your document, and allow screen reader users to quickly recognize its major sections. A screen reader will not recognize bold text or a large font size as indicating a heading.
Specifying heading styles such as Heading 1, Heading 2 or Heading 3 will allow a screen reader user to easily navigate your page. The document title should be in Heading 1, major subsections in Heading 2, further subsections in Heading 3 and so forth.
Designate headings in Google Documents by using the drop-down Styles menu.
Images
Although Google Documents does not currently have the capability to add alt text to an image, it is still possible to provide supplemental information for visually impaired users. All images, charts and tables should be either preceded by a brief description of the content or followed by a caption. This provision will allow screen reader users some understanding of the content.
NOTE: Uploading an image already equipped with alt text (e.g. by pasting a URL in the Insert Image menu) will not preserve the alt text in the Google Doc.
Lists
Use one of the list tools to create either bulleted or numbered lists, instead of manually inserting bullets, numbers, asterisks or other symbols. As with headers, this tool enables screen readers to process list items more efficiently.
Numbered lists with multiple levels should use a different numbering scheme on each level. For instance, if the topmost level uses "1, 2, 3," the next level should use "a, b, c."
Create a list in Google Docs by using one of the Insert List icons in the formatting toolbar.
Hyperlinks
Screen reader users often scan a document for hyperlinks, so it is important to make sure your links make sense without their surrounding content. For example, a link should say "Readings for the week of February 14" rather than "Readings for the week of February 14. Click here."
Click the Insert Hyperlink icon to create a hyperlink in Google Docs.
Ensuring Legibility
Sans-serif fonts are generally more legible than serif fonts, particularly on a monitor.
Color schemes (text color vs. background color) should have enough contrast between light and dark. If too little contrast is provided, colorblind or low vision users may have difficulty reading the content. Certain color combinations (often those with bright colors) can even cause headaches for some users.
Creating a Table of Contents
Adding a table of contents can help screen reader users navigate your document quickly and easily, in addition to making the file more generally usable by providing a preview of upcoming content.
You must designate headings to generate a table of contents, as these are what is used to specify the sections of the document.
Select Table of Contents from the drop-down Insert menu to create a table of contents in Google Docs.
Before you can use a screen reader with Google Docs, you’ll first need to configure your screen reader. Here’s how to do that for the four screen readers that Google Docs supports — JAWS, NVDA, ChromeVox and VoiceOver.
JAWS
Before using JAWS with Google Docs, you will need to change a few of its settings. To do that, you need to interact with JAWS via keyboard commands, most of which involve pressing the “JAWS” key and then some other combination of keys. By default, the JAWS key is your keyboard’s “Insert” key. When performing the following configuration steps, make sure you can hear audio from your computer.
- Set key echoing to no echoing — press JAWS + 2 until you hear “None.”
- Set the Virtual Cursor to off — press JAWS + Z until you hear “Use virtual PC cursor off.” Then press JAWS + Z + Z until you hear “the virtual cursor will be turned off for all applications.”
- Disable both "Auto Forms Mode" and "Forms Mode Off when New Page Loads" — Ensure that the screen reader’s focus is on the top toolbar, and then press JAWS + V. In the settings window that opens, search for “Forms Options” and uncheck both “Auto Forms Mode” and “Forms Mode Off when New Page Loads.” Then press OK. If you’re using Firefox, you will need to tab through from the address bar through the Docs toolbar controls until you hear application mode announced. At that point, you can hit “Escape” to return to the content of your Google document and activate screen reader support.
- Once you're finished and the screen reader’s focus has returned to the document, press Ctrl + Alt + Z on a PC to enable screen reader support. You should now hear the document being spoken to you.
Because Google Docs isn’t a typical website, some JAWS navigation shortcuts will not work. Use Docs-specific shortcuts instead when editing the contents of a document.
NVDA
Before using NVDA with Google Docs, you will need to change a few of its settings. To do that, you need to interact with NVDA via keyboard commands, most of which involve pressing the “NVDA” key and then some other combination of keys. By default, NVDA will allow you to use the “Caps Lock” or “Insert” key as the NVDA key.
- Press NVDA + Ctrl + K to bring up the Keyboard Settings window, then disable “Speak typed characters” and “Speak typed words.”
- Open a document.
- Enable screen reader support by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Z on a PC. You should hear “Screen reader support enabled.”
Because Google Docs isn’t a typical website, some NVDA navigation shortcuts will not work. Use Docs-specific shortcuts instead when editing the contents of a document.
ChromeVox
Before using ChromeVox with Google Docs, you won’t need to change any of its settings, but it might be a good idea to check out the ChromeVox user guide so that you understand the basics.
As with other screen readers, you interact with ChromeVox via keyboard commands, including a special “ChromeVox key:”
- On Windows, the ChromeVox key is Control + Alt.
- On a Mac, the ChromeVox key is ⌘ + Ctrl.
- On Chrome OS, the ChromeVox key is Search + Shift.
You may also want to check out ChromeVox’s full list of shortcuts.
Because Google Docs isn’t a typical website, some ChromeVox navigation shortcuts will not work. Use Docs-specific shortcuts instead when editing the contents of a document.
VoiceOver with Chrome
If you’d like to use Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader with Google Docs, use Google Chrome as your browser. Chrome performs better with VoiceOver than Safari and Firefox do.
To configure VoiceOver, follow these steps:
- Open a document.
- Once you’ve enabled "Automatically speak the webpage" in VoiceOver, VoiceOver will begin reading the page. Hit Escape to return the screen reader’s focus to the document’s editable area.
- Hit Ctrl + Option + Shift + Down Arrow to interact with the editable text. If the screen reader’s focus ever shifts away from the editable document text (if, for example, a dialog window appears), redo this step to return the focus to the document text.
- Enable screen reader support by using the ⌘ + Option + Z shortcut. You should then hear “Screen reader support enabled.”
Because Google Docs isn’t a typical website, some VoiceOver navigation shortcuts will not work. Use Docs-specific shortcuts instead when editing the contents of a document.
Keyboard shortcut help overlay
If you ever forget a key combination, simply press Ctrl + / to bring up the keyboard shortcut help overlay. The screen reader will read the shortcuts to you. If you’re using ChromeVox you can move between shortcut headings by pressing Ctrl + Alt + N + H to move to the next heading or Ctrl + Alt + P + H to move to the previous heading. To explore the specific shortcuts in a section, press Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow and Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow. Pressing Escape will dismiss the help overlay.
These instructions are written with keyboard instructions for PC users. If you're working on a Mac, use the Command (Apple) key wherever the Control key is listed.
You can also visit the full list of documents keyboard shortcuts.
Navigate the menus
Application menus
The application menus offer the greatest variety of commands and is worth exploring carefully.
To activate the application menu, press Alt + Shift + F. This will specifically activate the File menu at the top of the application. Use the right arrow key to navigate to other top-level application menus, including Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Table and Help.
Once you locate the application menu you want to explore, use the up and down arrow keys to read the menu items. If you’re over a menu item with a sub-menu, you can enter the sub-menu with the right arrow key. Press Enter to select a menu item and execute a command.
Pressing the Escape key when a menu is expanded will close the menu bar. PressingEscape again will get your focus out of the menu bar and into the top-level bar that allows you to navigate to different Google applications and your Google Docs “Options” menu. Pressing Escape from this location will take you back to the main document area.
You’ll hear spoken feedback for any action you take to help you figure out which menu or menu item you’ve selected.
Context menu
To activate the context menu in a document, you can use the context menu key on your keyboard if you have one or press Ctrl + Shift + \. Once the context menu is active, you’ll hear the menu items spoken to you as you move up and down the menu using the arrow keys. The items available on the context menu differ depending on what you’ve selected. To select a menu item and execute a command, press Enter.
Edit text in a document
Text editing
When you type a selection into your document, you’ll hear spoken feedback for the characters as you type them. For example, if you press the “A” key, you’ll hear “A.”
When you delete characters, you’ll hear spoken feedback about the character you’ve deleted. For example, if you delete the letter “A” from a word, you’ll hear “A.” If you delete a selection, you’ll hear “section deleted.”
To select text, hold the Shift key and use the right and left arrow keys. You can pressShift + Ctrl + Left arrow to select to the beginning of the line.
When you select text, you’ll hear the text of the selection, followed by “selection.” For example, when you select the sentence, “The brown spotted dog ran across the yard,” you’ll hear “The brown spotted dog ran across the yard. Selected.”
Copy and paste
You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C to copy a selection and Ctrl + X to cut a selection. When you locate where you’d like to paste your selection, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V to paste the selection. You won't hear any voice feedback for these actions.
Spell check
You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + ; to navigate to the next misspelling in the document. You’ll hear the misspelled word when you trigger this shortcut. To correct the misspelling, open the context menu by pressing Ctrl +Shift+ \. From the context menu, select the correctly spelled suggestion, and press Enter.
Format text in a document
Applying headings and paragraph styles
Enter the application menu by pressing Alt + Shift + F and locate the “Format” menu with the right arrow key. Select “Paragraph Styles” from the menu, and navigate to the style you want to apply to your text with the arrow keys. When you have a style selected, you’ll hear the style name followed by “checked" or "unchecked" to indicate when you've changed a style setting. Press Enter to apply that style. You’ll hear the style name.
Applying text styles
- Fonts
Enter the application menu by pressing Alt + Shift + F and tab to the toolbar. Use the left and right arrow keys to move to different tools in the toolbar. When you reach the fonts menu, press the down arrow key to open the drop-down menu. Press Enter to apply the font to selected text, or to start typing with that font. You’ll hear “font” followed by the name of that font.
- Font size
Enter the application menu by pressing Alt + Shift + F and tab to the toolbar. Use the left and right arrow keys to move to different tools in the toolbar. When you reach the font size menu, press the down arrow key to open the drop-down menu. Press Enterto apply the font size to selected text, or to start typing with that font size. You’ll hear the font size followed by “points.”
- Bold
Press Ctrl +B to apply bold formatting. You’ll hear “bold” in combination with “unchecked” or ”checked.”
- Italic
Use Ctrl + I to apply italic formatting. You’ll hear “italic” in combination with “unchecked” or ”checked.”
- Underline
Use Ctrl + U to apply underline formatting. You’ll hear “underline” in combination with “unchecked” or ”checked.”
Insert tables, lists, images, and drawings into your document
Insert, edit and delete a table
To insert a table into your document, enter the application menu by pressing Alt + Shift + F and press the right arrow until you get to the Table menu. Press the down arrow until you reach the “Insert table” menu item, and press the right arrow key to open the sub-menu. Press the arrow keys to find the dimensions of the table you want to insert. You’ll hear “number of rows x number of columns.” If you press Enter, you’ll hear “number of rows by number of columns” followed by “table inserted.”
To insert a column or row into a table, use the same keyboard shortcuts to navigate to the Table menu. Then, select from the following options:
- Insert row above
- Insert row below
- Insert column left
- Insert column right
When you press Enter to select an option, you’ll hear “column inserted” or “row inserted.” To delete a column or row, follow the same instructions. Menu options will read “delete” instead of “insert.” When you select an option from the Table menu, you’ll hear “column deleted” or “row deleted.”
To delete a table, locate a cell in the table. Then, press Ctrl + Shift + \ to activate the context menu, and select “Delete table” from the menu. Alternatively, you can select “Delete table” from the Table application menu. You’ll hear “table deleted” when you complete this action.
Insert numbered and bulleted lists
Using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift+7 will create a new numbered list, and Ctrl +Shift + 8 will create a new bulleted list. When you create a list or insert a list item, you’ll hear the glyph type and number that you just inserted. When you delete a list item, you’ll hear “bullet removed.” When you delete a full list, you’ll hear “section deleted with X items.”
Insert images or drawings
At this time, it’s not possible to insert images or drawings into a document using a screen reader.
Page setup, paragraph formatting, and headers and footers
Set page orientation, paper size, and margins
Press Alt + Shift + F to activate the File menu, and press the down arrow key until you reach the “Page setup” option. Press Enter, then navigate through the different options for a form element with the Tab key. When you’re finished adjusting your page settings, locate the “OK” button and press Enter.
Set text alignment
The following keyboard shortcuts will help you set text alignment in your document:
- Ctrl +Shift + L to set left alignment. You’ll hear “left aligned.”
- Ctrl + Shift + E to set center alignment. You’ll hear “center aligned.”
- Ctrl + Shift + R to set right alignment. You’ll hear “right aligned.”
- Ctrl + Shift + J to justify alignment. You’ll hear “justified.”
Paragraph spacing and indents
When you’re editing the text in the document, you can use the Tab key to indent text. To reverse an indent, press Shift + Tab. Here’s what you’ll hear when you indent a paragraph, list or list item:
- For a paragraph indent, you’ll hear “paragraph indented” or “paragraph unindented.”
- For a first line indent, you’ll hear “first line indented” or “first line unindented.”
- For a single list item indent, you’ll hear “list item indented to level X.”
- When multiple list items are indented, you’ll hear “List items indented” or “List items unindented.”
- When a full list is indented, you’ll hear “list indented” or “list unindented.”
Insert and edit headers and footers
Use the following keyboard shortcuts to work with headers and footers:
- Press Alt + Ctrl + O + H to open the header section. You’ll hear “header” followed by the header’s contents. Pressing Esc will take you back to the main document, and you’ll hear “entering document.”
- Press Alt + Ctrl + O + F to open the footer section. You’ll hear “footer” followed by the footer’s contents. Pressing Esc will take you back to the main document, and you’ll hear “entering document.”
Insert and edit a footnote
Place your cursor where you’d like to insert a footnote in your document. Activate the application menu with the keyboard shortcut Alt + Shift + F. Use your right arrow key to navigate to the Insert menu, then use the down arrow key to locate the “Footnote” menu item. Press Enter to insert a footnote where your cursor is placed in the document. You’ll hear “footnote inserted” and your cursor will be placed in the footnote area. Press Escfrom the footnote editing area will take you back to the main document area, and you’ll hear “entering document.”
To navigate into the footnote area to edit a footnote, first locate the footnote in your document. When your cursor is next to the footnote, press Alt+ Ctrl + E + F to enter the footnote editing area. You’ll hear “footnote” followed by the footnote number and its contents. Press Esc to go back to the main document area. You’ll hear “entering document.”
Share a document with someone
To share a document, activate the application menu with the keyboard shortcut Alt + Shift + F. Select the "Share" menu item, and press Enter. You'll be placed in the sharing dialog, where you can tab through the elements to see who the collaborators are, change their permissions, and add more collaborators. When you're finished, press the "Share & save" button.
Chat with collaborators in real-time
If you're working with collaborators in your document, you can press Shift + Esc to enter the chat pane to chat with them in real time.
Get started using a screen reader in Google Sheets
When you open a Google spreadsheet, your screen reader will read the name of the spreadsheet and some information about the page as it’s loading. When loading completes, you’ll be viewing your spreadsheet with the top-left cell, A1, selected.
- If you’re using a screen reader other than ChromeVox (e.g. JAWS), you can enable support for the screen reader extension by pressing Alt + Shift + ~.
- If you’re using ChromeVox you don’t need to explicitly enable screen reader support.
Keyboard shortcut help overlay
If you ever forget a key combination, just press Ctrl + / to bring up the keyboard shortcut help overlay. The screen reader will read the shortcuts to you. You can also visit the full list of spreadsheets keyboard shortcuts in a new window.
ChromeVox users
You can move between shortcut headings by pressing Ctrl + Alt + N + H to move to the next heading or Ctrl + Alt + P + H to move to the previous heading. To explore the specific shortcuts in a section, press Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow and Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow. Pressing Escape will dismiss the help overlay.
Navigate your spreadsheet
Move your cursor around the spreadsheet
To move your cursor around the spreadsheet, use the up, down, right and left arrows. Each time you move to a new cell, you’ll hear the cell’s address followed by the contents of the cell, if any. For example, if cell C4 contains the words “New York City,” your screen reader will read “C4 New York City.”
If the cell contains any comments or errors, they’ll also be read to you. If you use ChromeVox, you'll hear a special sound when you navigate to a cell that has comments or errors. And if a cell contains a formula you’ll hear the value of the formula. To read the formula itself you can edit the cell or you can make formulas visible by selecting "Formula Bar" in the View menu.
Sometimes it’s helpful to jump around the grid quickly. For example, quickly moving to the next data region in a row or column can help you figure out if there’s any more content above or below the current cell in a particular column, or to the left or right of the cell in a particular row. To move to the next data region, hold down the Ctrl key (Cmd on a Mac) while using the up, down, right and left arrows:
- If your cursor starts in a cell that has data you’ll jump to the next empty cell in the specified direction.
- If your cursor starts in an empty cell, you’ll move you to the next cell with contents. If all cells in that direction are empty, you’ll move to the end of the row or column in that direction.
Navigate to different sheet tabs
To move from one sheet tab to another, press Alt + Shift + Page up or Alt + Shift + Page down. When a new sheet is activated you’ll hear the name of the sheet. For example, if you move to Sheet5, you’ll hear “Sheet5 activated.”
Find cell contents
Activate the quick-find feature using Ctrl + F (Cmd + F on a Mac) to search the current sheet for keywords. Or, use Ctrl + H (Cmd + Shift + H on a Mac) to activate a our full Find and Replace dialog.
Edit contents of a cell
To edit the contents of a cell, press Enter to activate the cell’s input box. Type some text, and press Enter again to save the cell contents. If you’d like to ignore your changes, press Escape.
Select and work within a range of cells
To select a range of cells, hold down the Shift key while moving the active cell with the arrow keys. As you move the cell you’ll hear the selected range, for example “A2:F7 selected.” You can also use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Space to select an entire row or Ctrl + Space (Cmd + Space on a Mac) to select an entire column.
Once a range is selected you can restrict your cursor movement to be within that range by using an alternative to the arrow keys:
- Shift + Enter to move up
- Enter to move down
- Shift + Tab to move left
- Tab to move right
These keys won’t move your cursor outside of the selected range, which is useful if you want to restrict your movement to a specified range and explore that range without worrying you’ve moved too far in any particular direction.
You can also edit a cell without deselecting your range by pressing F2.
Navigate the menus
Now that you’re comfortable moving around the spreadsheet grid, you’ll want to start learning about the application menus. There are three areas where you might activate a menu: the context menu for the current cell, the sheet menu for the current sheet, or a top-level application menu like “File” or “Data.”
Application menu
The application menus offer the greatest variety of commands.
To activate the application menu, press Alt + Shift + F. This will specifically activate the File menu at the top of the application. Use the right arrow key to navigate to other top-level application menus, including Edit, View, Insert, Format, Data, Tools, and Help.
Once you locate the application menu you want to explore, use the up and down arrow keys to read the menu items. If you’re over a menu item with a sub-menu, you can enter the sub-menu with the right arrow key. Press Enter to select a menu item and execute a command.
Pressing the Escape key when a menu is expanded will close the menu bar. PressingEscape again take you back to the main spreadsheet area.
Context menu
To activate the context menu for a particular cell you can use the context menu key on your keyboard if you have one or press Ctrl + Shift + \. Once the context menu is active, you’ll hear the menu items spoken to you as you move up and down the menu using the arrow keys. You can explore submenus by using the right and left arrow keys. To select a menu item and execute a command, press Enter.
The items available on the context menu differ depending on what you’ve selected. For example, if an entire row is selected the context menu will include the option to “Insert 1 above” and “Insert 1 below” for adding additional rows.
Sheet menu
To activate the sheet menu press Alt + Shift + S. The sheet menu includes operations on the active sheet, including options to rename, delete, copy, hide, and duplicate the sheet.
To explore the names of the other sheets without switching to them, press Alt + Shift + K. That command activates the sheet list menu, which is a list of all sheets, including hidden sheets. When moving up and down the sheet list menu you’ll hear the name of the sheet. Pressing Enter will activate the sheet you’ve selected in the menu.
Share a document with someone
To share a document, activate the application menu with the keyboard shortcut Alt + Shift + F. Select the "Share" menu item, and press Enter. You'll be placed in the sharing dialog, where you can tab through the elements to see who the collaborators are, change their permissions, and add more collaborators. When you're finished, press the "Share & save" button.
Helpful tips and additional information
For the best experience, we recommend that you use Chrome with the ChromeVox screen reader. If you prefer to use another screen reader, you might find that certain features are not as well supported. If you’re using a screen reader other than ChromeVox, remember that you must enable support for the screen reader extension by pressing Alt + Shift + ~ once the spreadsheet loads.
Google Sheets is designed to be used in application mode with a screen reader. Enabling “document mode” in your screen reader won't give you the best experience. Use the Google Sheets commands to move around the grid and edit cells rather than the “document mode” screen reader commands.