Highlighting text and creating annotations in screen reader mode

If you're reading books in screen reader mode, you can use JAWS, NVDA, or VoiceOver to highlight text and create annotations.

Enable highlight mode

Press Shift + H to enable highlight mode (or select Highlight at the top of the screen).

With highlight mode enabled, an annotation is automatically created for selected text after a short period of inactivity.

Select text and create annotations

To create an annotation, enable highlight mode before selecting text. To preserve screen reader commands, consider adding another modifier key to the keyboard shortcuts available in the reader.

Then, select text using the normal text selection tools available for your browser or device.

JAWS

Note: For the best experience, we recommend using Google Chrome.

To select the previous or next word in the text, press Ctrl + Shift + Left arrow or Right arrow.

NVDA

Note: To use these commands, enable native selection mode (available for versions 2024.1 and higher).

To select the previous or next word in the text, press Ctrl + Shift + Left arrow or Right arrow.

To select text between two points:

1. Press NVDA + F9 at the desired starting point in the text.
2. Navigate to the end of what you want to select.
3. Press NVDA + F10 to confirm the selection.

VoiceOver for Mac

Note: We recommend using Safari, which support macOS shortcuts for text selection.

To select the previous or next word, press Option + Shift + Left arrow or Right arrow.

To select text between two points:

1. Press VO + Return at the desired starting point in the text.
2. Navigate to the end of what you want to select.
3. Press VO + Return to confirm the selection.

Review and edit annotations

Once created, annotations become selectable within the text. Select one to change its highlight color, add a note, or delete it.

Press Shift + A while reading to review all annotations for that book. To find your annotations for all titles, go to My annotations in the digital library.