vMouse for NVDA is an application created by VICT Consultancy which makes it easier to use the mouse, touchpad or trackball with NVDA, the free screen-reader produced by NV Access, as well as making it easier to use NVDA's special navigation features such as object navigation. In addition, vMouse adds new utilities related to use of the mouse to make text selection easier and to record hotspots.
vMouse is compatible with version 2013.3 or later of NVDA running on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Since NVDA is free, there is no reason not to update regularly to the latest version.
vMouse supports English and French with English being used as the default language. vMouse automatically detects the current language being used by NVDA and switches between English and French as appropriate. The vMouse application also supports Polish but there is no Polish translation of this user guide.
Since NVDA requires to be restarted for the change of language to be put into effect, you may find that vMouse itself closes automatically if there is a delay in NVDA restarting. Should this happen, restart NVDA as described in section 3.
Where NVDA restarts quickly, vMouse will continue to run but you will have to select 'Refresh language' on the vMouse settings submenu for the change in language to take effect.
After extracting the zip file which contains vMouse, there will be a single application called vmnsetup.exe. Please follow these instructions to ensure that vMouse is correctly installed to your version or versions of NVDA.
While following the installation instructions below, keep in mind that the setup file vmnsetup.exe must be run as administrator if your operating system is Windows Vista or later. To do this, right click on the vmnsetup.exe file or press the applications key to display the popup menu and select Run as Administrator.
Please note that if the Windows Program Compatibility Wizard appears at any time during the installation process, you should select the button which confirms that the program has been correctly installed.
The setup file does not need to be run with NVDA running. If you can run setup without running NVDA, you will have the greatest flexibility in installing vMouse to your installed or portable versions of NVDA. Just follow the prompts in the various installation screens.
If you have a portable version of NVDA on removable media, such as a USB thumb drive, you should plug that removable media into your computer before running setup. The setup program searches your entire system for installed and portable versions of NVDA so that you have the opportunity of installing vMouse for more than one version of NVDA at the same time.
After the Welcome screen, the setup program will conduct a quick preliminary search of your system and report if any versions of NVDA are found. This search only looks in likely areas of your system and it may therefore miss portable versions of NVDA hiding in sub-folders. If this preliminary check does discover all the versions of NVDA to which you want to install vMouse, the setup program will not need to continue with a much slower but more thorough search of your system. You should only select the 'Yes' button at this stage if there is a version of NVDA on your system which is not listed in the displayed message box.
If you do decide to have setup carry out a full search of your system, be aware that this process can take many minutes. Setup will play a series of beeps during the search but do not be surprised if the beeps pause at various points during the search.
After completing the search, you will be asked to confirm your acceptance of the terms and conditions of the licence under which vMouse for NVDA is distributed. For the avoidance of doubt, this licence applies only to vMouse and has nothing to do with NVDA itself which is governed by a separate licence.
After accepting the licence, setup will list the versions of NVDA it has found and, if there is more than one, there will be a corresponding checkbox next to each version. If you do not wish for vMouse to be installed at this time to a particular version of NVDA, you should clear the relevant checkbox.
Please note that vMouse cannot be installed to a version of NVDA contained on a CD or DVD or to a drive or folder which is otherwise read-only.
Thereafter, installation of vMouse is automatic. The Finish screen offers an opportunity to view this user guide.
Due to the existence of a possible bug in NVDA when running as a portable version in Windows 7, care must be taken to follow the correct installation procedure depending on whether you are running an installed or portable version of NVDA.
If you have a fully installed version of NVDA on your hard drive, you should run that version in preference to any other so that the installation of vMouse will be fully automatic. You can run setup with your installed version of NVDA to install vMouse to that installed version of NVDA, to a second portable version of NVDA on your hard drive or to a portable version contained on removable media. In fact, you can install vMouse to all these different versions at the same time.
Where you are running setup along with an installed version of NVDA, the setup process is identical to that mentioned above in relation to installing vMouse while NVDA is not running.
This is a slightly more complex process than that which applies when running an installed version of NVDA. There are three main points to bear in mind:
Provided you have followed these steps, installation of vMouse will be quick and automatic.
If you are installing an update for vMouse or reinstalling vMouse in order to overwrite the existing version for any reason, you should close vMouse if that is the version which is being updated or replaced.
Once installed, vMouse starts automatically whenever you start NVDA. It then runs in the background and closes automatically when NVDA itself closes. However, how you start NVDA will depend on what kind of version of NVDA you are running and whether you have installed vTurbo for the same installation of NVDA.
If vTurbo for installed NVDA is not detected, the vMouse setup program places an icon on your desktop called 'vMouse for installed NVDA' and assigns the shortcut key, control + alt + M to that icon. When you press that shortcut key combination, NVDA will start and vMouse will load automatically.
If you already have vTurbo for installed NVDA, setup will instead replace your vTurbo for Installed NVDA desktop icon with one called vApps for installed NVDA which will continue to be launched with the shortcut key, control + alt + t. Activating this icon will launch NVDA, vTurbo and vMouse together, but you may have to restart your computer for this shortcut to work.
Where vTurbo is not detected, the vMouse setup program places an icon on your desktop called 'vMouse for portable NVDA' and assigns the shortcut key, control + alt + M to that icon. If you also happen to have an installed version of NVDA on the same hard drive, the shortcut key will be control + alt + 1. When you press the appropriate shortcut key combination, NVDA will start and vMouse will load automatically.
If you already have vTurbo for portable NVDA, setup will instead replace your vTurbo for portable NVDA desktop icon with one called vApps for portable NVDA which will continue to be launched with either control + alt + t or control + alt + 1, as the case may be. Activating this icon will launch NVDA, vTurbo and vMouse together, but you may have to restart your computer for this shortcut to work.
Ideally, your USB drive or other removable media which contains NVDA will be configured to start NVDA automatically when you plug that media into a PC or laptop. If this is the case with your version of NVDA, it will continue to launch NVDA automatically but vMouse will also start at the same time. If you have to type 'NVDA' in the Run command window from the Start menu, you will still have to do this but, again, vMouse will also start automatically. Please note that the vMouse setup program places a special file in the root folder of your removable drive so that you only need to type 'NVDA' after the drive letter and backslash. You should not specify a full folder path, such as e:\nvda\nvda.
If you wish to run NVDA with vMouse by selecting a file within Windows Explorer, you should execute the special file called nvda.bat contained in the root folder of the removable media.
If you already have vTurbo installed on removable media, setup will simply amend the batch file so as to ensure that NVDA, vTurbo and vMouse start together.
If you have configured NVDA to start automatically whenever you start Windows, you can have vMouse start automatically as well. To do this, run vMouse and select 'Start vMouse at Windows logon' on the vMouse Settings submenu.
If you also have vTurbo installed for the same installation of NVDA, the item on the settings menu will be called 'Start vApps at Windows logon' which will act as a switch for both vTurbo and vMouse together. The same item on the vTurbo settings menu will also be updated to refer to vApps and either vTurbo or vMouse can be used to change the same setting.
If you wish to close vMouse while NVDA is still running, choose Exit NVDA on vMouse's menu.
Some of vMouse's features and settings discussed below are accessed from the vMouse menu. To display the vMouse menu, press the hotkey, control + Windows key + alt + M. A standard popup menu is displayed which can be navigated using the arrow keys or by pressing the quick access key associated with the relevant menu item.
By default, the vMouse menu displays information about any shortcut key associated with a menu item. You can turn off this shortcut key information by clearing the checkmark on the 'Show shortcuts on menu' item on the vMouse settings submenu.
If you have to navigate by using the mouse in NVDA, it is helpful to know where the mouse pointer is and whether it is focused within the currently active window. vMouse provides information about the coordinates of the mouse pointer on the screen and also lets you quickly ensure that the pointer is located within the currently active window, an important factor where the active window is not maximised. vMouse remembers the mouse position for each application window and returns the mouse pointer to the position it was last in when focus was lost.
The point of origin of the mouse is the top left corner of the screen where the coordinates will be 0 across and 0 down. Therefore, placing the mouse pointer in the bottom right corner of the screen will position the pointer at the maximum number of pixels across and the maximum number of pixels down. These maximum coordinates will depend on your current screen resolution setting.
To have vMouse speak the current screen coordinates of the mouse, press any of the following hotkeys:
| Hotkey | Mode |
|---|---|
| control shift left mouse button | any mode |
| control shift numpad slash | any mode |
| control shift F10 | Navigation Keys mode |
The point of origin of the mouse for the currently active window is the top left corner of the active window where the coordinates will be 0 across and 0 down. If the active window is not maximised, the top left corner of the window will not be at the top left corner of the screen. In this situation, the window's origin is still 0 across and 0 down but the screen coordinates obtained as described in section 5.1 will report the window origin's position on the screen.
For example, if the window origin is located on the screen at 100 across and 100 down, positioning the mouse at 10 pixels across and 10 pixels down from the window's origin (the pointer is just inside the active window) will result in the screen coordinates being 110 across and 110 down.
To have vMouse speak the current coordinates of the mouse relative to the active window, press any of the following hotkeys:
| Hotkey | Mode |
|---|---|
| control shift right mouse button | any mode |
| control shift numpad star | any mode |
| control shift F11 | Navigation Keys mode |
It can be seen from section 5.2 that where the current window is not maximised, it is possible for the mouse pointer to be located outside the window's borders. When using a screen-reader such as NVDA, it is usual to maximise windows to avoid this sort of problem but sometimes there are small application windows which cannot be maximised.
Where the mouse pointer lies outside such a window, the window coordinates will be meaningless, except where the mouse lies to the left or above the active window, in which case the coordinates will be negative. These negative coordinates will inform you that you will then have to move the mouse down or to the right, as the case may be, in order to place the mouse pointer inside the active window.
vMouse lets you position the mouse pointer automatically just inside the active window with one hotkey. In addition, this hotkey restricts the mouse pointer so that it cannot be moved outside of the active window as you continue to move the mouse. Pressing the hotkey toggles between two modes: screen and window. In screen mode, the mouse can be positioned anywhere on the screen without restriction but in window mode, the mouse is moved to a position 20 pixels across and 20 pixels down from the window origin if the pointer is not already within the active window and also restricts the mouse to that window.
To toggle screen and window modes, press any of the following hotkeys:
| Hotkey | Mode |
|---|---|
| Windows key left mouse button | any mode |
| any mode Windows key numpad slash | any mode |
This mode adds features which enable you to improve how you use the physical mouse, touchpad or trackball.
In Pointer Control Keys mode, the twelve function keys are assigned special functions to control the behaviour of the mouse pointer. This special mode is turned on and off by clicking the physical left mouse or touchpad button while holding down the Windows key with the alt key. You can also activate this mode by selecting 'Pointer control keys' on the vMouse menu.
vMouse announces 'Pointer control keys' when the mode is turned on and 'Function keys' when it is turned off. In 'Function keys' mode, the twelve function keys adopt their usual functions.
In Pointer Control Keys mode, the function keys have the following respective functions:
Pressing F1 repeatedly will reduce the sensitivity of the mouse so that the pointer moves more slowly. A beep indicates that the minimum speed has been reached.
Pressing F2 repeatedly will increase the sensitivity of the mouse so that the pointer moves more quickly. A beep indicates that the maximum speed has been reached.
The default speed of the mouse can be set in the Windows Control Panel. The default speed is usually 50% of the maximum possible speed. However, you can return to this setting easily in vMouse by pressing F3 and 'Windows default' is announced by vMouse. This can be useful where a sighted person wishes to use your computer and desires normal mouse behaviour.
Every time vMouse is started, the mouse speed is set to 15% of the maximum possible speed. If you have changed the speed of the mouse using any of the methods described above, you can return to this 15% level at any time by pressing F4. vMouse announces 'vMouse default' when F4 is pressed.
When moving the mouse pointer physically along a line of text to read a word or character at a time, it can often be difficult to stay on the same line. Pressing F5 restricts the movement of the mouse so that the pointer always stays on the same line. vMouse announces 'only horizontal'. vMouse remembers this setting for each window as you switch focus between applications.
Restricting the mouse to vertical movement only can be useful when reading single words or chunks of text contained in a column or list. vMouse announces 'vertical only'. vMouse remembers this setting for each window as you switch focus between applications.
Pressing F7 effectively locks the mouse pointer at its current location so that it cannot be moved. This can be useful where the mouse pointer has been located over a button or other control and you wish to avoid inadvertently moving the mouse away from that point. vMouse announces 'frozen'. vMouse remembers this setting for each window as you switch focus between applications.
Press F8 to return the mouse to its normal unrestricted behaviour. vMouse announces 'unrestricted'. Note that any movement restriction is automatically removed when exiting Pointer Control Keys mode. You do not need to press F8 if you wish to switch immediately from one restriction mode to another, for example, you can press F6 to activate vertical movement only even where the mouse is already restricted horizontally or fully. vMouse remembers this setting for each window as you switch focus between applications.
Pressing F9 automates the setting of Text Unit Resolution to characters in NVDA's Mouse Settings dialogue. When you move the mouse pointer, NVDA will read out a character at a time.
Pressing F10 automates the setting of Text Unit Resolution to words in NVDA's Mouse Settings dialogue. When you move the mouse pointer, NVDA will read out a word at a time.
Pressing F11 automates the setting of Text Unit Resolution to lines in NVDA's Mouse Settings dialogue. When you move the mouse pointer, NVDA will read out a line at a time.
Pressing F12 automates the setting of Text Unit Resolution to paragraphs in NVDA's Mouse Settings dialogue. NVDA will read a whole paragraph when the pointer is moved anywhere within a different paragraph.
This mode provides an alternative method for navigating with the review cursor and the navigator object, as well as making it easier to route certain NVDA cursors to each other.
Navigating with the review cursor and the navigator object in NVDA is normally done in desktop layout using the numpad keys or, in laptop layout, by using a combination of keys which are often difficult to remember. The Navigation Keys mode in vMouse provides a single method for both keyboard layouts which does not require remembering of special keystrokes. For those comfortable with using the numpad for these types of navigation, the numpad keys can still be used but some additional functionality has been added to the numpad keys as described below.
The Navigation Keys mode works in a similar way to the Pointer Control Keys mode by assigning special functions to the twelve function keys. This special mode is turned on by pressing Windows key, alt F1 or by selecting 'Navigation Keys' on the vMouse menu. vMouse announces 'Navigation keys' when the mode is turned on and 'Function keys' when it is turned off. In 'Function keys' mode, the twelve function keys adopt their usual functions.
F1 - reads the previous character, word or line using the review cursor
F2 - reads the current character, word or line using the review cursor
F3 - reads the next character, word or line using the review cursor
F4 - pressing F4 repeatedly cycles through review cursor options to read by character, word or line
Shift F1 - moves the review cursor to the beginning of a line
Shift F3 - moves the review cursor to the end of a line
Control F1 - moves the review cursor to the top of the window
Control F3 - moves the review cursor to the bottom of the window
Shift F2 - switches to the next available review mode
Control F2 - switches to the previous available review mode
Shift F4 - toggles between normal review cursor and the vMouse review cursor (see section 8)
F5 - moves to the previous object
F6 - reads the current object
F7 - moves to the next object
Shift F5 - moves up a level to the object which contains the current object, for example, moving from the Open command on a File menu back to the File menu heading itself
Shift F7 - moves down a level to the first object contained within the current object, for example, to access the first button in a toolbar
Control F6 - activates the current object, similar to pressing Enter on a control
F8 - toggles between NVDA object navigation and the Mouse Tracks Objects mode (see section 10).
7.3 Routing and mouse button simulation
F9 - pressing F9 repeatedly cycles through cursor routing options
Control F9 - activates the currently selected routing option
F10 - clicks the left mouse button
F11 - clicks the right mouse button
Shift F10 - locks the left mouse button
Shift F11 locks the right mouse button
F12 - provides an easy alternative way of exiting Navigation Keys mode.
The vMouse review cursor can be turned on and off by pressing either numpad minus in any mode or shift F4 while in Navigation Keys mode. You can also select it on the vMouse menu. The vMouse review cursor is not strictly speaking a cursor but it will help to think of it as if it were.
Normally, when you read with the review cursor in NVDA, the mouse pointer stays still. This means that if you want to click on a word or control where the review cursor has moved to, you have to route the mouse specially to the review cursor before clicking the mouse button. Although the vMouse review cursor mode does not move the mouse pointer as the review cursor moves, it will ensure that the mouse is at the review cursor position within text when any mouse button is clicked.
The vMouse object cursor can be turned on and off by pressing shift with numpad minus or by selecting it on the vMouse menu. Like the vMouse review cursor, it is not really a cursor but it does ensure that when you have been using the standard NVDA object navigation keys to move from one object to another, the mouse pointer will always be at the current object in focus if you press a mouse button.
The Mouse Tracks Objects mode can be turned on and off by pressing F8 while in Navigation Keys mode.
The Mouse Tracks Objects mode ensures that, as you navigate using object navigation by any means, the mouse pointer always focuses on the object obtaining focus. This makes it different from the vMouse object cursor which does not move the mouse pointer until you click a mouse button.
Example 1: When pressing 'Object Enter' (NVDA numpad Enter) to activate an object, NVDA sometimes reports that there is no default action for the object in focus. If Mouse Tracks Objects mode is on, simply click the left mouse button to activate the object.
Example 2: When navigating to buttons which are not labelled but which do have tool tips, navigating in Mouse Tracks Objects mode will automatically announce the tool tip when you focus on such a button. In this way, the Mouse Tracks Objects mode behaves like an automatic graphics labeller.
Note that Mouse Tracks Objects mode is not recommended for all object navigation since some properly named controls might not be announced by NVDA. It is best to turn on Mouse Tracks Objects mode when faced with the scenarios described in the two examples above.
A function similar to that described for the F9 key in section 7.3 has been assigned to the numpad to cover situations where you wish to take advantage of this easy method of routing cursors without having to enter Navigation Keys mode.
Control shift numpad delete cycles through the available cursor routing options
Control numpad delete activates the currently selected routing option.
NVDA has a special method of copying text to the clipboard by marking the start and end points of a selection by using NVDA F9 and NVDA F10 respectively. Not only does this method avoid the requirement to hold down the shift key while selecting text, it also enables the selection of text appearing in read-only windows such as message boxes and dialogue boxes. However, if you want to delete or cut text in an editable document, you are left with the usual methods of selection.
vMouse introduces a new and easy way of selecting text in some basic text editors. All you have to do is to leave the keyboard cursor (the caret) at one end of what you want to select and then use the review cursor to find the other end of the intended selection. Once you find the end point, press Windows key, alt and numpad slash or Windows key, alt and F10. The text between the keyboard cursor and the review cursor will be selected.
The new vMouse text selection utility works well with Notepad, Wordpad and Python Console but does not work with Microsoft Word or with Web-based email and email clients such as Mozilla Thunderbird. When not using a basic text editor such as those mentioned, you may wish to try out whether the text selection utility works before using it in a proper document.
When vMouse is set to either Pointer Control Keys mode or Navigation Keys mode, the NVDA F9 and NVDA F10 method of copying text at the review cursor becomes unavailable. To compensate for this, vMouse enables this copying feature to be deployed with Windows F9 and Windows F10 instead. These replacement keystrokes are available in all vMouse modes.
Using vMouse's features, you will be able to use the mouse more effectively to read otherwise inaccessible text or to activate controls which are not accessible any other way. Having found that elusive button or control with the mouse, and possibly activated it with a mouse click, wouldn't it be great to be able to do it again automatically? You can with vMouse Hotspots. This section shows how you can create and manage both temporary and permanent hotspots to record the position of the mouse pointer and to optionally click at the hotspot position.
You can create up to ten temporary hotspots which you can easily activate later with hotkeys. The mouse coordinates of each hotspot are recorded, along with what type of action you want the mouse to perform, enabling you, for example, to open a dialogue box by pressing a hotkey which activates a toolbar button, closing an application which does not even have focus or moving the mouse to an area of inaccessible text so that it can be read with mouse navigation.
The ten temporary hotspots are system-wide: this means that you can record ten hotspots for one application, record one hotspot for ten open windows or for any combination of windows. You can even make a permanent application specific hotspot system-wide by copying its settings to a temporary hotspot.
To record a hotspot:
The Create Hotspot dialogue contains the following controls:
This is an edit spin box in which you can either type the number of the hotspot you wish to assign or use the up and down arrows to select from the numbers in the range 1 to 10. If you have already recorded one or more hotspots, the number shown in this edit spin box will be the lowest hotspot number not already assigned.
When you arrow to different hotspot numbers in the list, vMouse will announce the details of the hotspot assignment if there is one or 'not assigned' if no hotspot has been assigned to the number currently displayed.
This is a drop down list with only two items. The options are:
Choose this option if your hotspot is to apply to the active window in which case the window coordinates of the mouse pointer will be recorded. This is the default option.
Choose this option if your hotspot is not dependent on any particular window. In this case, the screen coordinates of the mouse pointer are recorded.
This is a drop down list from which you can select the action you want the mouse to perform as soon as it is moved to the hotspot position. The options are as follows and are self-explanatory:
Focus on window and move mouse without clicking
Left button click
Double-click left button
Right button click
This is a drop down list from which you can select the type of mouse movement restriction which should apply after the hotspot has been executed. The four options available in this list are the same as those relating to the F5 to F8 keys for Pointer Control mode discussed in section 6. The default selection in the list will be the current restriction setting applying immediately before the Create Hotspot dialogue is opened.
This is a drop down list from which you can select the text unit resolution for reading with the mouse cursor immediately after the hotspot is executed. The four options in this list are the same as those found in the Text unit resolution control in NVDA's Mouse Settings dialogue. The default selection will be the last setting selected using the F9 to F12 keys in Pointer Control mode or, if none was selected, reading by line will be the default selection.
This is a drop down list which lets you control whether the hotspot should be activated depending on different circumstances. The options are:
This option ensures that the hotspot will only be activated if the control which was under the mouse at the time the hotspot is recorded is present in the target window when the hotspot is later activated. Choosing this option will prevent the mouse from automatically clicking at an incorrect location due to the unexpected relocation of the intended control.
This option ensures that the hotspot is activated only when the target window is running on the system. If the target window is running in the background, vMouse will bring the window to the foreground before moving the mouse to the hotspot coordinates. This is the default option.
Choosing this option results in the hotspot being activated without any validation of controls or windows.
A temporary hotspot can be activated at any time by pressing Windows key and alt, together with the number of the desired hotspot (1 to 0 on the long number row). If the hotspot number has not been assigned an action, vMouse will announce 'not assigned'.
To have vMouse announce the hotspot assignment without activating it, press shift, Windows key and the number of the hotspot.
If you have vTurbo for NVDA, the Add Hotspot dialogue will contain two extra controls which allow you to save up to 50 hotspots for each application. These are called permanent hotspots because their details are stored in the application specific settings file maintained by vTurbo. Later, when focus returns to the application for which hotspots are saved, vMouse loads the hotspots automatically. These permanent hotspots are in addition to the ten temporary hotspots which you can create as described in section 13.2, but, unlike temporary hotspots, they are not system-wide and are available only when the application to which they relate has focus. The extra controls in the Add Hotspot dialogue are as follows:
This is a drop down list from which you can select the type of hotspot you wish to create, temporary or permanent. A temporary hotspot is one of the ten system-wide hotspots you can create as described in section 13.2 whereas a permanent hotspot will be saved for the current application.
Since you can create up to 50 hotspots for a single application, you will find it easier to identify them later if you provide a brief description of the hotspot. vMouse automatically announces the hotspot's mouse action, so the description need only be the name of the button or control which is the subject of the hotspot. For example, entering 'Print button' would cause vMouse to announce the hotspot assignment as 'left click, Print button' if you select left click as the mouse operation in the Mouse operation list.
Note that although the description field is primarily intended for use with permanent hotspots for a single application, you can also specify a description for temporary hotspots and this description will be announced in addition to the window name in respect of which the hotspot is created.
The first ten hotspots in a set of application permanent hotspots can be activated by pressing control, Windows key, alt and the number of the desired hotspot.
To have vMouse announce the assignment of the permanent hotspot without activating it, press control, shift, Windows key and the number of the hotspot.
Since this dialogue lets you activate, delete and sort application hotspots, it is not available as an item on the vMouse menu unless you have vTurbo installed. If you do have vTurbo installed, the menu item will be unavailable until you have created some permanent application hotspots for the currently active application
You open the Application Hotspots dialogue by choosing its option on the vMouse menu. The dialogue contains the following controls:
When the dialogue is opened, the first entry in the list of hotspots created for the current application will be selected. Although the list can contain up to 50 hotspot assignments, only the first ten are numbered to reflect their respective hotkey assignments. You can use first character navigation to jump to any hotspot in the list, by pressing a number to access the first 10, or a letter to access the remaining hotspots.
When you have selected the desired hotspot assignment in the Hotspot list, you can activate that hotspot by pressing the Activate button or alt A. This action closes the Application Hotspots dialogue and then executes the hotspot as if you had pressed its relative hotkey. Obviously, the only way to activate a hotspot not in the first group of ten hotspots in the list is by using the Activate button.
Note that when the Application Hotspots dialogue is opened, the Activate button is the default button to have focus. This means that you do not have to tab to the Activate button and then press Enter. If you only wish to activate a hotspot, select the desired hotspot in the list and press Enter.
Selecting the Activate button after you have made any changes to the hotspot list as described in sections 13.6.3 to 13.6.6 will also save those changes to the application settings file kept by vTurbo.
Any of the first ten hotspots you have created can be cleared by selecting the Clear Assignment button or by pressing alt C. The hotspot list updates to show that the numbered hotspot is not assigned. By clearing an assignment in this way, you can make room for a later assignment to the same hotspot number but note that it is not necessary to clear the assignment of a hotspot in order to replace it: you can overwrite a hotspot assignment simply by choosing its number in the Create Hotspot dialogue.
Whereas the Clear Assignment button empties a hotspot assignment from one of the first ten hotspots, selecting the Delete Hotspot button, or pressing alt D, will cause the hotspot in the list to be deleted and for all hotspots in the list below it to move up by one position.
Note that when you press the Delete Hotspot button, focus remains with that button. This means that you can delete consecutive hotspot assignments by pressing Enter repeatedly on the Delete Hotspot button without having to tab back and forth. If you then wish either to activate a remaining hotspot in the list or to close the dialogue, you will need to tab to the Activate or OK buttons as appropriate and press Enter.
You can change the settings of the currently selected hotspot by selecting the Modify hotspot button which then opens the Modify Hotspot dialogue. In addition to containing relevant controls as found in the Create Hotspot dialogue, the Modify Hotspot dialogue also lets you change the coordinates of the hotspot by editing the numbers in the Pixels across and Pixels down edit boxes.
The permanent application hotspots can only be activated when the relevant application has focus. If you would like one or more of an application's hotspots to be capable of being triggered when focus is not in the application, you can automatically copy the hotspot's settings to a temporary hotspot by selecting the Make temporary button.
vMouse displays a message telling you the number of the temporary hotspot to which the application hotspot has been assigned. If all ten temporary hotspots have already been assigned, selecting the Make temporary button will overwrite temporary hotspot number 10. After being assigned to a temporary hotspot, the original application hotspot can still be activated with its original hotkey, if any, when that application has focus.
Note that the assignment of an application hotspot to a temporary hotspot is by its nature temporary and will only remain for the duration of the current NVDA session.
You can reorder hotspot assignments in the hotspots list by selecting a hotspot which you wish to move up the list and then selecting the Move Up button or pressing alt U. The Move Up button then retains focus so that you can continue to move the selected hotspot up the list by repeatedly pressing Enter.
You can reorder hotspot assignments in the hotspots list by selecting a hotspot which you wish to move down the list and then selecting the Move Down button or pressing alt M. The Move Down button then retains focus so that you can continue to move the selected hotspot down the list by repeatedly pressing Enter.
If you have amended the list of hotspots in any way, by pressing the Clear Assignment, Delete Hotspot, Move Up or Move Down buttons, you should tab to the OK button and press Enter in order to save the amended list of assignments in the application settings file kept by vTurbo.
If you do not wish to keep any of the changes you have made to the assignments in the hotspots list, you should either press the Escape key or tab to the Cancel button and press Enter.
Since an application's specific hotspots are stored in the relevant application specific settings file maintained by vTurbo, exporting that application settings file using the Export Settings feature in vTurbo will also have the effect of exporting the application's hotspots. If you only wish to export the application's hotspots and not its other settings, you can do this by selecting the Export hotspots or Import hotspots commands on the vMouse settings menu.
You do not have to be focused in the application whose hotspots you wish to export when you select Export hotspots on the vMouse settings menu. Selecting Export settings displays a submenu containing the names of applications for which permanent application specific hotspots have been saved. Press Enter on the name of the application whose hotspots you wish to export.
vMouse then displays a dialogue in which you can browse for the folder in which to save the exported hotspots. The file containing the exported hotspots is automatically given the name of the application with the extension '.vhs'. Thus, saving hotspots for Mozilla Thunderbird will create a file called 'Thunderbird.vhs' in the selected folder.
You can import an application's hotspots without importing the other settings for that application by selecting Import hotspots on the vMouse settings menu. You must be running the version of NVDA with vMouse and vTurbo into which you wish to import the hotspots.
When you select Import hotspots, vMouse displays a standard dialogue in which you can select the desired hotspots file to import. Files having the '.vhs' extension are displayed in the file list by default.
Once the desired file has been selected, vMouse automatically saves the hotspots in the application specific settings file for the relevant application maintained by vTurbo. If none exists, vMouse causes vTurbo to create one and the hotspots are then stored in that file.
Since all hotspots created with vMouse refer to pixel coordinates, it must be borne in mind that saved hotspots will only work properly when they are activated when (a) the target window has the same size as it had when the hotspot was created (maximized or at a fixed size) and (b) the screen resolution is the same as that applying when the hotspot was created. This must especially be considered when importing hotspots created on a different computer which might well have had a different screen resolution.
If the window size or screen resolution after importing is different from the original configuration, you will either have to recreate the hotspot or adjust its pixel coordinates in the Modify Hotspot dialogue.
It is sometimes the case that when the cursor is focused in a form field on a web page or PDF document the field's label is not spoken by NVDA. Although you can try to read the label by returning to browse mode and then navigate the system or review cursor to read the label before returning to focus mode, the Label assistant feature in vMouse speaks the associated label if it is located on the same line as the form field which currently has focus or on the line above.
To activate the Label assistant when in such a form field, press either of the following hotkeys:
| Hotkey | Action |
|---|---|
| Windows key, alt and L | to read a label on the same line as the control |
| Control, Windows key and L | to read a label on the line above the control |
You will hear the name of the label before vMouse automatically switches back to focus mode so that you can continue to interact with the control.
If you wish to remove vMouse from an instance of NVDA, you must ensure that you are running the version of NVDA from which vMouse is to be uninstalled. To uninstall vMouse from that version, select Uninstall vMouse on the vMouse Settings submenu of the vMouse menu.