Google Docs Material
Outline and Exercises
AFB and Google Train the Trainer workshop
December 2016
You are welcome to link to and use this material. Since it might be updated in the future, it is best to point to this page rather than copy the material.
Introduction
With Google Docs you can write reports, create joint project proposals, keep track of meeting notes, and much more.
With Google Docs, you can create and edit text documents right in your web browser—no special software is required. Even better, multiple people can work at the same time, you can see people’s changes as they make them, and every change is saved automatically.
Docs is a web application (as are as Sheets and Slides). As such, the interaction model is more like a desktop application than a flat web page. Docs, Sheets and Slides all have an application menu, context menu, toolbars and edit area.
The screen reader should automatically enter application mode when you open a Doc, Sheet or Presentation. If it does not, turn off virtual cursor if using JAWS or switch to focus mode if using NVDA. The screen reader should remain in application mode when working on the content, accessing the menus or accessing the tool bars. When a dialog is opened (e.g. sharing), The screen reader can remain in application/forms mode. However, to access some info in the dialogs, you may wish to turn virtual cursor on if using JAWS or switch to browse mode if using NVDA.
For more information on how to use Google Docs, including a one-time setup step, check out the getting started resources listed below:
Exercises
Note that these exercises are based on usage of an account that has been setup for the AFB train the trainer workshop.
Exercise 1 - Create a document
- Make sure you are on drive.google.com.
- Create a subfolder called "Exercises."
- In the Exercises subfolder, create a document.
- Enter some text into the file.
- Don’t close the file.
Hints:
- Before doing this exercise, go through the Google Drive training material
- Open the new toolbar menu by typing c or by Tab/Shift+Tab to reach the toolbar.
- Down arrow to find folder and then later to find Google Docs and then enter to activate menu.
- NVDA+t will read the title of the current view/folder.
- New document gets opened in a new tab.
- Open File menu by typing alt+shift+f
- If using Windows, need to do the one time setup to enable screen reader support by typing: Ctrl + Alt+z
- If using a braille device, enable braille support by searching the menus for braille support and pressing enter.
- File menu is opened with Alt+Shift+f on Windows and Chrome OS.
- Search the menus is opened with alt+/
Exercise 2 – Explore Docs application
- Open the list of shortcuts and explore. Look for the navigation shortcuts.
- Search for speak shortcuts.
- Activate the link to open all shortcuts in help center.
- Explore the menus (notice the accelerator key and shortcut announcements as you go through the menus).
- Use the search the menu feature to rename your file.
- Move to the toolbar and change the font size.
- Use the context menu to change something.
Hints:
- Open shortcuts dialog by typing: Control + /
- Use standard screen reader navigation and reading shortcuts to read through the dialog.
- If using NVDA, switch to browse mode: NVDA + space
- Type a search term in the edit field to search for specific shortcuts.
- Shortcuts are in a table and screen reader table commands can be used.
- Press Escape to exit the shortcut dialog.
- Press alt+shift+f to open the file menu.
- Press alt+/ to search menus.
- To reach the toolbar, open the file menu and then press tab twice.
- Open the context menu with control+shift+x
Exercise 3 - Basic text entry
- Enter text into the document. For example, your name, sections with a name and body.
- Enter in two groups of items with each on a different line (e.g. vacation spots, favorite movies, favorite food).
- Move around the text by: character, word, line and paragraph.
- Move to bottom.
- Move to top.
- Use read all.
Hints
- To move word by word: Ctrl + right arrow, Ctrl+left arrow.
- Move by paragraph: Ctrl+up arrow and Ctrl+down arrow.
Exercise 4 - Formatting
- Change your name to a Heading 1 style.
- Change the section names to Heading 2 style.
- Change the first group of items into a bulleted list.
- Change the second grouping of items into a numbered list.
- Add items to the two groups.
- Move to next/prev headers.
- Move to next/prev lists.
Hints:
- Use format menu to do basic formatting: Alt+Shift+f
- Or use search menu feature: Alt+/
- Or use shortcuts to set heading: Control+Alt+1 through Ctrl+Alt+6
- Formatting can be cleared by typing: Ctrl+\
- Heading levels can be cleared by typing: control+alt+0
- Shortcut to create a bullet list item is: Control+Shift+8
- Shortcut to create a numbered list is Control+Shift+7
- Move to next heading: Control+Alt+n, Control+Alt+h
- Move to next list item: Control+Alt+n, Control+Alt+o
- Move to previous heading: Control+Alt+p, Control+Alt+h
- If using NVDA, the NVDA shortcut to launch NVDA (Control+Alt+n) needs to be changed or removed. The shortcut is a property of the NVDA desktop icon.
Exercise 5 – Check your document
- Check and correct spellings (if document does not have errors, add some).
- Move to next format change.
- Check formatting at cursor location.
- Review the heading levels
Hints:
- To move to next misspelling type: Control+’
- To get list of suggested corrections, open context menu by typing: Ctrl+Shift+x or press the applications key.
- To move to next format change, type: Control+Alt+n, Control+Alt+w
- To announce format info, type: Control+Alt+a, Ctrl+Alt+f
- Review heading levels in the Outline pane by choosing Outline from the tools menu.
Exercise 6 - Share a File
- Use the share item in the file menu to Share your file with user: a11ytrainer1@gmail.com and the person to your right.
- Unshare the file with a11y.trainer1
Hints:
- Open the file menu by typing alt+shift+f
- In the sharing dialog, activate the advanced link to have a dialog with buttons to remove people and to alter sharing permissions.
Exercise 7 - Collaborators
- Partner up with a person sitting next to you.
- Both of you open the same document.
- Move around in the file and notice the collaborator announcements.
- Turn off collaborator announcements.
- Review who has the file open.
Hints:
- Use the accessibility menu plus accelerators to toggle on/off collaborator announcements+shift+a s c
- To reach the list of people in the file, open the file menu and then press shift+tab
Exercise 8 - Comments
- Add several comments in the document.
- Move to next/previous comments.
- Read existing comments.
- +Tag your partner with in a comment.
Hints:
- To add a comment, first select text and then open comment dialog by typing: Ctrl+Alt+m
- Move to next comment by typing: Ctrl+Alt+n, Ctrl+Alt+c
- Move to the next comment using the accessibility menu alt+shift+a c n
- Open comment dialog by typing: Ctrl+Alt+e, Control+Alt+c
- Read through comment dialog using screen reader keystrokes (be sure to switch to browse mode if using NVDA).
- To tag someone in a comment, type in +user id (plus sign and user account).
Exercise 9 – Suggest mode
- Open the document shared with you.
- Switch to suggest mode.
- Type a few changes.
- Close the document.
- After your partner has added suggestions to the shared document
- Review the suggestions.
Hints:
- Use search the menus to find suggest mode or go to File menu then tap three times to reach the mode menu.
- Start search the menus by typing alt+/ the mode menu.
- Use the same shortcut used to move to next comment: Control+Alt+n Control+Alt+c
- Open the comment dialog and then accept or reject changes.
Exercise 10 - Tables
- Create a table with 4 columns and 4 rows.
- Populate the table with content.
- Review the table.
Hints:
- Open the table menu by typing: Ctrl+Shift+b
- Use next shortcut to move to next table: Control+Alt+Shift+n Control+Alt+Shift+t (note, Shift is required).
- Use prev shortcut to move to prev table: Control+Alt+Shift+p Control+Alt+Shift+t
- Use tab to move through cells (note, pressing tab when in last cell of table will create a new row).
- To hear the column header, type: Control+Alt+Shift+t Control+Alt+Shift+c
- To hear the row header, type: Control+Alt+Shift+t Control+Alt+Shift+r
- To move to the next column, type: Control+Alt+shift+t Control+alt+Shift+b
- To move to the previous column, type: Control+Alt+Shift+t Control+Alt+Shift+v
- To move to the next row, type: down arrow
- To move to the previous row, type: up arrow
- To exit the table, type: Control+Alt+Shift+t Control+Alt+Shift+e