Leasey Word.

This application contains three methods for obtaining help at any time.

1. Context Sensitive Help.

Context Sensitive Help is available for each control within the application. When focused upon a control, press Insert+F1 (or Caps Lock+F1) if using the JAWS laptop layout. An Edit Field is available containing the help information. It will briefly describe the purpose of the focused control together with keystrokes you can use.

Press the Arrow keys to read the help and press Escape to cancel. This will return you back to the control which previously had focus.

2. Leasey Command Centre.

Press Control+Shift+C or Insert+H to open Leasey Command Centre.

The dialog contains:

Press the Tab key to move through the controls.

Focus starts in the Command Edit Field. Type part of a command name, shortcut, or related word to filter the list.

If the Command Edit Field is empty, pressing Tab moves to the Matching commands list and shows all available commands. If you have typed text into the Edit Field, the list shows only commands matching the search term.

Use Up and Down Arrow to move through the list. You will hear the command name, followed by the corresponding shortcut key. The list therefore serves two purposes. You can press Enter on a command to carry it out, and you can learn the shortcut key for quicker access next time you need to use it.

3. Where Am I?.

Press Control+Shift+I for Where Am I. You will receive a succinct summary of where you are located within the focused application.

Introduction.

Leasey Word is an accessible word processor and document reading tool. Its purpose is to provide a reliable writing and document searching environment with strong JAWS feedback, predictable keyboard use, bookmarks, spell checking, backups, and accessible rendering of common document formats.

To expand on this further, you can write documents in Leasey Word. You can search for text, bookmark passages, select text and carry out many operations that could be accomplished with a basic word processing application. However, as can be seen below, it also gives you the ability to be able to open documents in many different file formats. Where possible, the text is presented in an accessible way. Those rendered documents which have been converted can be edited and saved.

In summary, this is not a traditional book reader. When opening and interpreting documents, Leasey Word will render the text in a format where it can be edited if necessary.

Leasey Word includes basic formatting support while preserving strong speech and Braille feedback. This is a word processor which accomplishes many tasks with a high consideration to both speech and Braille-based output. It is meant to be fast and efficient.

Why You Might Want to Use Leasey Word.

Leasey Word is useful when you want a writing or reading environment which has been designed around JAWS from the beginning.

Many people use large word processors very successfully, but they can be more complicated than necessary for everyday writing, reading, searching, checking or extracting text. Leasey Word is intended to give you a dependable place to work with documents without being distracted by features you do not need at that moment.

It is especially useful for:

What you will notice very quickly is that this is a word processor which does not present you with a bewildering array of options which either you may not use or you do not know what to do with. All the features you can enjoy using with Leasey Word have logical shortcut keys which are quite easy to remember. Indeed, the Options dialog itself, activated with Control+Comma, contains very little. You should be able to load up Leasey Word very quickly, with or without a document, and be able to use it right away with the minimum of effort. And for a program designed to write documents, that is exactly what you want. You should not have to think too much just to get something written down.

We will divide this chapter into two parts. First, the essential tasks; those which you may need every day. For most users, the tasks described in part 1 may well be all you want to do: opening and saving files, spell checking, finding text, and bookmarking passages of text to return to later.

Part 2 will be the more advanced tasks including working with PDF files, navigating structured documents, using ChatGPT and other enhanced utilities.

This entire Leasey User Guide has been written using Leasey Word.

So, let's get started!

Part 1: The Basics.

Starting Leasey Word.

Press the Leasey Key followed by Windows+W. You should find it launches quickly.

Leasey Word opens with a blank document. The main editing area is a Rich Edit Field. This gives Leasey Word better word navigation around punctuation, as well as basic formatting support.

The window title contains the current document name. If the document has unsaved changes, an asterisk is shown after the document name.

For example:

test.txt * - Leasey Word

This means Insert+T (or Caps Lock+T) in JAWS should tell you which document is active and whether it is modified.

Main Window.

The main window contains the document text Edit Field. Use this field to type, read, edit and search document text.

Leasey Word can have more than one document open. There are no visible document tabs for normal use, because repeated tab announcements can be distracting with JAWS. Instead, use Control+F6 to move to the next open document.

You can also press Control+Tab. Use Control+Shift+F6 to move to the previous open document.

You can also press Control+Shift+Tab. When you switch documents, focus moves to the active document text. The window title identifies the active document which JAWS will announce automatically.

The status bar shows the current line number, column number, word count and whether the document is saved or modified. This is rarely used because, as we will discover, there are better ways of obtaining that information. If the current document contains real page markers, such as an extracted PDF, it also shows the current page.

The Menu Bar allows you to access each and every option within the application. Press the Alt key by itself to access the menu bar, followed by all four arrow keys to explore the menu structure. Many people are very used to this approach.

Closing Documents.

Press Control+F4 to close the current document. You can also press Control+W.

If the document has unsaved changes, Leasey Word asks whether you want to save it.

Yes is the default Button. You can press letter Y for Yes, N for No, or just press Enter to save the changes. Press Alt+F4 to exit Leasey Word. Leasey Word checks each open document for unsaved changes. When you have answered any save prompts, all open documents are closed. Unlike many other text editors, Leasey Word does not automatically reopen the previous set of documents on the next launch. This is a distinct advantage as it means that when you launch the application next time, you will not overwrite any existing text in a document which may have inadvertently been opened.

Creating a New Document.

Press Control+N.

A new blank document is opened.

JAWS should announce:

New document

Creating a New Document from the Clipboard.

Press Control+Shift+N.

If the Windows clipboard contains text, Leasey Word opens a new unsaved document containing that text.

JAWS should announce:

New document from clipboard

This is useful if you have copied text from a web page, email, chat message or another document.

Step 1. Select and copy the text in the original application.

Step 2. Open Leasey Word by pressing the Leasey Key then Windows+W.

Step 3. Press Control+Shift+N.

Leasey Word opens a new unsaved document containing the clipboard text.

Step 4. Read, edit, save, summarise or search the text as required.

This is a fast way of turning copied text into something you can work with properly.

Opening a Document.

To open a document.

Step 1. Press Control+O.

Step 2. This is a standard Open dialog box common to many Windows computing applications. Type a file name including full path if necessary. You can also browse to a file if you prefer to do that. Press Enter when the file is located.

Leasey Word can open:

Editable text-based documents are opened as editable text in the document Edit Field. This includes HTML, which is opened as source code so that it can be edited directly. Other document types are rendered as plain text where possible, making them easier to read, search, copy and save in an accessible way. For editable text-based formats such as plain text, log, cue sheet, INI, JAWS configuration, JAWS keymap, JSON, PHP, Markdown and HTML files, Control+S can save back to the same file. For formats such as PDF, EPUB, Word, PowerPoint and RTF, Control+S opens Save As so that the original source document is not overwritten by extracted text. When Save As opens for an extracted format such as PDF, Leasey Word suggests a text filename rather than the original PDF filename.

Saving a Document.

Press Control+S.

If the document already has a writable file name, it is saved. If it is a new document, or if the source format should not be overwritten, Save As is opened.

When an existing writable document is saved, JAWS should announce:

Saved followed by the file name.

Saving As.

Press Control+Shift+S.

The Save dialog supports:

If you have chosen a default save format in Options, Save As will normally open with that format already selected for new documents. For example, if you usually want to compose documents as Microsoft Word documents, set the default save format to Word document. Then, when you press Control+S in a new document, the Save dialog will be ready to save as DOCX unless the document already has another suitable file type.

Saving as a Word Document.

To save the current document as a Microsoft Word document, use Save As and choose:

Word document

The file extension is DOCX.

This is useful if you have written a document in Leasey Word and want to send it to someone who expects to receive a Microsoft Word file.

Leasey Word attempts to preserve:

This means that if you have selected text and applied bold, italic, underline, a font name or a point size, those settings should be included in the saved Word document where possible.

This is not intended to replace every advanced formatting feature in Microsoft Word. It is intended to give Leasey Word users a practical way of producing a basic Word document without leaving the accessible writing environment.

To save a document as DOCX:

Step 1. Write or open the document in Leasey Word.

Step 2. Apply any basic formatting you require, such as bold, italic, underline, font face or point size.

Step 3. Press Control+S or Control+Shift+S.

Step 4. Type the file name. You can include the full path if that is your preference. This is a standard Windows Save dialog box common to many computing applications.

Step 5. Press Tab to reach the Combo Box of file formats.

Step 6. Press Down Arrow to reach Word document.

Step 7. Tab to the Save Button and press Enter or Space.

Recent Files.

To open a recently accessed file:

Step 1. Open the File menu with Alt+F. Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to find Recent Files, then press Enter. You can shortcut this slightly by pressing Alt+F then R.

Step 2. A list of recent files is shown.

Step 3. Press Down Arrow to choose a file and press Enter.

Leasey Word keeps the last 10 recent files by default. To change this, open Options with Control+Comma and change the Number of recent files setting. The value can be set from 5 to 50.

If there are no recent files, JAWS should announce:

No recent files

Finding Text.

To find text in a document:

Step 1. Press Control+F.

Step 2. Type the text to find and press Enter.

Step 3. If the text is found, Leasey Word selects it in the document Edit Field and speaks the line containing the match.

For example:

Found on line 12: roast beef.

If the text is not found, JAWS should announce:

Text not found

Step 4. To search backwards using the same Find dialog, press Control+Shift+F.

Finding Next and Previous.

Press F3 to find the next occurrence. Press Shift+F3 to find the previous occurrence.

The matching text is selected and JAWS speaks the line containing the match.

Replacing Text.

To replace a text string with an alternative:

Step 1. Press Control+H.

Step 2. Type the text to find.

Step 3. Press Tab to the Replace with field and type the replacement text.

Step 4. Press Enter.

JAWS should announce:

Replaced followed by the number of occurrences.

For example:

Replaced 3 occurrences

If the text is not found, JAWS should announce:

Text not found

Deleting Words.

Press Control+Delete to delete the next word. Press Control+Backspace to delete the previous word.

After the word is deleted, JAWS announces the newly focused word.

If there is no word to announce, you should hear the word "Blank". blank The deletion is placed into the normal edit control undo history. Press Control+Z to undo it. JAWS itself should report the undo action, so Leasey Word does not add an extra Undo message.

Changing Case.

It is possible that you wish to change the text capitalisation, perhaps to upper or lower case.

Step 1. Select text if you only want to change part of the document. If no text is selected, the whole document is changed.

Step 2. Press Control+Alt+U for upper case. Press Control+Alt+L for lower case. Press Control+Alt+T for title case. Title case means the first character of each word is capitalised.

JAWS should announce what happened.

For example:

Sorting Lines.

You can sort lines alphabetically. This can be useful if you have a list of names, topics, links, commands or short notes and want them in order.

Press Control+Shift+O.

Leasey Word opens the Sort Lines dialog.

The Sort Lines dialog contains:

Choose:

A to Z or: Z to A

If text is selected, Leasey Word sorts the complete lines touched by the selection. If no text is selected, Leasey Word sorts the whole document.

For example, suppose you have typed a short list of names, one per line, and you want them in alphabetical order.

Step 1. Type each name on its own line.

Step 2. Press Control+Shift+O.

Step 3. Choose A to Z.

Step 4. Tab to OK and press Enter or Space.

JAWS should announce:

Lines sorted A to Z in document

Basic Formatting.

Leasey Word includes basic formatting commands.

Select text if you want to format part of the document. If no text is selected, the formatting applies to text typed from the cursor position.

Press Control+B to toggle bold.

JAWS should announce:

Bold on or: Bold off

Press Control+I to toggle italic.

JAWS should announce:

Italic on or: Italic off

Press Control+U to toggle underline.

JAWS should announce:

Underline on or: Underline off

You can always check the formatting by pressing JAWS Key+F.

Press Control+D to open the Font dialog.

You can move through the Font dialog by pressing the Tab key.

The Font dialog contains:

Use the Font field to choose or type a font name. You can use first letter navigation or press Down Arrow. Use Point size to choose a size between 6 and 96. To change the font, type a value directly or use Up or Down Arrow keys.

Use Style to choose Regular, Bold, Italic or Bold Italic. Press the Down Arrow key. Use Underline to include or remove underlining. Press the Space Bar.

If you Tab to OK and press Enter or Space, the formatting is applied to the selected text or to text typed from the cursor position.

JAWS should announce:

Font applied

If you activate the Set as Default Button, the chosen font settings are used for new documents.

JAWS should announce:

Default font saved

Paragraph Alignment.

Select text if you want to align part of the document. If no text is selected, the alignment applies to text typed from the cursor position.

JAWS should announce:

Spell Checking.

To spell check a document, press F7.

If text is selected, Leasey Word checks only the selected text. If no text is selected, Leasey Word checks the whole document from the beginning.

Leasey Word uses the LeaseySpell spelling component. If the LeaseySpell settings do not specify a language, Leasey Word detects the Windows regional setting. For example, United States English uses US spelling, while United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India use UK spelling.

The Spell Check dialog contains:

The main spell checking keystrokes are:

When a misspelled word is found, JAWS should announce:

Misspelled word followed by the word and its letters.

For example:

When a suggestion is selected, JAWS speaks the letters of that suggestion after a short delay. When the Spell Check dialog first moves to a misspelled word, JAWS also spells the first suggestion automatically.

Press Enter or Alt+C on a suggestion to change the current word to that suggestion. Press Delete or Alt+I to ignore the current spelling issue. Press Control+R to read the sentence containing the current misspelled word. Press Alt+A for Change All. Press Alt+G for Ignore All. Press Alt+D to add the word to the Exceptions Dictionary. Press Alt+F to finish spell checking. These are keystrokes standard to many spell checking tools. If you wish to type your own corrected spelling, press Tab to move to the Replacement Edit Field and edit the text. Then press Enter or Alt+C to change the current word to the text in the Replacement Edit Field.

Press Escape to cancel spell checking. When Escape is pressed, focus returns to the document.

Words ignored with Ignore All stay ignored while the document remains open. Ordinal numbers such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 13th are not treated as spelling errors. Contractions such as don't, wouldn't and shouldn't are treated as whole words.

If no spelling errors are found, a standard message is displayed saying no spelling errors were found.

Using Change.

Use Change when the current word is wrong in this one place and you want to replace only this occurrence.

Step 1. When a misspelled word is announced, move through the Suggestions list with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.

Step 2. When you hear the correct suggestion, press Enter.

Leasey Word replaces the current word and moves to the next spelling issue.

Step 3. If none of the suggestions are correct, press Tab to move to the Replacement Edit Field.

Step 4. Type the correct spelling.

Step 5. Press Enter, or Tab to Change and press Enter or Space.

Using Change All.

Use Change All when the same incorrect word appears several times in the text and should always be corrected in the same way.

For example, if you have repeatedly typed accomodation instead of accommodation, Change All can save time.

Step 1. When the misspelled word is shown, choose the correct suggestion or type the correction in the Replacement Edit Field.

Step 2. Press Alt+A, or Tab to Change All and press Enter or Space.

Step 3. Leasey Word changes this occurrence and automatically changes later matching occurrences during the same spell check.

Using Ignore and Ignore All.

Use Ignore when the current word is acceptable in this one place, but you do not want to add it to the dictionary.

Use Ignore All when the same word appears several times and should be accepted throughout this spell check only.

For example, a project code, a temporary abbreviation, or a made-up name in a story may not need to be stored permanently.

Step 1. When the word is reported, listen to the word and its spelling.

Step 2. Press Delete or Alt+I to ignore this occurrence.

Step 3. If the word should be ignored for the rest of this spell check, press Alt+G instead.

Adding a Word to the Dictionary.

Use Add when the word is correct and you expect to use it again.

Names of people, towns, products and companies are often reported as spelling mistakes even when they are correct.

Step 1. Press F7 to invoke Spell Check if it is not already active.

Step 2. When the word is reported, listen carefully as JAWS speaks and spells it.

Step 3. If the word is correct, press Alt+D, or Tab to the Add Button and press Enter or Space.

The word is added to your personal dictionary. Leasey Word should not report it as an error in future.

Hearing the Sentence Again.

Sometimes a word may be spelled correctly in one context but not another. It can help to hear the sentence.

Step 1. When a misspelled word is shown, press Control+R.

Step 2. JAWS reads the current sentence without moving focus away from the current control.

This helps you decide whether to change the word, ignore it, or type your own replacement.

Live Spelling Alerts.

Press Control+Shift+M to turn Live Spelling Alerts on or off.

This is a typing assistant. It does not replace the full Spell Check command available by pressing F7, nor moving to each new misspelling in turn as discussed elsewhere in this document.

When Live Spelling Alerts are on, Leasey Word checks each completed word as you type. If the word appears to be misspelled, Leasey Word plays a buzzer sound. No speech is used for the misspelling alert while typing. This keeps the typing experience fast and avoids interrupting the text being written.

JAWS should announce:

Live spelling alerts on or: Live spelling alerts off

Live Spelling Alerts are remembered for the next time Leasey Word starts. The feature skips ordinal numbers such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 13th, and treats contractions such as don't, wouldn't and shouldn't as whole words. It also tries to avoid checking web addresses, email addresses, Markdown code, and obvious HTML or source-code lines.

Moving by Spelling Error.

The following commands can be used from the document Edit Field without turning on Quick Navigation Mode discussed later:

When a spelling error is found, Leasey Word selects it and JAWS announces:

Misspelled word followed by the word and its letters.

Adding and Removing Words from the Dictionary.

Sometimes a word is flagged as misspelled even though it is correct. This may happen with names, product names, technical terms or specialised vocabulary.

To add the focused word or selected word to the personal spelling dictionary, press Control+M.

JAWS should announce:

Word added

To remove the focused word or selected word from the personal spelling dictionary, press Control+Shift+D.

JAWS should announce:

Word removed

This can be useful if you added a word by mistake.

Word Count.

Press Control+Shift+W.

Leasey Word opens a Word Count dialog containing the number of words, characters, paragraphs and lines. The information is in a read-only Edit Field so it can be reviewed with the Arrow keys. JAWS should also announce the number of words, characters and paragraphs in the current document.

For example:

Document has 245 words, 1320 characters, 6 paragraphs

After the usual word count information, there is a blank line followed by document position information. This can help you work out how far through a long document you are.

The position information contains:

If the document does not have page markers, the page line says Page information is not available.

Bookmarks.

To set a bookmark:

Step 1. Move to the position in the document you want to mark.

Step 2. Press Control+K.

Step 3. Type a bookmark name and press Enter.

JAWS should announce:

Bookmark followed by the bookmark name, then set.

For example:

Bookmark Chapter 3 set

Leasey Word stores the bookmark position, the line number, and nearby text around the bookmark. This helps the bookmark follow the intended text if other text is inserted above it later.

Moving to a Bookmark.

To move to a bookmark:

Step 1. Press Control+Shift+G.

Step 2. The Bookmarks dialog opens. Move through the bookmarks with Down Arrow. You can also press the first letter of a bookmark name to move quickly through the list.

Step 3. Press Enter to move to the selected bookmark.

JAWS should announce:

Bookmark followed by the bookmark name.

If the original position no longer contains the expected text, Leasey Word searches for the stored nearby text. If it finds that text, it moves to the new position and updates the bookmark. If the text cannot be found, Leasey Word falls back to the saved line number and announces that the position is approximate.

Deleting a Bookmark.

To delete a bookmark:

Step 1. Press Control+Shift+G.

Step 2. Press Down Arrow to select the bookmark or type its initial letter.

Step 3. Press Delete.

JAWS should announce:

Bookmark followed by the bookmark name, then deleted.

Temporary Bookmark.

A temporary bookmark is useful when you are writing or editing in one part of a document but need to quickly check something elsewhere. It is not shown in the Bookmarks dialog and it is not intended to be a permanent marker. Each open document has its own temporary bookmark.

To set a temporary bookmark:

Step 1. Move to the position you want to return to.

Step 2. Press Control+Shift+K.

JAWS should announce:

Temporary bookmark set

You can now move elsewhere in the document, search for text, check another section, or read supporting material.

To return to the temporary bookmark:

Press Alt+Shift+K.

JAWS should announce:

Temporary bookmark

If the exact text has moved, Leasey Word tries to find the nearby stored text.

If it can only find an approximate position, JAWS should announce:

Temporary bookmark, approximate position

Leasey Points.

Leasey Word has full support for setting and locating Leasey Points rather than using the Bookmarks management tools described above. Leasey Points are described fully later in this documentation.

As usual, press the Leasey Key then Control+1 through to Control+0 to set Leasey Points 1 through to 10. Press the Leasey Key then 1 through to 0 to locate Leasey Points 1 through to 10.

Concluding Notes on Bookmarks.

Using the Bookmarks specific to Leasey Word is preferred over Leasey Points since you can give them meaningful names. You will then not forget the text associated with each bookmark.

Speaking the Document Path.

If you have two documents open with the same file name, it can be difficult to know which one you are editing. Press Control+Shift+P to hear the full path of the current document.

If the document has not yet been saved, JAWS should announce that the document has not been saved.

Leasey Select.

Leasey Select is available in this application. Leasey Select is described later in this documentation. Press the Leasey Key then Comma to mark the start point of a selection and the Leasey Key followed by full-stop or period to mark the end point.

Document Backups.

Leasey Word keeps backups for individual saved documents. When a saved document is saved again, Leasey Word backs up the previous saved version before overwriting it.

To restore a document backup:

Step 1. Open the document.

Step 2. Open the File menu by pressing Alt+F.

Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you reach Restore Document Backup and press Enter. You can shortcut this slightly by pressing Alt+F then B.

Step 4. A list of backups for the current document is displayed by date and time. Move through the list with Down Arrow.

Step 5. Press Enter to restore the selected backup.

Step 6. Leasey Word asks you to confirm the restore. Type Y for Yes or N for No. You can also press Enter since Yes is the focused control.

Before restoring the selected backup, Leasey Word backs up the current editor text.

If the restore succeeds, JAWS should announce:

Document backup restored

The restored text is marked as modified. Press Control+S to save it.

Part 2: The Advanced Features.

PDF documents.

Working with PDF documents is one of the most troublesome areas of computing a blind person can face. It is often challenging because the document author has not always written the content with accessibility in mind. Even if this has been done, navigating them can be a tricky business.

Leasey Word gives you three possible ways to work with PDF documents.

First, when you open a PDF, Leasey Word tries to present it in the best reading order it can using local extraction. Leasey Word chooses the cleaner of two local PDF text extraction methods for each page. This can improve documents where one extraction method produces one word per line, missing first letters, or confused columns. Leasey Word also tries to reflow short artificial line breaks into smoother paragraphs and remove spaces before punctuation. Common PDF ligatures such as fi, fl, ff, ffi and ffl are normalised where the PDF exposes them as special characters. Large documents are opened in the background so Leasey Word can continue to give progress messages while the document is being prepared.

Second, if the locally extracted PDF is readable but still awkward, open the Tools menu with Alt+T and choose Enhanced PDF detection. This sends the PDF to an enhanced PDF text detection service and opens the result as a new unsaved document. You will first be asked if you would like to submit the PDF for analysis. Press Enter on the Yes Button to confirm or type letter Y. This service can be useful for invoices, purchase orders, forms, and other PDFs where layout makes the local reading order difficult. Very large PDF files may be rejected by the enhanced PDF service because the upload payload is too large.

JAWS should announce:

Enhanced PDF detection started

While it is working, JAWS should announce progress messages although this is generally unnecessary as the process is very fast.

When the process finishes, JAWS should announce:

Enhanced PDF detection complete

If the process fails, JAWS should announce:

Enhanced PDF detection failed

Third, if the PDF still cannot be understood, or if it contains scanned image text, use Improve Reading Order with ChatGPT from the Tools menu, activated wwith Alt+T. You will first be asked if you would like to submit the PDF for analysis. Press Enter on the Yes Button to confirm or type the letter Y. The regular ChatGPT page limit still applies. As a simple guide, use ChatGPT analysis for PDFs of about 40 pages or less. This uses the Leasey OpenAI API key if it is already in place. Please refer to the later chapters of this documentation concerned with ChatGPT.

If the PDF contains embedded bookmarks, Leasey Word adds those entries to the normal Bookmarks Manager for that document. Open Bookmarks with Control+Shift+G to move through them. In the Bookmarks dialog, first-letter navigation can be used to move quickly through a long list of bookmarks.

If a PDF is password protected, Leasey Word asks for the password. The password is used only to open the document and is not saved.

When a PDF is sent to ChatGPT, Leasey Word checks the real PDF page count first. If the PDF is too large to send in one piece, JAWS reports the page count and the document is not sent.

If successfully processed, JAWS should announce:

Opened followed by the file name.

Opening a PDF and Finding a Section.

Suppose someone sends you a PDF and you need to find a section about cancellation terms.

Step 1. Open Leasey Word.

Step 2. Press Control+O.

Step 3. Choose the PDF file and press Enter.

Step 4. Leasey Word renders the text where possible into the document Edit Field.

Step 5. Press Control+F and search for a word such as cancellation.

Step 6. Press Enter to confirm.

Step 7. If the word is found, read the surrounding text using the normal JAWS reading keys. JAWS will have announced the context already.

The advantage is that you do not need to fight with the original PDF viewer if all you want is the text in a form you can search and copy.

Step 8. If you find that the content displayed is unsatisfactory, try one of the other utilities on the Tools menu, activated wwith Alt+T. We recommend starting with Enhanced PDF Detection because in very many cases this should produce the result you want. If that fails, try Improve Reading Order with ChatGPT.

PDF and Complex Older Word Documents.

As stated previously, Leasey Word first tries to extract readable text locally. For many PDF documents, this works well.

Some PDF documents are poorly structured. Others are scanned images and contain no readable text.

If no readable text is found in a PDF, Leasey Word says so and asks whether you want to send the PDF to ChatGPT to try to render it as accessible plain text. This is intended primarily for scanned-image PDFs. Older DOC documents can also be inaccessible, particularly if the text is contained in text boxes which JAWS is unable to interpret. If Leasey Word cannot read an older DOC file locally, it offers to send the document to ChatGPT to try to render it as accessible plain text.

Very large scanned PDFs are not sent. As a simple guide, use this for scanned PDFs of about 40 pages or less.

If ChatGPT succeeds, the rendered text is opened as a new unsaved document in the Leasey Word editor. The rendered text opens as a new unsaved document with a suggested file name. Pressing Control+S on that ChatGPT result opens Save As, so the original PDF, DOC or other source document is not overwritten.

JAWS should announce:

Sending document to ChatGPT

When the process finishes, JAWS should announce:

ChatGPT document analysis complete

If the process fails, JAWS should announce:

ChatGPT document analysis failed

Improving Reading Order with ChatGPT.

To improve the reading order:

Step 1. Open a document.

Step 2. Open the Tools menu wwith Alt+T and choose Improve Reading Order with ChatGPT.

ChatGPT Text Tools.

As described in a later chapter, ChatGPT Tools can be used to rewrite part of (or the entire) document using a different writing style or to assist with clarification. A dictionary and thesaurus are also provided.

Step 1. Press Control+Shift+T or the Chat Key then T. As described later in this documentation, The Chat Key is the Leasey Key with Control pressed together. So press the Chat Key, release it, and then type the letter T. Because this is integrated into Leasey Word however, you can simply press Control+Shift+T in this context.

Step 2. The ChatGPT Text Tools dialog contains:

Step 3. The Tools list contains writing and review tools such as:

Step 4. Press Down Arrow to select an option.

Step 5. If text was selected before opening the dialog, the Text Edit Field contains the selected text. If no text was selected, the Text Edit Field contains the whole document. You can press the Tab key to focus upon the Edit Field for reading and then press Shift+Tab to return back to the list.

You can review or edit the text before activating the OK Button. For Dictionary and Thesaurus, if no text was selected, Leasey Word uses the word at or just after the cursor.

Step 6. Press Enter to confirm that you wish to use one of the tools.

For most tools, when ChatGPT returns the result, Leasey Word replaces the original selection. If no text was selected, Leasey Word replaces the whole document. Leasey Word creates a document backup before applying the result. The reason this approach was taken is that many inexperienced computer users especially just want the tool they have selected to do the job they want. You can also press Control+Z to undo the amendments ChatGPT has made. Dictionary results are different. They are shown in a read-only Edit Field and do not change the document. Constructive feedback results are also different. They are shown in a read-only Edit Field and do not change the document. Thesaurus results are also different. They are shown in a list box. Press Enter on an alternative to replace the selected or current word. As a simple guide, use this command for documents or selections of about 40 pages or less.

Using ChatGPT to Simplify Text.

Step 1. Open or write a document in Leasey Word.

Step 2. Select the text you want ChatGPT to work with. If no text is selected, Leasey Word can use the whole document provided it is 40 pages or less.

Step 3. Open the ChatGPT Text Tools by pressing the Chat Key then T or you can press Control+Shift+T.

Step 4. Choose a tool such as Plain language rewrite or Summary with the Down Arrow key.

Step 5. Review the text in the Edit Field before submitting it. You can press the Tab key to reach the Edit Field.

Step 6. Tab to OK and press Enter or press Shift+Tab back to the list of tools prior to pressing Enter.

Recovering Bookmarks After Moving a Document.

If you moved a document to a different folder, Leasey Word may treat it as a different document because bookmarks are stored against the document path.

To recover those bookmarks:

Step 1. Open the moved document in Leasey Word.

Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F and choose Recover Bookmarks from Previous Location by pressing the Down Arrow key until the item is reached, then press Enter.

Step 3. The dialog shows the current document path. In the Previous folder Edit Field, type or browse to the folder where the document used to be stored. An Edit Field is available into which you can type the path. Pressing Tab allows you to reach a Browse Button to browse to the folder using standard Windows techniques.

Step 4. Press Enter when the folder is located.

Leasey Word combines that previous folder with the current file name and transfers any bookmarks, Leasey Points, saved cursor position, recent file entry and document backups to the current document location.

JAWS should announce:

Bookmarks recovered

Previewing as HTML.

If you are writing HTML or Markdown, you can preview it as a rendered document. This is very useful so you can gain a more structured appreciation of the document layout.

Step 1. Ensure the document you wish to render as HTML is open.

Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F.

Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you reach Preview as HTML and press Enter.

Leasey Word creates a temporary HTML preview and opens it in the default browser.

This is intended for checking how headings, links, lists, tables and other HTML elements may be presented.

If the current document is a Markdown file, Leasey Word uses the Markdown preview so that Markdown links and headings are rendered properly.

JAWS should announce:

HTML preview opened

Markdown Documents.

Leasey Word edits Markdown documents as plain text. This keeps writing and reviewing Markdown efficient with JAWS and Braille.

Leasey Word can also use the Markdown Converter component to create rendered output. Use Preview as HTML to inspect the rendered headings, lists and tables. Standard Markdown links such as [text](https://example.com) are rendered as links in HTML preview and export. Wrapped Markdown links are also rendered where possible.

To export Markdown as HTML:

Step 1. Ensure the Markdown document is open.

Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F.

Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you reach Export Markdown as HTML and press Enter.

Step 4. Using standard Windows file browsing techniques, choose the save location and press Enter.

JAWS should announce:

Markdown HTML exported

To export Markdown as Word:

Step 1. Ensure the document is open.

Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F.

Step 3. Press Down Arrow to reach Export Markdown as Word.

Step 4. Using standard Windows file browsing techniques, choose the save location and press Enter.

JAWS should announce:

Markdown Word document exported

Paragraph Indentation.

It is possible to increase or decrease paragraph text by a specific amount.

Indentation is useful when you want part of a document to stand out from the surrounding text. For example, you might indent a quotation, a set of instructions, a code sample, a note within a larger document, or a paragraph which belongs under a heading. It can also be helpful when writing structured material where some paragraphs are subordinate to others.

Press Control+Alt+Right Arrow to increase indentation. Press Control+Alt+Left Arrow to decrease indentation.

The command applies to selected text if text is selected. Otherwise, it applies to the current line.

JAWS should announce:

Indent level followed by the level number.

For example:

Indent level 2

In Options, activated with Control+Comma, there is a checkbox entitled Speak indentation level when moving by line. When this is checked, Leasey Word announces the indentation level when you move to a line with a different indentation level.

Inserting a LeaseyNote into a Document.

If you are a heavy user of Leasey Notes, you may wish to bring one of them into your document.

Step 1. Press Control+Shift+L.

Step 2. A list of Leasey Notes is shown.

Step 3. Press the Down Arrow key to choose a note.

Step 4. Press Enter to insert the selected note text into the current document at the cursor position.

If text is selected in the document, the selected text is replaced.

JAWS should announce:

Inserted LeaseyNote followed by the note title.

Page Movement.

For documents which contain real page markers, such as locally extracted PDF files, Leasey Word can report the current page.

Press Page Up or Page Down. Leasey Word moves to the previous or next page marker.

JAWS should announce:

Page followed by the page number.

For example:

Page 4

If the document does not contain real page markers, Page Up and Page Down perform normal Edit Field movement.

Go To Page.

To move to a specific page if the document contains page markers:

Step 1. Press Control+G.

Step 2. Type the page number and press Enter.

Step 3. Leasey Word moves to that page if the current document contains page markers. This is most useful for PDF documents which have been extracted into page order.

JAWS should announce:

Page followed by the page number.

Quick Navigation Mode.

Press Insert+Z to turn Quick Navigation Mode on or off. You can also press JAWS Key+Z.

This is a deliberate toggle. Escape does not turn Quick Navigation off, because Escape is too easy to press by accident.

When Quick Navigation is on, ordinary typing keys in the document Edit Field become navigation keys. Keys which are not assigned to Quick Navigation commands are ignored, so ordinary characters are not inserted accidentally. Press Insert+Z or JAWS Key+Z again before typing normal text. You could also treat this is a read only appreciation of the document. If you want to review the text without fear of corrupting it, enable Quick Navigation keys.

When Leasey Word regains focus after moving away to another window, it reports that Quick Navigation is on. If Quick Navigation is off, Leasey Word does not speak an extra message when focus returns.

The following keys are available while Quick Navigation is on:

When a paragraph is found, Leasey Word speaks the destination text. When a sentence is found, Leasey Word speaks the destination sentence. When a heading is found, Leasey Word announces the heading level and heading text. When a bookmark is found, Leasey Word announces the bookmark name. When a Markdown table is found, Leasey Word announces the word Table followed by the first few column names. When a misspelling is found, Leasey Word selects it and announces the misspelled word and its letters.

If you are on a selected misspelling and want spelling choices, press the Context Menu key or Shift+F10 while Quick Navigation is still on. The spelling menu contains suggestions, Ignore, Ignore All and Add to Dictionary. JAWS reads each spelling suggestion as you move through the menu, and Leasey Word speaks the letters of that suggestion after a short delay. Items such as Ignore, Ignore All and Add to Dictionary are not spelled.

Moving Through a Structured Document.

If a document contains headings, bookmarks, tables or misspellings, Quick Navigation can help you move through it efficiently.

Step 1. Press Insert+Z or Caps Lock+Z to turn Quick Navigation on.

Step 2. Press H to move to the next heading, or Shift+H to move to the previous heading.

Step 3. Press P to move by paragraph.

Step 4. Press M to move to the next misspelling.

Step 5. Press the Quick Navigation toggle again before typing ordinary text.

This makes Leasey Word particularly useful when reviewing longer documents.

Note that you do not have to save the document using a specific format in order to be able to move by heading or other elements, and nor should you. This is just text we are working with. So even if the document is plain text and contains Markdown or HTML code, you can still move by element type.

The Context Menu.

This is a menu of actions which are relevant to the text or word you are focused upon.

The Context Menu is especially useful if you do not remember the shortcut for a command. It is also useful because it confirms what actions are available in the current situation.

To open the Context Menu:

Step 1. Move to the document Edit Field.

Step 2. Press the Applications Key. On many keyboards, this key is near the right Control key.

Step 3. If your keyboard does not have an Applications Key, press Shift+F10.

Step 4. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through the menu.

Step 5. Press Enter on the command you want.

In normal editing, the Context Menu is the standard Edit Field menu provided by Windows.

It may contain commands such as:

For example, suppose you want to copy a paragraph but cannot remember the copy shortcut.

Step 1. Select the paragraph.

Step 2. Press the Applications Key or Shift+F10.

Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you hear Copy.

Step 4. Press Enter.

Step 5. The selected text is copied to the Windows Clipboard.

The Context Menu is also useful with Quick Navigation spelling errors. If Quick Navigation Mode is on and you have moved to a misspelled word with M or Shift+M, press the Applications Key or Shift+F10.

Leasey Word opens a spelling menu containing suggestions for the misspelled word.

It also contains:

For example, suppose Quick Navigation finds a misspelled word and you want to choose a correction.

Step 1. Press Insert+Z to turn Quick Navigation Mode on.

Step 2. Press M to move to the next misspelling.

Step 3. Press the Applications Key or Shift+F10.

Step 4. Move through the suggestions with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.

Step 5. Press Enter on the suggestion you want.

Leasey Word changes the word and announces what it changed the word to.

The Context Menu is not intended to replace shortcut keys. Instead, it gives you a convenient way to discover and use commands while you are learning the application.

Options.

Press Control+Comma.

Options contains:

If Restore last cursor position is checked, Leasey Word returns to the last known cursor position when opening a document.

If Speak indentation level when moving by line is checked, Leasey Word announces indentation changes while you move with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.

If Word wrap is checked, long lines wrap within the document window. This is the default setting. If Word wrap is unchecked, long lines continue horizontally. This can be useful when editing HTML, source code, log files, or other documents where the exact line structure matters.

If Plain Text View is checked, LeaseyWord uses a simpler edit control for the document text. This can help some Braille displays, but formatting features are not available in this view.

The option Number of recent files has already been described.

Default Document Save Folder.

In Options, type or browse to the folder where new documents should be saved by default. If quotation marks are included, Leasey Word removes them. If the folder does not exist, Leasey Word tries to create it when Options is saved.

This folder is used when Save As opens for a new or unsaved document. If the document already has a file location, Save As starts in that document's own folder.

Default Save Format.

In Options, choose the file format Leasey Word should suggest when saving a new composed document.

The choices are:

Text document is the default. If you choose Word document, new documents will normally be offered as DOCX files when Save As opens.

This setting does not force every document to become that format. If you open an existing editable file, such as HTML or Markdown, Leasey Word continues to save it in its existing format. If you open a PDF or another rendered document, Leasey Word still protects the original file and opens Save As.

Suggest First Line as File Name.

If this option is checked, Leasey Word uses the first non-empty line of a new document as the suggested file name when Save As opens.

For example, if the first line of the document is:

Meeting Notes for Friday

The Save dialog will suggest:

Meeting Notes for Friday

Leasey Word removes characters which cannot be used in Windows file names. This option is useful if you usually begin a document with a title.

Changing the Leasey Word Data Location.

This will be fully described in the chapter of this documentation relating to the Backup and Restore Manager and should generally not be changed here.

File Explorer Entries.

Options contains a Button called:

Register File Explorer entries

When activated, this will register Leasey Word with Windows so supported documents can be opened from File Explorer using Leasey Word. This adds Leasey Word to Windows Open With choices and adds an Open with Leasey Word entry for supported document types.

JAWS should announce:

File Explorer entries registered

Supported Formats and Known Limitations.

Leasey Word can currently open and render the following formats as plain text:

RTF support is basic. If Microsoft Word is available, Leasey Word asks Word to read the RTF document. Otherwise it uses a simple fallback which may not preserve all formatting.

Older binary PowerPoint files, PPT, are not yet supported.

Keystroke Summary.

General Document Commands.

Leasey Key followed by Windows+W starts Leasey Word.

Control+N creates a new blank document.

Control+Shift+N creates a new document from the Windows clipboard.

Control+O opens a document.

Control+S saves the current document.

Control+Shift+S opens Save As.

Control+F4 closes the current document.

Control+W also closes the current document.

Alt+F4 exits Leasey Word.

Control+F6 moves to the next open document.

Control+Tab also moves to the next open document.

Control+Shift+F6 moves to the previous open document.

Control+Shift+Tab also moves to the previous open document.

Editing Commands.

Control+Z performs Undo.

Control+Y performs Redo.

Control+X cuts selected text.

Control+C copies selected text.

Control+V pastes text.

Control+A selects all text.

Control+Delete deletes the next word.

Control+Backspace deletes the previous word.

The Leasey Key followed by Comma marks the start point for Leasey Select.

The Leasey Key followed by full-stop or period marks the end point for Leasey Select.

Find and Replace.

Control+F finds text.

Control+Shift+F searches backwards.

F3 finds the next occurrence.

Shift+F3 finds the previous occurrence.

Control+H opens Find and Replace.

Case and Formatting.

Control+Alt+U changes selected text, or the whole document, to upper case.

Control+Alt+L changes selected text, or the whole document, to lower case.

Control+Alt+T changes selected text, or the whole document, to title case.

Control+Shift+O opens Sort Lines.

Control+B toggles bold.

Control+I toggles italic.

Control+U toggles underline.

Control+D opens the Font dialog.

Control+L aligns left.

Control+E centres the current line or selection.

Control+R aligns right.

Control+J justifies the current line or selection.

Control+Alt+Right Arrow increases indentation.

Control+Alt+Left Arrow decreases indentation.

Spelling.

F7 opens Spell Check.

Tab moves to the next control in the Spell Check dialog.

Shift+Tab moves to the previous control in the Spell Check dialog.

Up Arrow and Down Arrow move through the Suggestions list.

Enter or Alt+C changes the current word when focus is in the Suggestions list.

Enter or Alt+C changes the current word when focus is in the Replacement Edit Field.

Delete or Alt+I ignores the current spelling issue.

Control+R reads the sentence in the Spell Check dialog.

Alt+A activates Change All.

Alt+G activates Ignore All.

Alt+D activates Add.

Alt+F activates Finish.

Escape cancels spell checking.

Control+Shift+M turns Live Spelling Alerts on or off.

Control+M adds the focused word or selected word to the personal dictionary.

Control+Shift+D removes the focused word or selected word from the personal dictionary.

Alt+Semicolon moves to the next spelling error.

Alt+Apostrophe moves to the previous spelling error.

Alt+Shift+Semicolon moves to the first spelling error.

Alt+Shift+Apostrophe moves to the last spelling error.

Bookmarks, Points and Position.

Control+K sets a Leasey Word bookmark.

Control+Shift+G opens the Bookmarks dialog.

Control+Shift+K sets a temporary bookmark.

Alt+Shift+K moves to the temporary bookmark.

Control+G opens Go To Page.

Page Down moves to the next page marker where page markers exist.

Page Up moves to the previous page marker where page markers exist.

Control+Shift+W opens Word Count.

Control+Shift+I performs Where Am I.

Control+Shift+P speaks the full path of the current document.

The Leasey Key followed by Control+1 through to Control+0 sets Leasey Points 1 through to 10.

The Leasey Key followed by 1 through to 0 moves to Leasey Points 1 through to 10.

Quick Navigation Mode.

Insert+Z turns Quick Navigation Mode on or off.

Caps Lock+Z does the same if using the JAWS laptop keyboard layout.

When Quick Navigation Mode is on:

P moves to the next paragraph.

Shift+P moves to the previous paragraph.

S moves to the next sentence.

Shift+S moves to the previous sentence.

Space moves to the next page marker if available.

Backspace moves to the previous page marker if available.

H moves to the next heading.

Shift+H moves to the previous heading.

1 through to 6 move to the next heading at that level.

Shift+1 through to Shift+6 move to the previous heading at that level.

B moves to the next bookmark.

Shift+B moves to the previous bookmark.

T moves to the next Markdown table.

Shift+T moves to the previous Markdown table.

M moves to the next misspelling.

Shift+M moves to the previous misspelling.

Context Menu or Shift+F10 opens spelling suggestions when a misspelling is selected.

Tools and Application Features.

Control+Shift+C opens Leasey Command Centre.

Control+Shift+T opens ChatGPT Text Tools.

Control+Shift+L inserts a LeaseyNote into the current document.

Control+Comma opens Options.

Insert+F1 opens Context Sensitive Help for the focused control.

Caps Lock+F1 does the same if using the JAWS laptop keyboard layout.

Menu-Based Commands Without Direct Keystrokes.

The following commands are available from the menu bar and from Leasey Command Centre where appropriate:

Recover Bookmarks from Previous Location

Export as HTML

Preview as HTML

Export Markdown as HTML

Export Markdown as Word

Recent Files

Restore Document Backup

Improve Reading Order with ChatGPT

Enhanced PDF detection

Register File Explorer entries, from Options