Leasey Version 11.5 Guidance Notes.

Transcribe audio to text, available from the ChatGPT menu.

There are two options in the build you currently have. This is now just one option which takes you into the new interface.

This is no longer displayed in a browser.

When it is launched, you have the following controls through which you can Tab.

Audio file path edit field.

A full path can be pasted here which you could have copied from File Explorer with Control+Shift+C and pasted with Control+V.

Browse button. Allows you to browse to a file instead.

Two radio buttons: Transcript with speaker separation and Plain transcript.

Finally, the Transcribe button.

Progress messages are given during the file upload.

When complete, you are advised of this, and an edit field is available with the transcript together with the following controls.

Copy Transcript button.

Save transcript button. Browse to a location and a text copy is saved.

Upload Document to ChatGPT.

This is no longer displayed in a browser.

When it is launched, you have the following controls through which you can Tab.

Document file path edit field.

A full path can be pasted here which you could have copied from File Explorer with Control+Shift+C and pasted with Control+V.

Browse button. Allows you to browse to a file.

You can also press Control+Shift+Tab.

JAWS should announce:

Document followed by the document name.

When complete, you are advised of this, and an edit field is available where you can submit your question.

Type it in and press Enter.

When the response is received, JAWS says:

Answer Ready

You can read it in the edit field.

Other controls include:

Image Creation via ChatGPT.

This is no longer displayed in a browser.

When launched you are presented with two edit fields. The first requires the file name you would like. The second asks for a detailed description of the image.

A combo box allows you to select from some predetermined image sizes:

A Submit Button then follows.

Once generated, a Save button allows you to save it to the computer in a location of your choosing.

Audio Translate from a language other than English.

This interface is identical to the option to translate from a regular audio file to text.

Markdown Converter, Available from the Markdown Menu.

This serves two purposes. It converts a Markdown document to Microsoft Word format. Unlike other plugins and tools, it obeys my rules and formats headings, lists and tables correctly for Word.

The second purpose is to create an HTML rendering of the Markdown document. The difficulty with Markdown is that you cannot appreciate as a blind person the true nature of the document. The HTML view should give you an immediate appreciation of what it might look like.

The other advantage of course is that you could potentially create content for a blog post or web page in Markdown and have it converted to HTML.

The interface is very similar to some of the items discussed above. You browse to a Markdown file. You select from a group of two radio buttons whether you would like Word or HTML.

When converted, which is almost immediately, you have the opportunity of saving that output.

The Leasey Start Menu, currently available with the Leasey key then Windows+S.

The Leasey Start Menu is intended to make it easier to find and launch applications, especially when using JAWS. It displays a list of applications found in the Windows Start Menu. This includes regular desktop programs and Microsoft Store style apps where Windows makes them available. You can filter the list, launch an item, remove items you do not want to see, add your own files or portable programs, rename items, rearrange the order of the list, add selected items to the Leasey Main Menu, and create desktop shortcuts.

The main window is deliberately simple.

It contains:

Moving Around the Main Window.

Press Tab to move through the controls.

Useful shortcut keys include:

The most important controls are the Filter edit box and the Applications list.

Filtering Applications.

When the app opens, focus is placed in the Filter edit box. Start typing part of an application name. The Applications list is narrowed as you type. For example, typing word should find entries containing word.

As you type, JAWS should announce the first matching item and the number of matches. For example, if Word is the only match, you should hear something like:

Word, 1 match.

From the Filter edit box:

Using the Applications List.

When focus is in the Applications list:

You can also type letters while focused in the list. For example, typing W should move to an entry beginning with W. Typing WO quickly should move to an entry beginning with WO, such as Word.

Launching Applications.

To launch an application:

The app asks Windows to launch the item maximised. Some applications may honour this request better than others, but the intention is that the launched app should be easy to find and use immediately.

Removing Items.

If there is an item you do not want on the Leasey Start Menu:

You can also use the Remove button.

Removing an item does not uninstall the application from Windows. It only hides it from the Leasey Start Menu. JAWS should announce that the item has been removed.

Selecting Several Items for Removal.

You can select several items temporarily and then remove them from the Leasey Start Menu together. This does not uninstall the applications from Windows.

If you arrow back to an application which is already selected, JAWS should read the application name in the usual way and Leasey should simply say:

selected.

While applications are selected for removal, Launch, Rename, Move Up, Move Down, and Add to Leasey Main Menu are unavailable. This is deliberate so you do not accidentally launch or change the wrong item while cleaning the menu.

Restoring Removed Items.

To bring back all removed Windows Start Menu items:

Press Tab to reach Restore Removed. Press Enter or Space. Confirm the restore.

JAWS should announce that removed applications have been restored.

Adding a File or Portable Program.

You can add a file, shortcut or portable program if you know where it is located.

To add an item:

The new item should appear in the Applications list.

Examples of things you might add include:

Adding an Item to the Leasey Main Menu.

The Leasey Start Menu may contain hundreds of items. The Leasey Main Menu is intended to be a much shorter menu containing only the items you use most often. While it is true that you can remove as many applications as required from the LeaseyStart Menu, the reality is that this can take some time and you are likely to install new programs and apps which will appear there. The Leasey Main Menu is designed so you only add the items which are special to you that you may use every day. It is also very helpful if you are working with someone who is new to computing and may be quite daunted with the hundreds of applications provided by the Start Menu.

To add an item to the Leasey Main Menu:

JAWS should confirm that the item has been added. If the item already exists on the Leasey Main Menu, JAWS should tell you this rather than adding a duplicate.

Renaming Items.

To rename an item:

You can also use the Rename button.

Renaming changes only the name shown in Leasey Start Menu. It does not rename the real Windows shortcut or application. JAWS should announce the old and new names after the rename is saved.

Rearranging Items.

You can change the order of items in the Applications list.

The shortcut keys for these buttons are:

JAWS should announce where the item has moved. For example:

Moved FastPlay below Word

Move Up and Move Down should refer to visible applications in the current Leasey Start Menu list, not applications you have already removed from the menu.

Where Am I and Leasey Command Centre.

Press Control+Shift+I for Where Am I. This gives a short description of where you are, such as the current field, list, selected item and item position.

Control+Shift+I also works inside Leasey Command Centre and reports whether you are in the Command edit field or the Matching commands list.

Uninstall Programs.

The Leasey Start Menu includes an Uninstall Programs button. This opens a separate tool for reviewing and uninstalling applications.

Removing an item from the Leasey Start Menu only hides it from this menu. Uninstall Programs is the tool to use when you really want to remove software from the computer.

The Uninstall Programs window contains:

The list includes many traditional desktop programs and Microsoft Store style apps where Windows makes them available. Some Windows components and technical app packages are hidden by default so the first list mainly contains apps people are likely to recognise. These hidden items may include Windows support packages, Microsoft Store infrastructure, framework packages used by other apps, or components Windows reports as not removable. Select Show advanced and protected items if you want to include those additional entries.

The Delete key deliberately does not uninstall an app. To uninstall, move to the app and activate the Uninstall button. You should be asked twice before the uninstaller is started.

Some third party uninstallers may still open their own windows, and those windows may vary in accessibility. The purpose of Uninstall Programs is to give you an accessible starting point and a clear list of what Windows reports as installed.

Programs and Features opens the older Windows uninstall area if you prefer to use it. Windows App Settings opens the modern Windows apps settings page if you prefer to use it.

Leasey Main Menu, currently available by pressing the Print Screen key.

The Leasey Main Menu is a shorter menu for the applications and tools you use most often. It is separate from the larger Leasey Start Menu. The Start Menu is useful for finding things. The Main Menu is intended for fast daily launching.

The Leasey Main Menu starts with a small selection of commonly used items where they are available on the computer. Examples may include Word, Outlook Classic, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Edge, File Explorer, Remote Incident Manager, and Leasey applications such as LeaseyConnect, LeaseyCuts, LeaseyDatabase Manager, LeaseyDiary, LeaseyFile Manager, LeaseyMedia Centre, LeaseyNotes, LeaseySocial, and LeaseyWord. If you already have a customised Leasey Main Menu, these standard Leasey entries may be added if they are missing, but your existing items should not be removed. It may also include Shut down the computer and Restart the computer.

You can add more items to the Leasey Main Menu in two ways:

The Leasey Main Menu window is deliberately simple.

It contains:

Using the Leasey Main Menu.

Removing an item from the Leasey Main Menu does not uninstall the application from Windows. It only removes that entry from the Leasey Main Menu.

Reinstate All Main Menu shortcuts provided by Leasey asks for confirmation and then adds any missing Leasey-provided shortcuts. It does not remove your own custom entries.

Restore all settings to defaults asks for confirmation and then erases the current Main Menu customisations. It replaces the list with the installed default shortcuts.

If you choose Shut down the computer or Restart the computer, you should be asked to confirm before the action takes place.

JAWS should give short confirmations when items are launched, added, removed, renamed, or moved.

LeaseyDiary, currently available by pressing the Leasey key then Control+Shift+Y.

Leasey Command Centre and Where Am I.

Where Am I, activated with Control+Shift+I, is designed to give a brief summary as to where you are located within the focused application.

Leasey Command Centre is a searchable list of LeaseyDiary commands.

General Layout.

LeaseyDiary is built around three main views:

You can move between these views with:

or by selecting the appropriate radio buttons from the main LeaseyDiary screen. Note that the Radio Button group contains four items, the fourth being LeaseyTasks. This is described in a later section of this document.

One of the nicest features of LeaseyDiary is that JAWS announces useful information automatically as you move around. When you switch to a different view, JAWS speaks the number of appointments in that period. For example, when you move to Day view, Week view or Month view, you are told how many appointments are in the selected day, week or month.

If you use Go to Date with Control+G and move to another date, JAWS also announces the number of appointments for that day automatically. Similarly, if you move through the days, weeks or months manually by selecting them from the provided Combo Box, JAWS will always announce the number of appointments for the selected range. This makes it much easier to check quickly how busy a date is without having to explore the screen manually.

Moving Around the Main Window.

The main window contains date and view controls and the appointments list.

You can press Tab to move through the application systematically. Listen to the keystrokes JAWS announces as they will speed up navigation. For example, ALT+D will focus upon the day picker combo box.

Alt+L moves focus straight to the list of appointments for a given day, week or month.

If focus is on one of the main date controls for the current view, such as the day, week or month combo box, pressing Enter moves directly into the appointments list for that selection.

If focus is in the appointments list, pressing Escape moves back to the first date control for the current view.

When focus is in the appointments list:

If there are no appointments in the selected period, LeaseyDiary will tell you.

Useful Navigation Commands.

Ctrl+G opens Go to Date.

Go to Date accepts ordinary numeric dates according to your selected date format, and it also accepts entries such as:

If you enter a month and day without a year, LeaseyDiary assumes you mean the next matching date from today onward.

You can also press Control+F. This allows you to enter a search string which must be present in the Subject field or appointment notes.

You can then press Tab to reach three possible options:

When the choice has been made, press Tab to reach the Search button or press ALT+S.

If you have chosen the second or third of these options, press F3 to move to the next occurrence or Shift+F3 to move back.

The Tools Menu.

The Tools menu can be opened with Alt+Comma.

Most tools have direct shortcut keys applied so that accessing this menu is not always necessary.

Useful Tools commands include:

These are old existing Leasey features.

In addition:

Phone Calendar Subscription.

LeaseyDiary can also keep a read-only calendar file updated for use on a phone or tablet.

This does not send your diary to Hartgen Consultancy. Instead, LeaseyDiary writes an ICS file to a folder you choose, for example Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud Drive. You then create a sharing link to that file and subscribe to the link from your calendar app.

To open this feature, press Alt+Comma for the Tools menu and choose Phone calendar subscription.

The Phone Calendar Subscription window includes:

How to set it up.

  1. Move to the Calendar file path edit field.
  2. Type a path manually or press Browse.
  3. If you use Dropbox, it is a good idea to save the file straight into your Dropbox folder now, for example:
    LeaseyDiary.ics
  4. Quoted paths copied from File Explorer are accepted.
  5. Decide whether you want notes, meeting links or attachment paths included in the published calendar.
    For privacy, it is sensible to think carefully before including extra information.
  6. Press Save and close when the details are in place.
    Save and close will save the settings and create or update the ICS file at the path you chose.
  7. Publish now is available if you later want to force an immediate refresh without changing the settings.

Once the ICS file has been created:

  1. Open your Dropbox folder in File Explorer.
  2. Find the file you created, for example LeaseyDiary.ics.
  3. Open the Context Menu on that file.
  4. Choose Copy Dropbox Link.
    On some versions of Windows, you may first need to go into More actions.
  5. When the link has been copied to the clipboard, return to LeaseyDiary.
  1. Open Phone calendar subscription again if needed.
  2. Move to the Subscription URL edit field.
  3. Paste the Dropbox link into that field.
  4. Press the Check subscription URL button.
    This is a useful step because LeaseyDiary will try to tell you whether the link appears to point directly to the calendar file.
  5. If the link looks suitable, LeaseyDiary will tell you that it looks like a calendar subscription link.
  6. If the link does not appear to return the calendar file directly, LeaseyDiary will warn you that your calendar app may not be able to subscribe to it.

Dropbox links sometimes end with:

dl=0

LeaseyDiary will automatically change that to:

dl=1

This is done because a direct calendar subscription link is usually more likely to work with dl=1 than dl=0.

Subscribing on your phone.

Once the link has been checked, copy it if needed and use your phone or calendar service to subscribe to it.

The exact steps depend on whether you are using Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook or another app, but the important point is that you subscribe to the link rather than importing the file manually each time.

After setup.

Once the phone calendar path has been saved, LeaseyDiary will keep updating that ICS file when appointments change.

This means your shared calendar file should stay current without needing a full export every time.

Your calendar service will have the ability to add an additional calendar to subscribe to.

With Google Calendar as an example, this is called Add Calendar.

The option you then require is URL.

You will want to paste the URL into the URL field which becomes available.

If you have misplaced the URL, you can go back into LeaseyDiary, Phone Calendar Subscription, and a button is available, Copy Subscription URL.

Your calendar service may have an option where you can rename the diary to something more suitable.

For example with Google Calendar:

  1. Find the Other Calendars section and expand it.
  2. Find the calendar with the Dropbox link associated with it.
  3. You should see an Options button for the calendar.
  4. Activate the button and the rename item should be available. This can be changed to LeaseyDiary as an example.

Disabling the Phone Subscription.

If you no longer want LeaseyDiary to keep updating the phone calendar file, open Phone calendar subscription, delete everything from the Calendar file path edit field, Tab to Save and close and press Enter.

Deleting the ICS file on its own is not enough, because if the saved path is still present, LeaseyDiary will recreate the file the next time it publishes.

Options.

Press Control+Comma to open Options.

Options is where LeaseyDiary stores its settings. This includes:

Creating a New Appointment.

Press Control+N to create a new appointment.

The appointment dialog includes the following fields:

About the Appointment Fields.

Start Date and End date:

Use these for the appointment date range. A one-day appointment can use the same start and end date.

Time type:

You can choose All day, Specific time, Morning, Afternoon or Evening.

Start time and End time:

If you choose Specific time, you can enter times in 24-hour format or with AM/PM.

Examples include:

Subject:

This is the main title of the appointment.

Meeting link:

You can place a Zoom, Teams or other online meeting link here.

Meeting attachment:

You can attach a file path if you want to keep a related document with the appointment.

Repeat settings:

Appointments can be set not to repeat, or to repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.

You can also choose whether the repeating appointment never ends, ends after a number of occurrences, or ends on a particular date.

Create Advanced Reminder. Checking this box allows you to specify the number of days ahead you would like an appointment set. An edit field is available allowing you to enter the number of days ahead. Checking this box will not create a reminder. It will create an appointment in the diary the specified number of days ahead.

Notes:

Use this for any extra detail you want to store with the appointment.

Opening and Reading an Appointment.

Press Enter on any appointment in the list to open its details.

The details window gives a read-only view of the appointment information. If a meeting link or an attachment has been added, you can reach those controls by pressing Tab.

This makes it easy to review the appointment and then move to the link or attachment.

Reminders.

LeaseyDiary includes reminders for timed appointments.

To set a reminder:

There are three reminder methods:

If Speech is chosen, you can enter the message that should be displayed in a dialog box.

If Sound is chosen, you can type a sound file path, browse to a file, or press Choose to pick from built-in JAWS and Windows sounds. You can also press Preview to hear the selected sound.

If Speech and Sound is chosen, you can supply both the message and the sound.

When you choose or browse to a sound, LeaseyDiary remembers that sound and offers it again as the default next time.

Reminders are intended to be practical and flexible. For example, you might want a spoken reminder saying what the appointment is, or you may prefer a sound alert.

Important note: If you wish reminders to be monitored when your computer starts, open Options with Control+Comma and ensure Minimize to system tray on close is checked.

Editing An Existing Appointment.

Importing Calendar Entries From Old LeaseyDiary.

From the LeaseyDiary main window press ALT+Z. The conversion should then happen automatically. You will be advised how many appointments have been converted.

Duplicating appointments.

If you wish an appointment to be duplicated, first find the appointment concerned.

Press Tab to reach the Duplicate button or press ALT+U.

You are then presented with a Combo box. The caption reads Choose when the copied appointment should take place. The copy will then

open in the normal editor for review.

Options include: One week from original date, Two weeks from original date, etc.

The final option is Custom Date.

Select one of the choices, Tab to the Continue button and press Enter or Space.

The New Appointment window is displayed. You can press Tab to move through the elements and modify as necessary. Activate the Save button so as to save the appointment.

LeaseyTasks, available from within LeaseyDiary by pressing ALT+4.

LeaseyTasks is built into LeaseyDiary. It is a simple task list designed to work in the same accessible style as the diary itself.

It allows you to:

Opening LeaseyTasks.

From the main LeaseyDiary window press ALT+4.

The Tasks view contains:

Moving Around LeaseyTasks.

Press Tab to move through the controls.

The most important control is the Tasks list.

When focus is in the Tasks list:

Tasks are spoken in a useful order so that the task name is heard first, followed by its status and possible completion date.

If present, JAWS will also speak the category, priority and percentage complete.

Filtering Tasks.

The Status, Category and Priority filter combo boxes allow you to choose which tasks you wish to review.

Status options include:

The Category filter is based on the categories you actually use in your tasks.

For example, if you create tasks using categories such as Work, Finance or Education, those categories will appear in the filter automatically.

Priority options include:

This means you can quickly review only completed tasks, only high priority tasks, only work tasks, and so on.

Creating a New Task.

Press Control+N or activate the New button.

The task dialog contains:

About the Task Fields.

Task:

This is the name or short subject of the task.

Possible completion date:

This is optional. If you know when you hope to complete the task, you can enter a date here.

If you enter a completion date, LeaseyDiary will also place an all day diary entry on that date.

The entry will read:

Task due: followed by the task name.

If you later change the task name or completion date, the diary entry is updated automatically.

If you remove the date or delete the task, the diary entry is removed.

Task status:

You can choose:

Task category:

This is optional.

You can type a category such as Work, Education, Finance or any other label you find useful.

Press Down Arrow to access a list of previously stored categories.

Task priority:

You can choose:

Percentage complete:

This is optional.

You can enter a value from 0 to 100.

If you do not use this feature, leaving it at 0 is fine.

If a task is marked Completed, LeaseyDiary automatically treats it as 100 percent complete.

Task reminder:

This is optional.

If you check the reminder box, you can specify a date and time completely independently of the task's possible completion date.

This is useful if you want to be reminded about a task on a particular day and at a particular time, whether or not the task itself has a due date.

Reminder method:

You can choose:

Reminder message:

If you choose a spoken reminder, type the message you would like LeaseyDiary to speak.

Reminder sound:

If you choose a sound reminder, browse to a WAV file.

Task attachment:

This is optional.

You can type or browse for a file path so that the file can later be opened from the task details window.

Editing a Task.

To edit a task, move to it in the Tasks list and activate the Edit button with ALT+E.

Changing the Status of a Task.

You do not have to edit the entire task just to alter its progress.

Move to the task in the list and activate Change Status by pressing ALT+S.

Choose the new status and confirm it by pressing Enter.

If a task has a reminder waiting and you mark the task Completed before the reminder time arrives, the reminder will not be given.

Deleting a Task.

Move to the task in the list and press Delete, or activate the Delete button.

You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

Opening and Reading a Task.

Press Enter on any task in the list to open its details.

The details window gives a read-only view of the task information.

If an attachment has been added, you can press Tab to reach the Open Attachment button.

If a reminder has been set, its details are also shown in the read-only task information.

Global Shortcut Keys.

The following global shortcuts are available:

Leasey key then ALT+Windows+A equals New Appointment.

Leasey key then ALT+Windows+T equals new task.

Computer Report, currently available by pressing the Leasey key then Control+Right Bracket.

Put simply, this generates a report of your computer in HTML format. You do have the opportunity of saving the report if you wish to a location of your choosing.

The report content will vary, but it could include:

Windows version

Processor and architecture

Windows product and build information

Drive information, including total, used and free space

Installed applications

DxDiag information, where available

System information

Network configuration

Driver information

Windows services

Startup commands

BIOS information

Computer system information

Memory chip information

Logical disk information

Installed Windows hotfixes

Leasey Media Centre.

The purpose of the Leasey Media Centre is a vehicle for working with radio stations, podcasts, audio files, video soundtracks and playlists. It is launched by pressing the Leasey key then R or Leasey key then Shift+P at present, since these are keystrokes familiar to Leasey users.

You may feel that the explanation of the Media Centre below is quite daunting with a raft of shortcut keys included. However, you do not need to remember them all if you do not wish to. Most controls can be moved to by pressing Tab repeatedly and then Enter or Space to activate. However, the app has been designed so that it contains many shortcut keys for those who wish to move around the application quickly.

When Leasey Media Centre opens, the first control is a combo box called Task.

This contains:

Use Up and Down Arrow in this combo box to choose the area you want to work with. Focus remains in the combo box as you move between the four tasks, so you can easily change your mind before tabbing into the selected area. You can also move directly to an area with Alt+1 for Radio, Alt+2 for Podcasts, Alt+3 for Audio and Playlists, and Alt+4 for Sound Control. As you press one of these keystrokes, JAWS speaks the area you have moved to.

General Movement.

Leasey Command Centre.

Leasey Command Centre is a searchable list of Media Centre commands.

Options.

Open Options with Control+Comma. The most important setting is the radio player preference, manipulated with the first control.

Using four Radio Buttons you can specify the radio player you would like to use. You can choose between:

While all the settings under Options are listed here, we do not need to be concerned with them at this stage. Options also contains the volume step percentage. This controls how much the volume changes when using the volume shortcut keys. The minimum step is 1 percent which is very gradual. 5 Percent is a good working environment. The volume can be adjusted from within the application or through global shortcut keys.

Options also contains the Recording folder. This is the folder where radio recordings are saved. You can type a folder path or activate the Browse button to choose one. A Combo Box is alongside this option entitled Recording Format. The choices are MP3 96K, MP3 128K, MP3 192K, MP3 320K or Wav.

Options also contains a Data location edit field. This is where Leasey Media Centre stores its writable data, such as settings, podcasts, playlists, cached station data and presets. You can type a path into this edit field. If you paste a path copied from File Explorer and it is surrounded by quotation marks, Leasey Media Centre will accept it. The path you type or choose is treated as a base folder. Leasey Media Centre will create a LeaseyData\MediaCentre folder under it. For example, if you choose H:\My Drive, the data will be stored in H:\My Drive\LeaseyData\MediaCentre. If you choose a folder already called LeaseyData, Media Centre will use LeaseyData\MediaCentre under that folder. If you choose the final MediaCentre folder directly, it will use that folder and will not create another LeaseyData\MediaCentre beneath it. The Browse button lets you choose the base folder using the standard Windows folder browser. The Restore to Location Default button returns the data location to the normal Leasey default, C:\LeaseyData\MediaCentre. When you change the data location, existing data is copied to the new location if needed. When the location is changed successfully, JAWS should announce, Data location changed.

There is also a check box called Minimise to system tray on exit. If this is checked, closing Leasey Media Centre keeps it running in the Windows system tray rather than closing it completely. This is useful if you want scheduled recordings to take place. When this option is checked, Leasey Media Centre also creates a Windows startup shortcut so it can start automatically when Windows starts. ; the same as LeaseyDiary. If the check box is unchecked, the startup shortcut is removed.

Player Only Mode.

Options contains a check box called Player only mode for files and playlists. This is intended for people who usually launch audio files, video file soundtracks or playlists from File Explorer, Windows shortcuts, or Leasey shortcuts, and do not want the main Media Centre window to appear each time. When this option is checked, opening an audio file, supported video file or playlist displays only the Leasey Media Player window. The full Media Centre window is still available when you open the app normally, so you can continue to work with Radio, Podcasts, Audio and Playlists, Favourites, Presets and other features.

If you are in the player window and need to change Options, press Control+Comma. This opens the same Options dialog without requiring you to bring the main Media Centre window into focus first.

This option does not remove any functionality from the player. You can still play and pause, stop, change volume, skip, change speed where appropriate, hear elapsed or remaining time, and use the other media player commands.

External apps such as LeaseySocial can launch Media Centre directly into player-only mode by using --play-url followed by the stream or audio URL. If supplied, --station-name is used for the player title and --station-category is used as the category. The full Media Centre window is not shown for --play-url unless the caller also supplies --full, --full-mode or --show-main-window.

Other options include:

The whole point of taking you into Options now is so you can specify which player to use and possibly changing the sound source. Hopefully, you will choose the new Leasey Media Player to use.

Sound Control.

The Sound Control area provides a simpler way to review and change common Windows sound settings using accessible controls.

You can reach Sound Control by choosing it from the Task combo box or by pressing ALT+4.

The Sound Control area is arranged in two main groups. Output controls come first, followed by recording input controls.

The output controls include:

The output devices list contains the speakers, headphones or other output devices Windows can currently detect. If you want to make the selected device the normal Windows output, activate Set default output. If you want to make it the Windows communications output, activate Set communications output.

The Application output volumes list contains running applications which Windows exposes to the volume mixer. Use this list to choose an application, then adjust the Selected application output volume slider or activate Mute application output or Unmute application output.

The Leasey Media Centre output device combo box lets you choose the output device used by Leasey Media Centre itself. This duplicates the same option in Options for convenience. Choose Windows default if you want Media Centre to follow the normal Windows output device.

The recording input controls include:

The recording input devices list contains microphones, line inputs or other recording sources Windows can currently detect. If you want to make the selected device the normal Windows recording input, activate Set default recording input. If you want to make it the Windows communications recording input, activate Set communications recording input.

The Selected recording input level slider changes the level for the selected recording input device. Up Arrow increases the level and Down Arrow decreases it.

The JAWS sound controls are at the end of the Sound Control area. These controls manipulate various audio-related functions and include:

Activate Refresh if you have connected or disconnected a sound device and want Leasey Media Centre to rebuild the lists.

Radio.

The Radio area contains:

Useful Radio Keystrokes.

The Radio Category List.

The first control in the radio screen is the category list, which you can always reach by pressing ALT+C.

This represents the 10 LeaseyRadio categories within the existing product. Use Down Arrow to select a category of interest. You can either then:

  1. Press Enter to move to the stations in the category.
  2. Alternatively, press ALT+L, like LeaseyDiary.

The stations are arranged in alphabetical order. Press Enter to begin playing a station.

Radio Searching.

The search is intended to feel like one directory, even though more than one source is checked. Leasey recommended stations are checked first. Radio Browser is checked next. Shoutcast is checked after that.

This means that you should not need to worry too much about where a station comes from. If you type a search such as classical, country or a station name, results from all available sources should be placed in the same station list.

Shoutcast Categories.

Working With LeaseyRadio Favourites.

To add a station to Favourites, select the station you wish to add and press ALT+A or activate the Add to Favourites button. You do not need to be listening to the station first. Selecting it by pressing Down Arrow is enough.

To view your Favourites, press ALT+V or activate the View Favourites button. The stations are presented in a list. Press Down arrow to select one or use first letter navigation. When the desired station is located, press Enter to play.

Radio Presets.

Move to a station and activate Add Preset or press ALT+P. You do not need to be listening to the station first. Selecting it by pressing Down Arrow is enough. The Presets dialog contains preset numbers 1 through to 20. The list of presets is the first control. Arrow through the list to find the preset number you want. If the preset is empty, the button after the list is called Add Preset. If the preset already contains a station, the button is called Change Preset. Activate Add Preset or Change Preset to assign the currently selected station to that preset number. If the preset was empty, Leasey Media Centre will announce what the preset is now set to. If the preset already contained a station, it will announce what it has been changed from and what it has been changed to. While focused in the Presets list, press Enter on an existing preset to play that station. This lets you check that the preset will do what you expect. While focused in the Presets list, press Delete to remove the selected preset. The program creates a preset which you can launch using any one of the standard LeaseyRadio global keystrokes for doing so.

To access any of the 20 presets directly, press the Leasey Key followed by Windows+1 through to Windows+0 for the first 10 presets, with Windows+1 representing preset number 1 and Windows+0 representing preset number 10. To access presets 11 through to 20, press the Leasey key followed by ALT+1 through to ALT+0. Simply press any one of the preset keystrokes to begin playing the assigned station. You will hear the announcement, "Connecting to", followed by the station name. Those keystrokes have been standard Leasey practice for a long time.

Scheduled Radio Recordings.

Leasey Media Centre can record radio stations to 128K, 192K, 320K MP3 or Wav files. There are some particular advantages when recording stations with Leasey Media Centre.

  1. You do not need to listen to the station while the recording is ongoing.
  2. You can listen to another station while the recording is being made at the same time.
  3. When you restart the computer, assuming the Check Box to keep Leasey Media Centre running in the System Tray is checked, the recording will still take place. You do not need to have opened the application first.
  4. If the stream is disconnected mid-broadcast, Leasey Media Centre will check periodically during the scheduled time to see if it can be recovered. If so, the recording will continue in a separate file.

Scheduled recordings are based on stations in your favourites list. If you want to schedule a station, first add it to favourites.

To create or review schedules, activate the Scheduled Recordings button in the Radio area, or press Control+Shift+R from anywhere within the application. Scheduled Recordings can also be assigned as a global hot key in the Shortcut Keys tab. It is unassigned by default.

The Scheduled Recordings dialog contains:

Activate the Add button to create a new schedule.

The Add Schedule dialog contains:

The start date is entered using Year, Month, and Day controls. This avoids the need to type a date by hand. The Year control allows dates up to 2030.

The time is entered using the Hour, Minute, and AM or PM controls. This avoids the need to type 24 hour times.

Complete the fields as necessary by pressing the Tab key to move through them. The Recording folder for this schedule edit field shows the current recording location. If you leave it unchanged, the schedule uses the Recording folder specified in Options. If you change it, the new folder is used only for this specific scheduled recording. If you change the folder, Leasey Media Centre asks you to confirm that this folder should be applied only to that scheduled recording. When the OK button is activated, focus returns to the list of scheduled recordings. This gives you the opportunity of viewing which programmes are scheduled to record. The station name is given together with the date, time and duration. If you ever want to refresh your memory as to what is scheduled, just press Control+Shift+R at any time and examine the schedule list. If a recording is in progress, Leasey will display this information, otherwise you will see it is scheduled. Press Escape to close the dialog. Don't forget that you can delete any item by finding the programme in the schedule list, and press the Delete key. You can also edit an existing scheduled item by activating the Edit button.

When the scheduled time arrives, JAWS announces that the recording has started. When the recording finishes, JAWS announces that the scheduled recording has finished. The file is saved in the schedule-specific folder if one was chosen, otherwise it is saved in the Recording folder specified in Options. It contains the station name together with the start date and time.

Podcasts.

The Podcasts area contains:

Useful Podcast Keystrokes.

Adding Podcasts from the Directory.

Activate the Search Directory button by pressing Tab to it and then press Enter or Space. You can press ALT+Y. Type the name of a podcast you wish to search for and press enter. A list of matches is displayed. Move through the matches with the Up and Down arrow keys and press Enter on one which sounds promising. Leasey Media Centre then retrieves a preview of the podcast. This includes the podcast description and some sample episodes. If it is the podcast you want, activate the Add button.

Podcast Episodes.

Press Up or Down Arrow to move through your podcast feeds. To open one, press Enter on the feed.

The episode list is filled with available episodes. As you move through the list, new episodes should be identified. Unlike the existing incarnation of podcasts within Leasey, you do not need to move into a separate area just to determine which episodes are new, so it is less confusing. So as you arrow up and down through the list of episodes within a feed, JAWS might say, New episode, NPR News: 05-01-2026 7AM EDT, 01 May 2026

You will also notice that as you move through the list of feeds, you will hear which feed contains new content. This is helpful so that you do not need to move into each feed to determine what is new. For example, JAWS will say, 1 New episode: NPR news now. It might also say, 2 new episodes, Access On.

The show notes edit field follows the episode list in the tab order, so pressing Tab once from the episode list should place you in the show notes. If you wish to place these into a web browser, press ALT+B or Tab to the Show Notes in Browser button and press Enter or Space.

To stream an episode from the web, find an episode from the list and press Enter to do so.

Downloading Podcast Episodes to the Computer.

Move to an episode, press Tab to reach the Download button and press Enter or Space. You can also press ALT+F for File. You will be asked where you want to save the file. Specify a location by browsing to it and press Enter. JAWS should announce that the download has started and also when it has completed.

Audio and Playlists.

The Audio and Playlists area contains:

Useful Audio and Playlist Keystrokes.

Creating a Playlist.

Activate New playlist, or press Control+N. Type the playlist name and press Enter. Activate Add files, or press ALT+A, to add one or more audio files or supported video files. This will allow you to browse to the files to add. If you wish to add an entire folder, press ALT+F or activate the Add Folder button. After choosing the folder, Leasey Media Centre asks whether files in subfolders should also be included. The tracks are shown in the Tracks list. Alternatively, find the file using File Explorer, copy it to the clipboard, focus back on the Playlist Viewer and press Control+V.

Managing Track Order.

Move to a track in the Tracks list. Activate Move up or Move down; ALT+U or ALT+D. JAWS should confirm where the track has moved, for example: Moved Song A below Song B, like the LeaseyStart Menu.

Multiple files can be selected for deletion or moving by focusing upon each one and pressing the Comma key. JAWS reports that a file is selected. You can verify which files have been selected by: A. Moving to a file with the arrow keys. JAWS reports if it has been selected. B. Typing full-stop or period. JAWS recites all the items which are selected.

The Playlist order combo box allows you to choose: Sequential Shuffle Repeat

Sequential plays the playlist in the displayed order. Shuffle plays the items in a random order. Repeat begins the playlist content again when it reaches the end.

Editing Tags for One Audio File.

Leasey Media Centre can edit tags for MP3, M4A and FLAC files.

This includes:

To edit tags for a track in a playlist:

The Edit Audio Tags dialog opens.

JAWS should announce:

Tags saved.

You can also edit tags for the file which is currently loaded in the Leasey Media Player by pressing Control+E in the player window.

Tag editing is only available for local MP3, M4A and FLAC files. It is not available for radio streams, podcast streams, playlist URLs or other audio formats. If the file is playing, you can usually edit the tags without stopping playback. After saving, the player title and spoken track name should update to reflect the new title and artist.

Batch Tag Editor.

The Batch Tag Editor is useful when you want to review or change tags for a group of MP3, M4A or FLAC files.

The Batch Tag Editor contains:

The files list shows the loaded files. As you move through the list, JAWS should speak useful information such as the artist and title, where available. The edit fields below the list show the tags for the selected file.

The Batch Tag Editor does not rename files. It does not change album art. It preserves unrelated metadata where possible. If a file is read-only or cannot be updated, a clear error should be shown.

Audio Converter.

The Audio Converter is available from the Audio and Playlists area.

If you have registered File Explorer entries from Options, you can also convert one file directly from File Explorer. Focus the audio file in File Explorer, press the Applications key, and choose Convert with Leasey Audio Converter. The Audio Converter opens with that file already loaded. This Explorer command is separate from Play with Leasey Media Centre and does not change your default audio player.

The available output formats are:

For example, you can convert an M4A file to WAV. Leasey Media Centre does not overwrite existing files. If a file with the same name already exists in the output folder, a numbered file name is created.

Leasey Media Player.

The Leasey Media Player is the new player window used by the Media Centre when Leasey Media Player is selected, or when playing local files, playlists and podcasts.

The player can also play the audio soundtrack from supported video files. This includes MP4 and MKV files, and also common formats such as M4V, MOV, AVI, WebM and WMV. Video is not shown; only the audio is played.

The player contains:

Leasey Media Player Keystrokes.

The playback queue is temporary. If a track is currently playing, queued files are played after the current track finishes. Queued files play before the next normal playlist track. In the Queue Manager, Enter plays the selected queued item, Delete removes it, and the buttons allow you to add files, remove files, move them, play the selected item or clear the queue.

One thing you will notice. The number of controls in the audio player differs depending upon the environment. For example, in radio, we do not have the speed control because you cannot vary the speed of playback for a live broadcast. So there is no sense in having it there.

Manual Radio Recording.

When you are listening to radio using the Leasey Media Player, the player contains Record and Stop Recording buttons. You can also press Control+R to start or stop recording.

Recordings are saved as MP3 or Wav files in the Recording folder specified in Options. You are not asked for a file name each time. Leasey Media Centre creates a file name using the station name and the date and time.

JAWS announces when recording starts. When recording is stopped, JAWS announces that the recording has been saved.

Jump to Time.

Press Control+J in the Leasey Media Player. Choose or type the hours, minutes and seconds in the separate list boxes, then activate OK. For example, to move to 12 minutes and 30 seconds, leave Hours at 0, set Minutes to 12 and Seconds to 30. For 1 hour, 5 minutes and 20 seconds, set Hours to 1, Minutes to 5 and Seconds to 20.

Playback Speed.

The Speed combo box changes playback speed. This is especially useful for podcasts and audio books. Radio always plays at normal speed, so the Speed combo box is not shown when listening to radio. Podcast speed is remembered separately from local audio files. Local audio files and playlists start at normal speed by default, but if you change the speed for an audio book or similar file, that local audio speed is remembered for future local audio playback. Press Control+0 to return to normal speed at any time. Press left bracket to decrease speed or right bracket to increase speed where speed control is available. These keys work from the player window. Press left brace or right brace to decrease or increase the skip amount. These keys work from the player window.

Graphic Equaliser.

The graphic equaliser is available in the Leasey Media Player when playing podcasts, local audio files or local playlists. The graphic equaliser is not shown and is not applied when listening to radio streams. This includes radio streams opened from an M3U or M3U8 file in Player Only Mode.

The graphic equaliser contains a preset combo box, a graphic bass slider and a graphic treble slider. The graphic equaliser preset combo box includes choices such as Off, Speech clarity, Bass boost, Treble boost, Warm, Brighter and Reduce bass. Changing a graphic equaliser preset immediately changes the sound. Changing the graphic bass or graphic treble slider also immediately changes the sound and sets the graphic equaliser preset to Custom.

Chapter Marks.

Some podcast files contain chapter marks. When a local file contains chapter marks, the player title includes the words: chapters available. This needed to be included else how would you know whether it had chapter marks or not? Note that you must have downloaded a podcast to your computer for chapter marks to work. Streaming it is simply not enough.

Use Control+Left Arrow and Control+Right Arrow to move through the chapters.

Saved Positions.

Saved positions are file specific. This is useful for audio books or long recordings.

When a local file is paused, stopped or closed, the current position is saved. If you open the same file later, you can return to the saved position.

Press ALT+Windows+K globally to resume the saved position, if you have not changed the shortcut in Options. Inside the player, Control+K also resumes the saved position.

If the file has finished playing, the saved position is reset to the start.

Bookmarks.

Bookmarks are also file specific. They are intended for important points in a long recording or audio book.

Control+B sets a bookmark. You will be asked for a bookmark name.

Control+G opens the list of bookmarks and lets you move to one. You can also activate the Bookmarks button.

Control+D opens the bookmark list so you can delete one. When you are in the bookmark list, pressing Delete also removes the selected bookmark.

Determining What Is Playing.

To hear the song title and artist, or file title such as a podcast, press Insert+T, the standard keystroke to read the window title with JAWS. The window title has been kept free of content apart from the name of the item which is playing. So it is not going to state the name of the audio player.

Global Player Hotkeys and Shortcut Keys.

Open Options with Control+Comma and select the Shortcut Keys tab. The Actions list contains all available shortcut actions. When you select an action, Tab to the Description field to hear what the action does, then Tab to the Shortcut key edit field if you want to change it. If Make this shortcut global is checked, the shortcut works while Leasey Media Centre is running, even if focus is in another application. If Make this shortcut global is unchecked, the shortcut is intended for use only while Leasey Media Centre has focus. Assign stores the shortcut for the selected action. Clear removes the shortcut for the selected action. Reset returns the selected action to its default shortcut. Restore Defaults returns all shortcuts to their default state.

The default global player hotkeys include:

Please note that global shortcut keys may need adjustment if they conflict with other software. If a global shortcut cannot be registered, Media Centre reports the problem without closing. Examples of hot keys you can type look like this:

Play or Pause: Ctrl+Alt+Win+P

Stop: Ctrl+Alt+Win+S

Volume up: ALT+Shift+Up

It is very difficult to get this wrong. Most similar applications expect you to press the keystroke you want. However this often causes conflicts particularly for JAWS. If you wish to remove a global hot key entirely, remove all the text by pressing Backspace so that the field is empty.

At the end of the dialog is a button, Restore to Defaults.

Audio Tools, Leasey Key then A.

Audio Sound Source Properties.

Advanced users of Windows may wish to jump directly into the properties so as to manipulate various sound sources. In order to do this, from the LeaseyAudio menu select "Sound Card Settings". This will move directly into the Windows dialog box for controlling such devices, whereupon adjustments to levels and other characteristics of input and output for each device can be made.

Adjust the Volume of Individual Running Applications.

You may wish to adjust the individual volume of applications which are in use, such as JAWS for Windows or particularly the sound coming from your web browser. Select the option in the audio menu, "Volume Settings". Press the Tab key to move through all running applications and the Up and Down Arrow keys to change their volume. Press ALT+F4 to exit.

LeaseyNotes.

Leasey Command Centre and Where Am I.

Where Am I, activated with Control+Shift+I, is designed to give a brief summary as to where you are located within the focused application.

Leasey Command Centre is a searchable list of LeaseyNotes commands.

You do not need to open a word processor to create a LeaseyNote. From any application, press the Leasey Key followed by Control+Windows+N.

LeaseyNotes is a simple notes manager designed for keyboard use and for clear speech with JAWS. Very careful thought has gone into both the design of the application and particularly confirmation messages given by JAWS. Unlike similar notetaking applications, there should be no room for doubt as to what has happened when a command is actioned.

Only one main LeaseyNotes window can be open at a time.

If LeaseyNotes is already running and you try to launch it again, a standard Windows message is displayed saying:

Leasey Notes is already running.

LeaseyNotes Modes.

LeaseyNotes has two modes.

Advanced Notes is the full notes manager. It includes categories, attachments, web links, related notes, advanced fields, export, context menus, undo history, and the other power-user features described below.

Simple Notes is a plain notes interface. It contains only:

Simple Notes shows only top-level notes. Notes inside categories do not appear in Simple Notes mode, and categories, links, attachments, related notes, and advanced fields are not shown there.

Changing mode does not delete notes or convert the notes database.

To open Options, press Control+Comma.

Options contains:

The dialog explains that no notes are deleted when changing mode.

Choose Advanced Notes or Simple Notes and press Enter.

If Confirm deletion is checked, LeaseyNotes asks before deleting items.

If Confirm deletion is unchecked, pressing Delete removes the selected item immediately.

Automatic Backups.

LeaseyNotes keeps automatic backups of the notes database.

If there is no backup when LeaseyNotes starts, one is created automatically.

When the notes database changes, LeaseyNotes keeps a dated backup before the new version is saved.

Routine saves are limited to one automatic backup per minute so the restore list does not become cluttered.

Creating notes or categories creates an immediate restore point after the new item has been saved.

Destructive actions such as deleting notes, deleting categories, moving categories, and restoring from backup still create an immediate backup first.

The most recent 50 backups are kept.

To restore a backup:

LeaseyNotes asks you to confirm the restore.

Before restoring the selected backup, LeaseyNotes makes a backup of the current notes database.

If the restore succeeds, JAWS should announce:

Backup restored

Advanced Mode.

The main window contains five main areas, followed by field copy buttons when the selected note has advanced fields:

Press Tab to move from one area to another.

The Notes tree view is first. This contains categories and notes.

Categories can contain notes, and they can also contain other categories.

LeaseyNotes remembers whether each category was opened or closed, so the tree view should return to the same opened or closed state the next time the application starts.

LeaseyNotes also remembers the last note or category you used. When the application starts, focus returns to that item in the Notes tree view.

If that item is inside a closed category, LeaseyNotes opens the necessary parent category so the item can receive focus.

If the item has been deleted, LeaseyNotes falls back to the first visible item in the tree.

Because it is a standard tree view control, JAWS announces whether a category is opened or closed. If JAWS says "Closed", press the Right Arrow key to expand a category. Press the Left Arrow key to close. You may need to press Left Arrow twice depending upon where you are located in the tree view.

Next is the Note text edit field, where you type or read the text of the selected note.

When a note is selected, the note name is placed in the LeaseyNotes window title. This means that Insert+T in JAWS should report the current note name, such as:

Power BI - Leasey Notes

The Attachments list shows files attached to the selected note if there are any.

The Links list shows web pages attached to the selected note if there are any.

The Related notes list shows other notes linked to the selected note.

If the selected note has advanced fields, Copy buttons for those fields appear after the Related notes list.

Moving Around LeaseyNotes.

Press Tab to move through the main areas in this order:

Press Escape from the Note text edit field to save the current note text and return to the Notes tree view.

Press Escape from the Attachments list, Links list, Related notes list, or a field copy button to return to the Notes tree view.

This is useful because most note management commands begin from the tree view.

No extra JAWS confirmation is spoken when Escape is pressed, because moving focus back to the tree already gives enough context.

Context Menu in the Notes Tree.

When focus is in the Notes tree view, press the Applications key or Shift+F10 to open a context menu for the selected item.

This menu contains commands which apply to the current note or category, and it includes the shortcut keys where available.

For example, when focus is on a note, the context menu includes:

When focus is on a category, the context menu includes category commands such as:

This is useful if a shortcut is difficult to remember or if another program intercepts a keystroke.

Read Only Note View.

Move to a note in the Notes tree view.

Press Enter.

A read only note view opens.

This is useful when you want to review a note without accidentally editing it.

The read only view contains:

If the note has advanced fields, those fields are shown in the read only note text after the main note text.

If the note has attachments, move to the Attachments list and press Enter to open one.

If the note has web links, move to the Links list and press Enter to open one.

If the note has related notes, move to the Related notes list and press Enter to open one.

Press Escape or activate Close to leave the read only view.

Creating a Note.

Press Control+N.

Type the note title and press Enter.

If focus is on an expanded category, the new note is created inside that category.

JAWS should announce:

Adding note to category followed by the category name.

Unlike similar notetaking applications, LeaseyNotes will not add a note to the end of a category or the tree view itself. It respects the focused position.

For example, if you have 20 notes in a category, and you wish to add the note to position 7, place focus on note 6. The new note is added immediately below the sixth note.

If you do want to add a note to the end of the category, be sure the focus is on the final item.

This saves a great deal of time in terms of sorting notes after they are created.

If focus is on a closed category, the new note is created immediately after that category at the same level.

If focus is on an empty category, the new note is created inside that category even if it is closed.

If focus is on a note inside a category, the new note is created immediately after the focused note in the same category.

If focus is on a top-level note or category, the new note is created immediately after the focused item at the top level.

After the note is created, the new note remains selected in the Notes tree view and focus moves to the Note text edit field so you can begin writing.

JAWS should announce:

Note added: followed by the note title.

Creating a Category.

Press Control+Shift+N.

Type the category name and press Enter.

If focus is on an expanded category, the new category is created there.

If focus is on a closed category, the new category is created immediately after that category at the same level.

If focus is on an empty category, the new category is created inside that category even if it is closed.

If focus is on an item inside an existing category, the new category is created immediately after the focused item in that same category.

If focus is on a top-level item, the new category is created immediately after the focused item at the top level.

After the category is created, focus remains in the Notes tree view on the new category.

JAWS should announce:

Category added: followed by the category name.

Writing and Saving Notes.

Move to a note in the Notes tree view.

Press Tab to move to the Note text edit field.

Type or edit the note.

Notes are saved automatically when you move to another note, press Escape from the Note text edit field, or close LeaseyNotes.

You can also press Control+S to save manually.

There is no LeaseyNotes character limit for the main note text. It uses a standard Windows edit control, so the practical limit is set by Windows and available memory rather than by LeaseyNotes.

When saved manually, JAWS should announce:

Notes saved

Renaming Notes and Categories.

Move to the note or category in the Notes tree view.

Press F2.

Type the new name and press Enter.

JAWS should announce the old and new names.

For example:

Renamed May 1 to Food Log May 1

Deleting Notes and Categories.

Move to the note or category in the Notes tree view.

Press Delete.

You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

If you delete a category, everything inside that category is also deleted.

To delete several notes, select the notes in the Notes tree view, for example by holding Shift and pressing Down Arrow.

Then press Delete.

Multiple deletion applies to notes only, not categories.

If the selection contains a category, LeaseyNotes does not delete anything from that selection.

This is intentional because deleting a category can also delete everything inside it.

JAWS should announce:

Multiple deletion is for notes only

When deletion is complete, JAWS should announce:

Deleted followed by the note or category name.

When several notes are deleted, JAWS should announce:

Deleted followed by the number of selected notes.

Copying a Note.

Move to a note in the Notes tree view.

Press Control+C.

This copies the entire text of the selected note to the clipboard.

This command is intended for use from the Notes tree view. When you are in the Note text edit field, Control+C behaves as a normal copy command for selected text.

JAWS should announce:

Copied note followed by the note title.

Recent Notes.

Press Control+Shift+Y to open Recent Notes.

This shows the last five notes whose text you edited during normal use.

Choose a note and press Enter to open it.

JAWS should announce:

Opened recent note followed by the note title.

If there are no recent notes, JAWS should announce:

No recent notes

Moving Notes and Categories.

Move to an item in the Notes tree view.

Press ALT+U to move it up.

Press ALT+D to move it down.

Alt+U and Alt+D only move notes and categories when focus is in the Notes tree view.

They do not move the current note if focus is in another part of the window, such as the Links list.

An item only moves within its current level or category.

JAWS should announce where the item has moved.

For example:

Moving May 2 to below May 1

If the item cannot move any further, JAWS should announce:

Cannot move any further

Undo.

When focus is in the Notes tree view, press Control+Z to undo the last app-level action.

This is intended for larger actions such as creating, deleting, renaming, moving, sorting, adding links, changing related notes, and changing advanced fields.

It does not replace the normal edit-field undo while typing note text.

JAWS should announce:

Undid followed by the action.

For example:

Undid deleted note Schedule Friday

Press Control+Shift+Z from the Notes tree view to open Undo History.

This shows recent actions which can be undone during the current LeaseyNotes session.

Choose an item and press Enter to undo that action.

If there is nothing to undo, JAWS should announce:

Nothing to undo

Sorting a Category.

Move to the category in the Notes tree view.

Press Control+Shift+S.

The immediate items in that category are sorted alphabetically.

If focus is on a note inside a category, Control+Shift+S sorts that parent category.

JAWS should announce:

Sorted followed by the category name and alphabetically.

For example:

Sorted Food Logs alphabetically

Moving a Note or Category to Another Category.

Move to the note or category in the Notes tree view.

Press Control+M.

A category list is displayed.

Choose the category and press Enter.

There is also a Top level option if you want the item moved out of a category.

JAWS should announce:

Moved followed by the item name and the destination category.

For example:

Moved May 2 to Food Logs

If you move a category, everything inside that category moves with it, including its notes and subcategories.

JAWS should announce:

Moved category followed by the category name, and its contents, followed by the destination category.

For example:

Moved category BrailleNote Evolve and its contents to Techie Stuff

Finding Text in the Current Note.

Press Control+F.

Type the text to find and press Enter.

If the text is found, focus moves to the Note text edit field and the found text is selected.

JAWS should announce the line where the result was found.

For example:

Found on line 3: Breakfast, coffee and toast.

This is deliberately more useful than simply saying Found.

It should give enough context to know whether you have found the correct occurrence.

If the line is very long, LeaseyNotes shortens the spoken message so JAWS does not read too much text.

Finding the Next or Previous Occurrence.

After you have searched for text:

Again, JAWS should announce the line where the result was found.

For example:

Found on line 7: Lunch, vegetable soup and an apple.

If no match is found, JAWS should announce:

Text not found

If you press F3 before entering any find text, JAWS should announce:

Find text is empty

Find and Replace in the Current Note.

Press Control+H.

Type the text to find.

Press Tab.

Type the replacement text.

Press Enter.

LeaseyNotes replaces all occurrences in the current note.

JAWS should announce how many occurrences were replaced.

For example:

Replaced 3 occurrences

Searching Across All Notes.

Press Control+Shift+F.

Type the text to search for and press Enter.

The Search All Notes dialog also contains check boxes so you can narrow the search. This is optional.

The choices are:

By default, all of these are checked so LeaseyNotes searches everything. Uncheck the items you wish to exclude.

If inadvertently you make a mistake and uncheck everything, LeaseyNotes searches everything.

If matching notes are found, a Search Results list is displayed.

Move through the list with Up and Down Arrow. You will hear the details of the note and, if it belongs to a category, the name of the category.

Press Enter on a result to open that note.

When the note opens, LeaseyNotes also finds the matching text in the Note text edit field.

JAWS should announce the line containing the found text, as described above.

If the match was found in something other than the note text, such as a note title, category name, attachment name, link, or advanced field, the result tells you what matched.

If the search result is not the occurrence you wanted, press F3 to find the next matching occurrence in that note.

Press Shift+F3 to move to the previous occurrence.

If no notes match, JAWS should announce:

No matching notes

Changing Text Case.

Move to the Note text edit field.

Press Control+U for upper case.

Press Control+L for lower case.

Press Control+T for title case.

If text is selected, only the selected text is changed.

If no text is selected, the whole note is changed.

JAWS should announce what has happened.

For example:

Upper case applied to selection

Lower case applied to note

Title case applied to note

Word Count.

Move to a note or its Note text edit field.

Press Control+Shift+W.

JAWS should announce the number of words and characters in the current note.

For example:

Note has 245 words, 1320 characters

Where Am I.

Move to a note, category, or the Note text edit field.

Press Control+Shift+I.

For a note, JAWS should announce the category, note title, and counts for attachments, links, and related notes.

For example:

Category: Food Logs, Note: May 2, 2 attachments, 1 link, 3 related notes

For a category, JAWS should announce the category name and the number of items it contains.

Attaching a File to a Note.

Move to the note.

Press Control+Shift+A.

Choose the file in the standard Windows file dialog.

The file is copied into the LeaseyNotes attachments folder and appears in the Attachments list.

JAWS should announce:

Attached followed by the file name.

Recording an Audio Note.

Move to the note which should receive the recording.

Press Control+Shift+P.

LeaseyNotes opens the Record Audio Note dialog.

Choose the recording source if necessary.

Press Tab to reach the Record button and press Enter or Space to begin recording.

Press Tab to reach the Pause button and press Enter or Space if you need to pause recording.

The Pause button changes to Resume while recording is paused.

Press Space on the Resume button to continue.

Press Tab to reach the Stop button and press Enter or Space when you have finished.

Useful keyboard shortcuts:

You can then activate the Play button to hear the recording.

If you are happy with it, activate the Save button.

The recording is saved as a WAV file and attached to the selected note.

You must create or select a note before recording an audio note.

If a note is already selected, the recording is attached to that note.

JAWS should announce:

Audio note attached followed by the file name.

Opening an Attachment.

Move to the Attachments list.

Select the attachment.

Press Enter.

You can also press Control+O.

LeaseyNotes asks Windows to open the file using the default application for that file type.

For example, a Word document should open in Microsoft Word.

JAWS should announce:

Opened followed by the file name.

Copying an Attachment File.

Move to the Attachments list.

Select the attachment.

Press Control+C.

This copies the attached file itself to the Windows clipboard.

You can then paste it into an Outlook email message and it should be added as an email attachment.

JAWS should announce:

Copied attachment followed by the file name.

Opening the Attachment Folder.

Press Control+Shift+O.

If an attachment is selected, the folder containing that attachment is opened.

If no attachment is selected but a note is selected, the attachment folder for that note is opened.

JAWS should announce:

Attachment folder opened

Move to the note.

Press Control+Shift+L.

You are asked for two items:

The title is the friendly name which appears in the Links list.

The web address is the actual page address.

If you type an address such as:

hartgenconsultancy.com

LeaseyNotes will treat it as:

https://hartgenconsultancy.com

JAWS should announce:

Link added: followed by the link title.

If you press Enter or OK without entering a web address, the dialog stays open.

JAWS should announce:

Move to the Links list.

Select the link.

Press Enter.

LeaseyNotes asks Windows to open the address in the default web browser.

JAWS should announce:

Opened link: followed by the link title.

Move to the Links list.

Select the link.

Press F2.

You can change either the friendly title or the web address.

JAWS should announce the old and new link titles.

For example:

Renamed link Victorian street lamps to Street lamp reference

Move to the Links list.

Select the link.

Press Delete.

You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

JAWS should announce:

Deleted link followed by the link title.

Move to the Links list.

Select the link.

Press Control+C.

JAWS should announce:

Copied link address

Move to the Links list.

Select the link.

Press Alt+U to move it up.

Press Alt+D to move it down.

These keystrokes rearrange items in the Links list when focus is in that list.

They rearrange notes and categories only when focus is in the Notes tree view.

JAWS should announce the new position.

For example:

Moving link Demo 1 to above Demo 4

Moving Directly to Main Areas.

LeaseyNotes has direct focus commands for the main areas of the window.

Press Control+Alt+E to move to the Note text edit field.

Press Control+Alt+A to move to the Attachments list.

Press Control+Alt+L to move to the Links list.

Press Control+Alt+R to move to the Related notes list.

These commands are intended to reduce the amount of tabbing needed during daily use.

Field copy buttons do not have fixed shortcut keys because their names and number depend on the selected note.

If a note has fields, reach those buttons by pressing Tab after the Related notes list.

To reiterate, to quickly move to fields, press Control+Alt+R followed by Tab.

JAWS should announce a short confirmation such as:

Focus moved to note text

When focus moves to the Attachments, Links, or Related notes list, JAWS should first speak the native control label and list box information.

LeaseyNotes then gives a short delayed count through Accessible Output, such as:

empty

1 item

2 items

Exporting Notes.

LeaseyNotes can export a single note, a category, or all notes to one file.

This is particularly useful for examples such as food logs, where several daily notes may need to be sent together.

To export the selected note or category:

To export all notes:

The exported file includes headings for categories and notes.

If a note has attachments, the attachment names and paths are included.

If a note has links, the link titles and web addresses are included.

If a note has related notes, their note titles are included.

If a note has advanced fields, those fields are included under an Advanced fields heading.

JAWS should announce:

Exported to followed by the file name.

Advanced Note Fields.

This is designed for notes where the information is best kept in separate named blocks.

For example, you may want fields called:

Press Control+Shift+D to open Advanced Note.

The Advanced Note window contains:

If the note already has fields, the window also contains:

Add creates a new named field.

Rename changes the field name.

Delete removes the selected field.

When you move to a field in the Fields list, its text appears in the Field text edit field.

Type or edit the text there.

Copy Field copies only the text from the selected field.

You can also press Control+C from the Fields list to copy the selected field.

You can press Delete from the Fields list to delete the selected field.

Copy All copies all fields as one block, with each field name followed by its text.

This is useful if you want to paste structured material into an email message.

If a note has no fields, the Field text edit field and the field action buttons are hidden until you add the first field.

There is no LeaseyNotes character limit for field text. It uses a standard Windows edit control, so the practical limit is set by Windows and available memory rather than by LeaseyNotes.

Suggested Workflow For Adding Fields.

  1. Locate the note of interest.
  2. Press Control+Shift+D. The Advanced Note dialog box opens.
  3. Press Enter or Space on the Add button.
  4. Type the name for the field, such as Subject, and press Enter.
  5. Type the text for the field, such as, Thank you for purchasing this product. Fields can contain multiple lines, so press Tab to reach the Close button and press Enter or Space when you are finished.
  6. If you wish to add another field, activate the Add button.
  7. Repeat the process for adding the field name and field text.
  8. If at that point you have completed adding fields, press Escape. The fields are automatically saved.

Suggested Workflow for Copying Field Information.

While it is true that you can copy individual field components from the Advanced Note list, there is an easier way.

  1. Find the note of interest.
  2. Press Control+Alt+R for Related Notes. This is the closest control we can move to prior to reaching the fields.
  3. Press Tab through the fields. Each field is denoted by a button, such as, Copy Subject.
  4. Press Enter or Space on the button you wish to copy. JAWS announces that the Subject field has been copied.

Assigning a Note to More Than One Category.

Move to the note.

Press Control+Shift+M.

The dialog is called Assign to Category.

Choose or type the category and press Enter.

The note is not copied.

It is the same note appearing in another category.

If you edit it from any category, the same underlying note is changed.

JAWS should announce:

Adding note to category followed by the category name.

Assigned followed by the note title and category name.

If the note is already in that category, it is not assigned a second time.

JAWS should say the note title followed by:

is already assigned to category followed by the category name.

Removing a Note from a Category.

If a note has been assigned to more than one category, the additional category entry is shown in the tree with the word assigned after the note title.

This tells you that the tree item is another category connection to the same note, not a separate note.

When focus is on an assigned note, pressing Delete removes that category connection.

The original note is not deleted.

You can also press Alt+R.

If focus is on a normal note inside a category, Alt+R moves that note out of the category and places it at the top level.

JAWS should announce:

Removed followed by the note title and category name.

Or, for a normal note moved out of a category:

Moved followed by the note title, top level, and the category name.

Related Notes lets one note connect to another note.

This is useful for things like writing projects, research boards, maps, or crime-board style connections.

Related note connections are bidirectional.

For example, if Nat is related to The Cast, then Nat shows The Cast as a related note, and The Cast shows Nat as a related note.

The main LeaseyNotes window contains a Related notes list.

Move to this list with Tab, or press Control+Alt+R.

Arrow through the related notes and press Enter to open the selected note.

Press Alt+Left Arrow to return to the previous note after opening a related note.

Alt+Left Arrow also works from the read only note view after following a related note.

To manage related notes press Control+Shift+R.

Use Add to choose another note to relate to this one.

Use Remove or Delete to remove the selected related note connection from both notes.

Press Enter on a related note to open it.

When a related note is opened, the Notes tree view changes to that note and the Note text edit field is loaded.

Quick Note.

For a very fast note, press the Leasey Key followed by Control+Windows+N. If you have spontaneous thoughts, or you need to take down something quickly, this is the tool for you. While LeaseyNotes is excellent at what it does, you do need to think about where the note is going to be located.

Pressing this keystroke opens LeaseyNotes in a minimal Quick Note window.

It contains:

That is all.

Type the note, press Tab to reach the OK button and press Enter or Space.

If LeaseyNotes is in Advanced Notes mode, the note is saved in a category called QuickNotes.

If QuickNotes does not already exist, LeaseyNotes creates it.

If LeaseyNotes is in Simple Notes mode, the note is saved as a top-level note so it appears in the Simple Notes list.

The note title is the date and time in a friendly form, such as:

May 3 2026 at 5:10 PM

JAWS should announce:

Quick note saved to QuickNotes followed by the note title.

In Simple Notes mode, JAWS should announce:

Quick note saved followed by the note title.

At your leisure, you can return to the note in the QuickNotes category and do a number of things:

Simple Notes Mode.

Simple Notes mode is for people who only want to create and edit plain notes.

It removes the advanced areas from the window and presents a very small interface.

The Simple Notes window contains:

Press Tab to move between the Notes list and the Note text edit field.

Simple Notes shows only top-level notes.

Notes inside categories do not appear in Simple Notes mode.

Categories, attachments, web links, related notes, and advanced fields are not shown in Simple Notes mode.

They are not deleted.

If you return to Advanced Notes mode, the advanced information is still there.

Changing Mode.

Press Control+Comma.

The Options dialog opens.

Choose Advanced Notes or Simple Notes.

The dialog explains that no notes are deleted when changing mode.

Confirm Deletion.

The Options dialog also contains a Confirm deletion check box.

If checked, LeaseyNotes asks before deleting notes or other items.

If unchecked, pressing Delete removes the selected item immediately.

Backups.

The Options dialog also contains a Backups list.

LeaseyNotes keeps the most recent 50 backups of the notes database.

Choose a backup and press Enter, or activate Restore selected backup, to restore it.

Before restoring, LeaseyNotes backs up the current notes database.

Creating a Simple Note.

Press Control+N.

Type the note title and press Enter.

Focus moves to the Note text edit field so you can begin writing.

JAWS should announce:

Note added: followed by the note title.

Editing and Saving a Simple Note.

Move to the note in the Notes list.

Press Tab to move to the Note text edit field.

Type or edit the note.

When a note is selected, the note name is placed in the LeaseyNotes window title. This means that Insert+T in JAWS should report the current note name.

Notes are saved automatically when you move to another note, press Escape from the Note text edit field, or close LeaseyNotes.

You can also press Control+S.

JAWS should announce:

Notes saved

Press Escape from the Note text edit field to save and return focus to the Notes list.

Renaming a Simple Note.

Move to the note in the Notes list.

Press F2.

Type the new name and press Enter.

JAWS should announce the old and new names.

Deleting a Simple Note.

Move to the note in the Notes list.

Press Delete.

You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

To delete several Simple Notes, select them in the Notes list, for example by holding Shift and pressing Down Arrow.

Then press Delete.

JAWS should announce:

Deleted followed by the note title.

When several notes are deleted, JAWS should announce:

Deleted followed by the number of selected notes.

Recent Simple Notes.

Press Control+Shift+Y to open Recent Notes.

This shows the last five top-level notes whose text you edited in Simple Notes mode.

Choose a note and press Enter to open it.

JAWS should announce:

Opened recent note followed by the note title.

Sorting Simple Notes.

Press Control+Shift+S.

The top-level notes shown in Simple Notes mode are sorted alphabetically.

Notes inside categories are not affected because they are not shown in Simple Notes mode.

JAWS should announce:

Sorted notes alphabetically

Finding a Simple Note.

Press Control+F.

Type the text to find and press Enter.

Simple Notes searches top-level note titles and note text.

If a match is found, focus moves to that note.

If the match is in the note text, the matching text is selected in the Note text edit field.

JAWS should announce:

Found followed by the note title.

If nothing is found, JAWS should announce:

Text not found

Searching All Simple Notes.

Press Control+Shift+F.

Type the text to search for and press Enter.

Simple Notes shows a basic Search All Notes dialog.

There are no check boxes in Simple Notes mode.

It searches only top-level note titles and note text.

If matching notes are found, a Search Results list is displayed.

Move through the list with Up and Down Arrow.

Press Enter on a result to open that note.

If the match is in the note text, focus moves to the Note text edit field and the matching text is selected.

JAWS should announce the line containing the found text.

If the match is in the note title, focus remains on the Notes list.

JAWS should announce:

Found followed by the note title.

If no notes match, JAWS should announce:

No matching notes

Quick Note in Simple Notes Mode.

If LeaseyNotes is in Simple Notes mode, Quick Note creates a top-level note.

This means the note appears in the Simple Notes list.

JAWS should announce:

Quick note saved followed by the note title.

Synchronising Data Between Devices.

It is possible to have data between some Leasey applications available on multiple devices. This is possible if you use a cloud storage services, such as OneDrive or Dropbox. If all of those devices have access to the cloud storage service, all your data is available wherever you happen to be.

The applications concerned are:

There is some setup work to do within each of the applications. Technically, the process of storing data is different for each Leasey application, and it could be that you do not wish for data to be synchronised in relation to some of them. It is possible that once the development for all apps is complete this could be a little more consolidated.

The inconvenience of setup currently is a small price to pay for the ability to have the data on different devices.

The setup procedure is as follows within each of the above applications.

The Options dialog of each application, activated with Control+Comma, contains a data location edit field.

This is the base folder from which the application retrieves and stores its data.

You can type a folder path into this edit field or paste it in having copied the path from File Explorer.

If the path contains quotation marks, for example because it was copied from File Explorer, LeaseyNotes will remove those quotation marks automatically.

You can also activate the Browse button to choose a folder.

The folder you choose is treated as the base location.

The application creates a tidy LeaseyData folder underneath it.

For example, in the case of LeaseyNotes, if you choose:

H:\

LeaseyNotes stores the data in:

H:\LeaseyData\Notes

If you chose

C:\Users\Joe\Hartgen Consultancy Dropbox\

The location would be:

C:\Users\Joe\Hartgen Consultancy Dropbox\LeaseyData\Notes

When you choose a new location, the application asks you to confirm the change.

If no application database exists in the resulting LeaseyData folder, the database from the local machine is copied there first. In the case of LeaseyNotes as an example, LeaseyNotes copies the current notes database, attachments and backups there initially. This means that if you have already created notes or stored other application settings, these will be automatically copied across to the new location without you needing to do anything.

From that point, the Leasey application uses the new location to store data.

The Restore to Location Default button returns the data location to the standard Leasey location for storing data, which is, c:\LeaseyData.

Leasey File Manager, launched with the Leasey key then Windows+F by default.

Leasey Command Centre and Where Am I.

Where Am I, activated with Control+Shift+I, is designed to give a brief summary as to where you are located within the focused application.

Leasey Command Centre is a searchable list of Leasey File Manager commands.

Leasey File Manager is a simple file manager designed for people using JAWS.

It is intended to make it easy to browse folders, open files, copy files, paste files, delete files, and tag files for later action.

This is not intended to replace every feature of File Explorer.

The first purpose is to provide a clean, fast, keyboard-driven list of files and folders which works well with JAWS.

The File Manager uses a standard Windows list view.

This is important because JAWS already has good support for list views, including the ability to read columns with the column reading keys, Control+Insert+1 through to 9, although as can be seen, this may not be necessary.

Starting Leasey File Manager.

This can be achieved by pressing the Leasey Key then Windows+F. However, you can also start Leasey File Manager from the Run dialog.

The installer registers the lfm command with Windows so this should work without any manual setup.

Press Windows+R.

Type:

lfm

and press Enter.

You can also open a special version of the Run dialog specifically for the File Manager. Press the Leasey key then Windows+R. Type a folder or file path and press Enter.

By default, Leasey File Manager opens at the root of drive C.

You can also start it in a specific folder.

Press Windows+R.

Type lfm followed by a space and the folder path.

For example:

lfm c:\users

If the folder path contains spaces, you can still type it in the usual way.

For example:

lfm c:\program files

You can open more than one Leasey File Manager window.

This is useful if you wish to copy files from one folder and paste them into another folder while keeping both locations available.

The Window.

The window contains:

The title of the window reflects the folder you have open.

For example, if you are in Documents, the window title should contain:

Documents - Leasey File Manager

This means that Insert+T in JAWS should give you a useful indication of where you are.

This can be changed in Options so as to display the full path of the file or folder location.

The Location edit field contains the current folder path.

You can type or paste a new folder path into this field and press Enter.

Press Alt+D to move directly to the Location edit field.

The current path is selected so you can replace it quickly.

The Files list view is the main area.

It contains files and folders in the current folder.

Folders appear first, followed by files.

The status bar text gives the number of items in the folder, the number of tagged items, and the current folder path. Insert+Page Down.

Opening Files and Folders.

Move through the Files list with Up and Down Arrow.

Press Enter on a folder to open it.

Press Enter on a file to open it using the default Windows application for that file type.

Press Enter on a zip file to browse the contents of the zip file inside Leasey File Manager.

The zip contents are shown in the same Files list.

When browsing inside a zip file, press Enter on a folder to open that folder within the archive.

Alt+Up moves up one level.

Alt+Left Arrow and Backspace move back.

Alt+Up moves to the parent folder.

Alt+Left Arrow moves back to the previous folder.

When you return to a previous folder, focus should be placed on the folder where you left off reading.

Backspace also moves back to the previous folder.

Finding Items by Typing.

When focus is in the Files list, you can type letters to find an item.

Pressing Space by itself is ignored for type-to-find.

This avoids a no match message if you press Space after entering a folder.

For example, typing D should move to the next item beginning with D.

If you pause and type D again, focus should move to the next item beginning with D.

If you type several letters quickly, Leasey File Manager searches for the first item beginning with that combination.

For example, typing DE should move to the first item beginning with DE such as Decades Breakfast.

If there is no match for the full combination, Leasey File Manager falls back to the latest letter you typed and moves to the next item beginning with that letter.

Reading Columns.

The Files list can show details such as:

Right Arrow reads the next column for the focused item.

Left Arrow reads the previous column for the focused item.

When you reach the beginning or end of the columns, Leasey File Manager tells you this and repeats the current column.

For example, if you press Right Arrow until there are no more columns, JAWS should announce:

End of columns

followed by the current column name and value.

You can also use the JAWS list view column reading commands if you prefer.

Sorting.

Press Control+1 to sort by name.

Press Control+1 again to switch between ascending and descending.

Press Control+2 to sort by date created.

Press Control+2 again to switch between ascending and descending.

Press Control+3 to sort by date modified.

Press Control+3 again to switch between ascending and descending.

The Context Menu.

Press the Applications key or Shift+F10 to open the context menu.

The context menu contains common actions such as:

The Options item is reached with Control+Comma.

The Options dialog contains:

These settings are saved in the Leasey File Manager settings file.

Show full path in title bar

If this is checked, the title bar shows the full folder path.

If it is not checked, the title bar shows only the current folder name.

If Remove Leasey File Manager from title bar is checked, the title bar contains only the folder or archive location.

This can reduce speech from JAWS when moving between folders.

If Do not provide confirmation dialog when deleting a file is checked, Leasey File Manager will not ask for confirmation when using Delete or Shift+Delete.

Delete will move the selected item or items to the Recycle Bin immediately.

Shift+Delete will permanently delete the selected item or items immediately.

Tagging Files.

Leasey File Manager uses the same idea as LeaseyTags in File Explorer.

Instead of trying to hold down keys to select non-consecutive files, you tag the files you want to work with.

You can also use standard Windows list selection in this version.

For example, Control+A selects all items in the folder.

If no files are tagged, commands such as Copy, Cut, Delete and Shift+Delete act on the selected list items.

Move to a file or folder and press Control+Shift+Space.

This tags the item.

Move to another file or folder and press Control+Shift+Space again to tag that item as well.

If you press Control+Shift+Space on an item which is already tagged, the tag is removed.

When an item is tagged, Leasey File Manager follows the Leasey sound preference.

If the setting is speech only, JAWS says:

Tagged

If the setting is sounds enabled, the LeaseyTag sound is played.

If the setting is sounds and speech, JAWS speaks the word Tagged and the LeaseyTag sound is played.

When you move through the list with Up or Down Arrow, if focus lands on a tagged item, you should hear the same LeaseyTag indication.

Reporting Tagged Items.

Press Control+Shift+T to hear the tagged items.

You can also press the forward slash key to report tagged items in this test version, same as LeaseyStart Menu.

Press Alt+Windows+N to hear how many items are tagged.

Reporting the Selected Size.

Press Control+Shift+S to hear the total size of the items you are about to work with.

You can also open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10 and choose Report selected size.

If items are tagged, Leasey File Manager reports the size of the tagged items.

If nothing is tagged but several items are selected in the list, it reports the size of the selected items.

If there is no tagged or selected group, it reports the size of the focused item.

This is useful before copying folders to a thumb drive or other removable storage.

If the selection includes folders, Leasey File Manager calculates their contents.

This may take a short while for large folders.

Removing Tags.

Press Control+Shift+D to remove the tag from the focused item.

Press Control+Shift+D twice quickly to clear all tags.

Press Escape to clear all tags.

The files themselves are not deleted when tags are cleared.

Only the tags are removed.

Copying Files.

To copy one file or folder, move to it and press Control+C.

To copy several files or folders, tag them first with Control+Shift+Space.

Then press Control+C.

When browsing inside a zip file, Control+C copies the tagged or focused archive item by extracting it to a temporary Leasey File Manager folder and placing the extracted item on the Windows Clipboard.

You can then move to a normal folder and press Control+V to paste it there.

The tagged files are placed on the Windows Clipboard.

This means you can open another Leasey File Manager window, move to a different folder, and press Control+V to paste them there.

After copying tagged files, the tags are cleared.

This follows the LeaseyTags approach so that old tags are not left around for a long period of time.

JAWS may already say:

Copied

Leasey File Manager therefore only announces the number of items copied, such as:

1 item

or:

2 items

Cutting Files.

To cut one file or folder, move to it and press Control+X.

To cut several files or folders, tag them first.

Then press Control+X.

JAWS should announce the number of items cut.

Cutting is available between separate Leasey File Manager windows.

For example, you can cut a tagged file in one Leasey File Manager window, open a different folder in another Leasey File Manager window, and press Control+V to move it there.

Pasting Files.

Move to the destination folder and press Control+V.

If you copy an item from inside a zipped archive opened in File Explorer, press Control+V in Leasey File Manager to paste it into the current folder.

In this situation, Leasey File Manager asks Windows to perform the paste because the item inside the archive is not exposed as a normal file path.

While a paste is running, Leasey File Manager announces progress by percentage.

If an item with the same name already exists in the destination folder, Leasey File Manager asks if you want to replace it.

Choose Yes to replace the existing item.

Choose No to skip that item.

Choose Cancel to cancel the paste operation.

JAWS may already say:

Pasted

Leasey File Manager therefore only announces the number of items pasted, such as:

1 item

or:

2 items

If possible, focus is placed on the first item pasted.

This makes it easy to paste a file and then immediately press F2 to rename it.

Open With.

Move to a file.

Open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10.

Press H or choose Open with.

Leasey File Manager asks Windows to show the Open With dialog for that file.

Open With is available for one file at a time.

Show in File Explorer.

Move to a file or folder.

Open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10.

Press E or choose Show in File Explorer.

File Explorer opens at the containing folder with the item selected.

This is useful when you need a command from the full File Explorer context menu which Leasey File Manager does not provide directly.

Dropbox.

If Dropbox is installed and the selected item is in Dropbox, Leasey File Manager offers a Dropbox submenu on the context menu.

Open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10.

Choose Dropbox.

The first command is Copy Dropbox link.

This copies the standard Dropbox share link.

The second command is Copy Dropbox link as download.

This copies the Dropbox link and changes it into a download link.

In practice, this changes the end of the Dropbox link from 0 to 1.

Leasey File Manager asks Windows for the Dropbox command.

If Windows exposes it, the Dropbox link is copied.

If Windows does not expose the command to Leasey File Manager, File Explorer opens with the item selected.

You can then open the normal File Explorer context menu and use the Dropbox commands there.

Creating a Shortcut to Open a Folder in Leasey File Manager.

A regular Windows shortcut to a folder normally opens that folder in File Explorer.

If you want a shortcut to open a folder in Leasey File Manager, use the command described here.

Move to the folder for which you want to create a shortcut.

Open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10.

Press L or choose Create Leasey File Manager shortcut.

If focus is on a folder, the shortcut is created for that folder.

This special shortcut opens the folder in Leasey File Manager.

If focus is on a file, a regular Windows shortcut is created for that file.

This is sufficient because launching a file is already something Windows understands.

A standard Save dialog opens.

By default, the shortcut is offered on the Desktop, with a name based on the folder.

Change the name or location if required, then press Enter to save it.

The created item is always a normal Windows shortcut.

For folders, however, the shortcut points to Leasey File Manager and passes the folder path to it.

This is necessary because a regular shortcut which points directly to a folder will be opened by Windows in File Explorer.

Send To.

Leasey File Manager does not try to reproduce the full File Explorer context menu.

However, it does include a Send to submenu.

Move to a file or folder, or tag several items.

Open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10.

Choose Send to.

The submenu contains items from the Windows SendTo folder.

If the Send To target is a folder, Leasey File Manager copies the selected or tagged item there.

If the Send To target is a shortcut or special SendTo item, Leasey File Manager asks Windows to open that SendTo item with the selected or tagged files.

This means some SendTo items may work better than others, depending on how Windows or the target application handles them.

Renaming Files.

Move to a file or folder and press F2.

A Rename dialog opens.

Type the new name and press Enter.

When renaming a file, you can type just the file name without the extension.

If you do not type an extension, Leasey File Manager keeps the existing file type.

If you change your mind, press Escape.

If an item with the new name already exists, Leasey File Manager tells you this and the rename is not carried out.

If the rename is completed, JAWS should announce:

Renamed to

followed by the new name.

Creating a Folder.

Press Control+Shift+N.

A New Folder dialog opens.

Type the folder name and press Enter.

If you change your mind, press Escape.

If an item with the same name already exists, Leasey File Manager tells you this and the folder is not created.

If the folder is created, focus is placed on the new folder.

JAWS should announce:

Folder created

followed by the folder name.

Creating a Zip Archive.

Tag the files or folders you want to zip.

If nothing is tagged, select the files or folders in the list, or move to a single item.

Press Control+4.

A Save dialog opens.

Choose the name and location for the zip archive and press Enter.

Leasey File Manager creates the zip archive and announces progress.

You can also open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10 and choose Create zip archive.

Deleting Files.

To delete one file or folder, move to it and press Delete.

To delete several files or folders, tag them first.

Then press Delete.

Delete moves the item or items to the Recycle Bin.

You will be asked to confirm that the item or items should be moved to the Recycle Bin.

The default button is Yes.

Shift+Delete permanently deletes the item or items.

This does not send them to the Recycle Bin.

You will be asked to confirm permanent deletion.

The default button is Yes.

If you choose No, JAWS should announce:

Delete cancelled

If the delete is completed, JAWS should announce the number of items deleted.

Properties.

Move to a file or folder and press Alt+Enter.

A Properties dialog opens.

The main area is a read-only edit field containing details such as:

Press Escape or activate Close to return to the Files list.

Copying the Full Path.

Move to a file or folder.

Press Control+Shift+C.

You can also open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10 and choose Copy full path.

The full path is placed on the Windows Clipboard.

View Modes.

The context menu contains:

Show file name only reduces the list to the name column.

Show details restores the type, size, created and modified columns.

This setting is global.

If you choose Show file name only, that view is used when you move to other folders and when you open Leasey File Manager again.

If you choose Show details, the details view is used everywhere in the same way.

Drive List.

When Leasey File Manager opens, it detects the drives on the computer.

The Drive control is a standard combo box.

It appears before the Location edit field in the Tab order.

Use the Drive combo box to move quickly to another drive, such as C: or a USB drive.

Arrow through the list of drives and press Enter to open the selected drive.

If you insert a card or USB drive while Leasey File Manager is already open, tab to the Drive combo box or press F5 to refresh the drive list.

The normal Tab order near the top of the window is:

When you open a folder by typing a path, using Back, or opening a folder from the list, the Drive combo box is updated to match the drive you are currently browsing.

Options.

Press Control+Comma to open Options.

The Options dialog contains:

These settings are saved in the Leasey File Manager settings file.

Show full path in title bar

If this is checked, the title bar shows the full folder path.

If it is not checked, the title bar shows only the current folder name.

If Remove Leasey File Manager from title bar is checked, the title bar contains only the folder or archive location.

This can reduce speech from JAWS when moving between folders.

If Do not provide confirmation dialog when deleting a file is checked, Leasey File Manager will not ask for confirmation when using Delete or Shift+Delete.

Delete will move the selected item or items to the Recycle Bin immediately.

Shift+Delete will permanently delete the selected item or items immediately.

Activate Save to keep the setting.

Searching for Files and Folders.

Press Control+F to search under the folder you are currently viewing.

A Find dialog opens.

Type part or all of the file or folder name.

The next control is Restrict search.

This is a combo box.

Use it to choose what kind of item you want to find.

The choices are:

All searches files and folders of every type.

Audio restricts the results to common audio files such as MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC and WMA.

Document restricts the results to common document files such as TXT, DOCX, PDF, RTF, CSV, XLSX and PPTX.

Folder restricts the results to folders.

Image restricts the results to common image files such as JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP and WEBP.

Video restricts the results to common video files such as MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI and WMV.

Archive restricts the results to common archive files such as ZIP, RAR and 7Z.

The restriction controls what appears in the results.

For example, choosing Audio means Leasey File Manager still looks through the folders beneath the current folder, but it only lists matching audio files.

After choosing the search text and restriction, press Enter on the OK button.

If you type the search text without quotation marks, Leasey File Manager performs a partial name search.

For example, searching for:

sun

could find:

sunburnt.mp3

Sunday notes.txt

or any other file or folder whose name contains those letters.

If you put the search text in quotation marks, Leasey File Manager performs an exact name search.

For example, searching for:

"sunburnt.mp3"

only finds an item whose name is exactly:

sunburnt.mp3

The search looks at file and folder names only.

It does not search inside documents or music files.

Search runs in the background so the File Manager should remain usable while the search is taking place.

JAWS should announce:

Searching

As results are found, Leasey File Manager may announce the number of matches.

When the search is finished, JAWS should announce:

Search complete

followed by the number of items found.

If nothing is found, JAWS should announce:

No matches

The search results list contains:

Press Enter on a folder result to open that folder.

Press Enter on a file result to open that file.

To move from a search result to the folder which contains it, open the context menu with the Applications key or Shift+F10 and choose Show in folder.

To cancel a running search, press Escape or open the context menu and choose Cancel search.

Press Alt+Left Arrow or Backspace from the search results to return to the folder where the search began.

Leasey Database, launched with the Leasey key then Windows+D.

Leasey Database Manager is a simple way to keep organised lists of information. You can use it for many different things.

For example:

Think of a database as a collection of cards or forms. Each card contains the same kind of information.

For example, if you create a database for books, every book might contain:

Leasey Database Manager helps you create those lists and search through them easily.

Starting the Program.

To open Leasey Database Manager: Press the Leasey key followed by Windows+D.

When the program opens, focus is placed on the Results list for the current database. The window title tells you which database is currently open; press Insert+T.

If you have not yet created a database, the program opens directly in the Create Database screen.

Getting Help for the Current Screen.

At any time, press Control+Shift+I for Where Am I.

Leasey Database Manager speaks a brief reminder about the screen you are on and the most useful keys for that screen.

In other screens, it gives a short clue about what you can do there.

Leasey Command Centre.

Press Control+Shift+C to open Leasey Command Centre.

This is a searchable list of useful commands.

The Command Centre contains:

When it opens, focus is in the Command edit field.

If you leave the Command edit field blank and press Tab, the Matching commands list shows all available commands.

If you type part of a command, the list is filtered.

For example, you can type:

You can also type plain words such as:

Press Tab to move to Matching commands.

Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to choose a command.

Press Enter or Numpad Enter to run the selected command.

You can also type a command and press Enter in the Command edit field to run the first match.

Press Escape or activate Cancel to close the Command Centre.

Where Am I also works inside Leasey Command Centre with Control+Shift+I.

Braille Status Support.

Leasey Database Manager sends short status messages to the Leasey Braille status bridge.

The file is written using UTF-16 encoding.

This is used for short confirmations such as:

The Braille bridge does not replace normal accessibility. The app still uses standard Windows controls and labels for JAWS.

Creating Your First Database.

Before you can add information, you first need to create a database. A database is simply a list where every entry contains the same kind of information.

For example, imagine you want to keep a list of board games.

Each game might contain:

Each of these pieces of information is called a field.

Creating a Database Step by Step.

When the Create Database screen opens:

2. Press Tab to move to Add Field and press Enter to create your first field.

The Create Database screen is deliberately simple.

At first it contains:

The Items of Information list is not shown until you have added at least one item.

You are now ready to create the fields. You cannot create a database until at least one field has been added.

Understanding Fields.

A field is a piece of information you want each entry to contain.

For example:

When you create a field, you first type its name. This is the text JAWS will speak when entering information later.

For example:

After typing the field name, you choose the field type by pressing Tab.

Understanding Field Types.

Leasey Database Manager includes several field types.

Edit Field.

Use Edit Field for short pieces of text.

Examples:

Multi-line Edit Field.

Use Multi-line Edit Field for longer information.

Examples:

When completing the database entry later on, you can press Enter to create new lines.

Examples:

https://www.google.com

If you type a web address without https or http, Leasey Database Manager automatically adds https.

For example:

hartgenconsultancy.com

becomes: [https://hartgenconsultancy.com](https://hartgenconsultancy.com)

Whole Number.

Use Whole Number for numbers without decimal points.

Examples:

Invalid examples: 4.5 seven as a word.

Decimal Number.

Use Decimal Number for numbers which may contain decimal points.

Examples:

Date.

Use Date for dates.

You can type dates manually.

Examples:

Leasey Database Manager accepts both UK-style and US-style numeric dates where possible.

For example:

If a date could mean more than one thing, Leasey Database Manager uses the date order for your Windows region where possible.

Combo Box.

Use Combo Box when you want to choose from a list of options.

Examples:

For example, a Status field might contain:

Check Box.

Use Check Box for information which is either Yes or No.

Examples:

Creating Fields Step by Step.

Here is an example of creating a simple contacts database. Please follow these instructions step by step.

1. Type the database name: Contacts

2. Press Tab to reach Add Field.

3. Press Enter.

The Add Field screen opens.

The Add Field screen contains:

4. In the Field name edit field, type: First Name

5. Press Tab to reach the Field Type combo box.

6. Leave the default setting of Edit Field.

7. Press Tab through the optional settings.

These include:

These items are described in a later section. Rather than disturbing the workflow for the moment, we will leave these fields at the default for now. You can always manage the database later and work with them.

8. Press Tab until you reach OK.

9. Press Enter.

The field is added. JAWS confirms this.

If you activate Cancel from the Add Field screen, you return to the Create Database screen without adding that field.

You are now ready to create the next field.

10. Activate Add Field again.

11. Type: Last Name

12. Repeat the same process for each field you want to add.

You might then add:

As soon as you add the first field, the Items of Information list appears and shows the fields you have added.

The Remove Field button also appears after at least one field has been added. It is not shown when there is nothing to remove.

When you have finished creating all fields: Activate the Create Database button.

Optional Field Settings.

When adding or editing a field, you can also choose additional settings. Press the Tab key when creating or managing a field and you will find these additional options.

These settings are optional. They are:

This field must contain information.

If this option is checked, the entry cannot be saved unless information has been entered into that field.

For example:

You may want First Name to be required.

Show this field in results.

If this option is checked, the field appears in the Results list.

This helps you decide what information is spoken while moving through entries.

For example:

If no fields are marked this way, the Results list shows the first two fields automatically.

Help text JAWS will say when a field is focused.

Help text reminds the user what kind of information should be entered.

For example:

JAWS can then speak the help text while entering information.

Working with Entries.

Once the database has been created, you can begin adding entries.

An entry is a single item in the database.

For example:

The main screen contains:

The Results List.

The Results list shows the entries currently stored in the database.

By default, the list shows the first two fields for each entry. However, you can customise this by using Show this field in results when creating or editing fields. You can press Up or Down Arrow keys to move through the records. JAWS will reach each entry based upon the entries you have selected when creating the fields.

The Results list is arranged in columns. Each column is one field.

Moving Through Columns.

When you are in the Results list: Press Right Arrow to move to the next column. Press Left Arrow to move to the previous column.

Leasey Database Manager speaks the field name and the value.

For example:

Author: Richard Osman

The current field name and value are then repeated.

The current field name and value are then repeated.

Browsing Down One Column.

Sometimes you may want to hear only one kind of information.

For example, in a books database, you might want to move through just the Author column.

To do this:

Leasey Database Manager speaks only the field name and value.

For example:

Press Alt+Up Arrow to move back up through the same column.

This column browsing does not immediately move the visible row in the list. This is deliberate, because it avoids JAWS speaking the entire row while you are trying to listen to one column.

If you press Enter or Alt+E after using Alt+Up Arrow or Alt+Down Arrow, Leasey Database Manager uses the last record it spoke.

Opening a Read Only Record View.

Then press Enter.

A read only view opens showing all the fields and values for that record.

This is useful when the Results list only shows a few columns, but you want to review the whole record before deciding what to do.

From the read only view, you can:

Adding an Entry.

The Add Entry screen opens.

Type or choose information in each field. Press Tab to move through the fields.

For example:

When you have completed filling in the fields you have created in your database, activate Save Entry

Required Fields.

If a required field is empty, Leasey Database Manager tells you which field needs attention.

Invalid Information.

If a Whole Number, Decimal Number, or Date field contains invalid information, the entry cannot be saved.

For example:

Duplicate Entries.

If the first field matches an existing entry, the program warns you that a similar entry already exists.

You can still choose to save the entry if you want to.

Editing an Entry.

To edit an entry: Move to it in the Results list and press Alt+E.

If you have just used Alt+Up Arrow or Alt+Down Arrow to browse a column, Alt+E edits the last record Leasey Database Manager spoke.

You can also activate Edit Entry.

If you are in the read only record view, activate Edit Record.

Deleting an Entry.

To delete an entry: Move to it in the Results list and press Delete.

You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

The default button is Yes.

Searching.

Leasey Database Manager can search through your information quickly.

The Search screen contains:

Type the text you want to find.

Examples:

The field check boxes let you decide where the search should look.

If all fields are checked: The whole database is searched.

If no fields are checked: The whole database is also searched.

If only some fields are checked: Only those fields are searched.

The field check boxes do not create separate conditions.

For example, checking Genre and Rating means: search this one piece of text in Genre or Rating.

use Advanced Filter from the Tools menu.

Searching by Date Range.

If the database contains date fields, Search also lets you narrow results by date.

Use Date from and Date to to enter the range.

You can type a full date.

You can also type just a year.

For example, to find books read in 2026: Leave the Search edit field blank if you do not want to search for text. Choose Date finished in Date field. Type 2026 in Date from. Type 2026 in Date to. Activate Search.

Leasey Database Manager treats 2026 in Date from as 1 January 2026.

Leasey Database Manager treats 2026 in Date to as 31 December 2026.

You can also use a fuller range, such as:

If you choose Any date field, the entry is shown if any date field is in the range.

Search Results.

After searching, the Results list shows only matching entries.

If the Search edit field is empty, all entries are shown.

To return quickly to the full database after a search: Press Escape from the Results list.

Leasey Database Manager clears the search and shows all entries again.

Searching Different Field Types.

Combo Box fields use the selected choice.

Link fields search the stored link text.

Advanced Filter.

Advanced Filter is for searching by two or more conditions.

The Advanced Filter screen contains:

Field lets you choose the item of information to test.

Condition changes depending on the kind of field.

For text fields, conditions include:

For combo box fields, conditions include:

For number fields, conditions include:

For date fields, conditions include:

Dates can be typed as full dates.

You can also type just a year.

For example:

2026

In a date filter, a year means the whole year where that makes sense.

Adding Conditions.

Choose the Field. Choose the Condition. Type or choose the Value. Activate Add Condition.

The condition is added to the Conditions list.

Repeat this for each condition you want.

Applying Advanced Filter.

Activate Apply Filter.

The Results list shows only records which match all conditions.

the Results list shows only entries where both things are true.

Removing a Condition.

In the Conditions list, choose the condition you no longer want.

Activate Remove Condition.

You can also press Delete.

Returning to the Full Database.

After using Advanced Filter, press Escape from the Results list to clear the filter and show all entries again.

Sorting Entries.

Sorting changes the order in which entries appear.

The Sort Entries screen opens.

Activate Sort.

Whole Number, Decimal Number, and Date fields sort correctly using their actual values.

Tools Menu.

The Tools menu contains extra actions which do not need to be on the main screen.

Exporting a Database.

To export the current database:

CSV is useful if you want to open the database in Excel, Google Sheets, or another spreadsheet program.

The first row contains the field names. Each record is placed on a separate row.

Check boxes are exported as:

Text export is useful if you want a plain readable copy.

When the export has finished, JAWS says:

Database exported

Choosing a Different Database.

Move to the database you want and press Enter.

You can also activate Open.

The selected database becomes the default database the next time the program starts.

Managing Databases.

The Manage Databases screen appears.

This screen contains:

Deleting a Database.

You will be asked to confirm before deletion.

Changing Fields.

Sometimes you may want to:

To do this:

The Change Fields screen contains:

Add opens the Add Field screen.

Edit opens the Edit Field screen for the selected field.

Moving Fields.

JAWS announces what happened.

For example:

Moved Rules Link above Expansion Owned

Saving Changes.

Control+S works in many places throughout the program, including:

Detailed Example: Creating a Books Database.

This example shows how to create a database for books you have read, are reading, or plan to read.

This example uses several different field types:

Starting the Books Database.

1. Open Leasey Database Manager with the Leasey key followed by Windows+D.

2. If no database exists yet, the Create Database screen opens automatically.

3. If another database is already open, press Control+M for Manage Databases.

4. Activate Add Database.

5. In the Database name edit field, type: Books

6. Press Tab to reach Add Field.

You are now ready to add the items of information which each book will contain.

Adding the Book Title Field.

1. Activate Add Field if you have not done so already.

2. The Add Field screen opens.

3. In the Field name edit field, type: Book title

4. Press Tab to reach Field type.

5. Leave Field type set to Edit Field.

Use Edit Field here because the title is normally one short line of text.

6. Press Tab to reach This field must contain information.

7. Press Space to check it.

The book title is important, so we do not want to save a book without one.

8. Press Tab to reach Show this field in results.

9. Press Space to check it.

This means the book title will be spoken in the Results list.

10. Press Tab to reach Help text JAWS will say when a field is focused.

11. Type: Type the name of the book.

12. Press Tab until you reach OK.

13. Press Enter.

JAWS says that the field has been added.

Adding the Author Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Author

3. Leave Field type set to Edit Field.

4. Check This field must contain information if you want every book to have an author.

5. Check Show this field in results.

Showing both Book title and Author in results is useful because many books can have similar titles.

6. In the Help text field, type: Type the author's name.

7. Activate OK.

Adding the Reading Status Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Reading status

3. Press Tab to reach Field type.

4. Use the Arrow keys to choose Combo Box.

Use Combo Box when you want to choose one answer from a fixed list.

5. Press Tab through the optional settings.

6. You can leave This field must contain information unchecked, or check it if you always want a status.

7. You may check Show this field in results if you want to hear the reading status as you move through books.

8. In the Help text field, type: Choose whether you have not started, are reading, or have finished the book.

9. Press Tab to reach Combo box choices.

10. Type the following choices, one per line:

11. Press Tab until you reach OK.

12. Press Enter.

Adding the Own This Book Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Own this book

3. Set Field type to Check Box.

Use Check Box for yes or no information.

4. In the Help text field, type: Check this if you own a copy of the book.

5. Activate OK.

Adding the Finished Reading Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Finished reading

3. Set Field type to Check Box.

4. In the Help text field, type: Check this when you have finished reading the book.

5. Activate OK.

Adding the Format Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Format

3. Set Field type to Combo Box.

4. In the Help text field, type: Choose the format of the book.

5. In Combo box choices, type:

6. Activate OK.

Adding the Year Published Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Year published

3. Set Field type to Whole Number.

Use Whole Number because a year should be a number without a decimal point.

4. In the Help text field, type: Type the year as four digits, for example 2024.

5. Activate OK.

Adding the Started Date Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Started date

3. Set Field type to Date.

4. In the Help text field, type: Type the date you started reading, for example 14/05/2026 or 05/14/2026.

5. Activate OK.

Adding the Finished Date Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Finished date

3. Set Field type to Date.

4. In the Help text field, type: Type the date you finished reading, if known.

5. Activate OK.

Adding the Web Page Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Web page

3. Set Field type to Link.

Use Link for a book page, author page, library page, file, or folder.

4. In the Help text field, type: Type or paste a web address for the book.

5. Activate OK.

Adding the Notes Field.

1. Activate Add Field.

2. In the Field name edit field, type: Notes

3. Set Field type to Multi-line Edit Field.

Use Multi-line Edit Field for longer notes.

4. In the Help text field, type: Type any notes, thoughts, quotations, or reminders about this book.

5. Activate OK.

Finishing the Books Database.

You are returned to the Create Database screen.

The Items of Information list now contains the fields you added.

You might hear items such as:

JAWS confirms that the database has been created.

Adding Your First Book.

After the Books database has been created, you can add your first book.

1. Activate Add Entry. You can also press Control+N.

2. The Add Entry screen opens.

3. In Book title, type: The Thursday Murder Club

4. Press Tab.

5. In Author, type: Richard Osman

6. Press Tab.

7. In Reading status, choose: Finished

8. Press Tab.

9. If you own the book, press Space on Own this book.

10. Press Tab.

11. If you have finished reading it, press Space on Finished reading.

12. Press Tab.

13. In Format, choose: Audio

14. Press Tab.

15. In Year published, type: 2020

16. Press Tab.

17. In Started date, type the date you started reading.

For example:

01/05/2026

18. Press Tab.

19. In Finished date, type the date you finished reading.

For example:

10/05/2026

20. Press Tab.

21. In Web page, type or paste a web address if you have one.

For example:

hartgenconsultancy.com

If you type a web address without https or http, Leasey Database Manager adds https automatically.

22. Press Tab.

23. In Notes, type anything you want to remember.

For example:

In the Notes field, you can press Enter to create a new line.

24. When the entry is complete, activate Save Entry. You can also press Control+S.

The book is saved and appears in the Results list.

Because Book title and Author were marked to show in results, the Results list should speak:

The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman

You can press Right Arrow to move from Book title to Author.

You can press Alt+Down Arrow while in the Author column to browse through authors without hearing the whole row each time.

If you then press Enter, the read only view opens for the last book spoken.

If you then press Alt+E, the last book spoken opens for editing.

Trying the Books Database.

Here are some things you can try after adding a few books:

Press Alt+Comma and choose Export Database to save the Books database as CSV or text.

Press Enter on a book in the Results list to read all its fields in the read only view.

Press Alt+E on a book in the Results list to edit it.

Press Delete on a book in the Results list to delete it.

Press Control+M, choose Books, and activate Change Fields if you later decide to add more information.

Export Database.

Leasey Database Manager lets you export the current database.

Exporting means saving a copy of the database in a format which can be used outside Leasey Database Manager.

This is useful if you want to:

Export does not remove anything from Leasey Database Manager. It simply creates a separate copy.

Opening the Tools Menu.

To export a database:

1. Open the database you want to export.

2. Press Alt+Comma.

The Tools menu opens.

3. Activate Export Database.

The standard Save dialog opens.

Choosing the Export Type.

CSV Export.

In the CSV file: The first row contains the field names. Each record appears on its own row. Each field appears in its own column.

For example, a Books database might export like this:

Check boxes are exported as:

Multi-line notes are preserved safely inside the CSV file.

Text Export.

Choose Text if you want a plain readable copy.

This is often easiest to review with a screen reader.

The text file is arranged record by record.

For example:

Books

Saving the File.

In the Save dialog:

When the export has finished, JAWS says:

Database exported

If the export cannot be completed, Leasey Database Manager shows an error message.

Important Notes.

Export is one way. It creates a copy for use outside the app.

At this stage, Leasey Database Manager does not import CSV or text files back into the database.

Your original database remains unchanged after export.

LeaseyCuts.

Leasey Command Centre and Where Am I.

Where Am I, activated with Control+Shift+I, is designed to give a brief summary as to where you are located within the focused application.

Leasey Command Centre is a searchable list of LeaseyCuts commands.

LeaseyCuts is a redesigned version of a long-standing Leasey feature.

It allows you to store quick access entries, called LeaseyCuts, for:

The purpose is to make frequently used places and resources easy to find again without having to remember where they are stored, search through File Explorer, or locate a web page manually.

For example, you might create LeaseyCuts for:

Starting LeaseyCuts.

The usual Leasey command for bringing LeaseyCuts into view is:

Leasey key then Control+L

This opens the main LeaseyCuts window.

When this command is used, LeaseyCuts opens with the Show Combo Box described below already set to files and folders.

There is also a command for showing only web page LeaseyCuts:

Leasey key then Control+Semicolon

When this latter command is used, LeaseyCuts opens with the Show Combo Box described below already set to Web pages.

The Main Window.

The main window contains:

The LeaseyCuts list is the most important control.

When the window opens, focus is placed in the list so you can immediately arrow through the available items.

This should give it a great deal of familiarity to existing Leasey users. So you press either the Leasey key then Control+L or the Leasey key then Control+Semicolon, and focus will be in the appropriate list immediately.

Each item in the list is spoken by JAWS.

If the current view includes files and folders, the item type is also included.

For example:

Decades Monday, Folder

Another Town Another Train, File

Hartgen Consultancy, Web page

This is useful because a file, folder and web page can sometimes have similar names.

Opening a LeaseyCut.

To open a LeaseyCut:

  1. Move to it in the LeaseyCuts list.
  2. Press Enter.

You can also activate the Open button.

If the item is a web page, it opens in your default web browser.

If the item is a file, Windows opens it using the usual program for that file type.

If the item is a folder, LeaseyCuts opens the folder using the method chosen in Options.

A Note to Leasey Users Preferring the Traditional Method for Working with Files and Folders.

Please work through this procedure to ensure Leasey displays LeaseyCuts in the more traditional method.

Open the Options dialog box. To open Options:

Press Control+Comma

Press Tab repeatedly to reach the Check Box Sort LeaseyCuts alphabetically automatically.

Check the box with the Space Bar and press Enter.

Folder Opening Options.

Folders can be opened in one of two ways:

You can choose the method in Options.

To open Options:

Press Control+Comma

If you choose File Explorer, folders open in the normal Windows way.

If you choose Leasey File Manager, folders open in Leasey File Manager instead.

This is helpful if you prefer Leasey File Manager for browsing folders because it is designed around the way Leasey users work with files.

Closing LeaseyCuts After Opening An Item.

Some people may like the LeaseyCuts window to remain open after launching an item.

This makes it easy to return to the list and open something else.

Other people prefer the older LeaseyCuts style, where there was no application window left behind.

For this reason, Options includes:

Close LeaseyCuts after launching an item

If this is checked, LeaseyCuts waits briefly after opening the selected item and then closes itself.

The short delay is intentional.

It gives the browser, file, or folder time to appear before LeaseyCuts closes, which can reduce unnecessary focus chatter from JAWS.

The Show Combo Box.

The Show combo box controls what kind of items are displayed.

The choices are:

You can switch the Show setting quickly from anywhere in the main window:

If All items is selected, the list contains every LeaseyCut.

If Files and folders is selected, only file and folder LeaseyCuts are shown.

If Web pages is selected, only web page LeaseyCuts are shown.

When you move through the choices in the Show combo box, focus stays in the combo box.

The list changes, but focus does not jump away unexpectedly.

You can press Tab or Alt+L to move to the LeaseyCuts list when you are ready.

The Category Combo Box.

LeaseyCuts can now be divided into categories.

This is one of the main changes from the older system.

You do not have to use categories.

If you prefer one straight list, you can continue to work that way.

The Category combo box lets you choose which category you want to see.

The choices include:

All categories shows everything in the current Show view.

Uncategorised shows items which are not currently assigned to a category.

Choosing a specific category shows only items in that category.

To move focus directly to the Category combo box:

Press Alt+C

Filtering.

The Filter edit box lets you narrow the current list.

To move to the Filter edit box:

Press Control+F

Type part of the name, target, or category.

For example:

tax

music

youtube

Monday

As you type, LeaseyCuts tells you how many matches there are and reads the first matching item.

For example:

2 matches. Retro Hits, Web page

Press Enter in the Filter edit box to move focus to the first result in the LeaseyCuts list.

The filter works within the current Show and Category selections.

For example, if Show is set to Web pages, the filter searches the visible web page LeaseyCuts.

Searching Everywhere.

Sometimes you may not know which category an item is in.

To search across all LeaseyCuts:

Press Control+Shift+F

Type the text you want to find and press Enter.

A list of matching items is displayed.

Move through the results with Up and Down Arrow.

Press Enter on the item you want.

The item is launched immediately.

This is different from the normal Filter edit box.

Control+F filters the current list.

Control+Shift+F searches everywhere.

Creating a New LeaseyCut.

This can be done in one of two ways.

Method 1, manually from the LeaseyCuts main window.

Useful for Trainers like me who want to set up a whole block of these quickly for a user.

To create a new LeaseyCut:

Find the position in the list where you would like the LeaseyCut to be inserted. The LeaseyCut you are about to create will appear immediately below the focused item. If you have checked the box relating to sorting LeaseyCuts automatically, this is academic.

Press Control+N

The New LeaseyCut dialog opens.

The controls appear in this order:

The type radio buttons are:

If you are creating a file or folder LeaseyCut, you can use the Browse buttons.

Alternatively, you can type or paste a full path of the item in the Target edit field.

If you are creating a web page LeaseyCut, type or paste the web address into the Target field.

The Name is what appears in the LeaseyCuts list.

The Target is the actual file path, folder path, or web address which will be opened.

However you have chosen to enter the target, you do not need to Tab through the remaining controls in the dialog if you do not wish to do so. Simply press Enter when focused on the field. This makes adding LeaseyCuts very quick and efficient.

Method 2, Creating a LeaseyCut Using the Existing Leasey Method.

Leasey can also start LeaseyCuts in a special create mode.

As before,

  1. Focus upon the item you want. This can either be in File Explorer, Leasey File Manager or a web page.
  2. Press the Leasey key followed by Control+S which is the standard keystroke in the product.

After a short pause, a dialog box will appear which will contain:

  1. Hopefully the correct name of the web page, file or folder. You can change this to something more to your taste if necessary. As per the old system, the name is just for your reference.
  2. a Target field. Press Tab to reach it. This contains the location of the file, folder or URL so you can check it.

Press Enter to save.

If by some remote chance you haven't obeyed the above instructions, for example if you have not first located the item for which you wish to create a shortcut, the New LeaseyCut dialog still opens, but the user can enter the details manually.

Editing a LeaseyCut.

To edit an existing LeaseyCut:

  1. Move to it in the LeaseyCuts list.
  2. Activate the Edit button.

You can change:

Activate the OK button to save the changes.

Renaming a LeaseyCut.

To rename an item quickly:

  1. Move to it in the LeaseyCuts list.
  2. Press F2.

Type the new name and press Enter.

Deleting a LeaseyCut.

To delete a LeaseyCut:

  1. Move to it in the LeaseyCuts list.
  2. Press Delete.

You can also activate the Delete button.

A confirmation message is displayed.

The Yes button has focus by default.

This makes deletion efficient, but still ensures that an item is not removed without confirmation.

Moving Items Into Categories.

To move a LeaseyCut into a category:

  1. Move to it in the LeaseyCuts list.
  2. Press Control+M

The Move to Category dialog opens.

Choose the category and press Enter.

If you choose Top level, the item is removed from any category and becomes uncategorised.

Creating a New Category.

To create a new category:

Press Control+Shift+N

Type the category name and press Enter.

The category then becomes available in the Category combo box and in the Move to Category dialog.

Moving Items Up and Down.

This is not available if the Check Box has been checked within the Options dialog box to sort alphabetically.

The order of items in the list can be changed manually.

To move an item up:

Press Alt+U

To move an item down:

Press Alt+D

JAWS announces what happened.

For example:

Moving Decades Monday above J-Say

This is useful if you want your most important items near the top of a category or list.

Sorting Alphabetically.

To sort the current list alphabetically:

Press Control+Shift+S

Only the current visible list is sorted.

For example, if you are viewing one category, sorting affects the items in that category view.

Copying The Target.

Sometimes you may want the actual file path, folder path, or web address rather than opening it.

To copy the target of the focused LeaseyCut:

Press Control+C

The target is copied to the clipboard.

For example, this could copy:

H:\Documents\Letters

or

https://www.hartgenconsultancy.com

Presets.

You can assign up to 10 frequently used LeaseyCuts as presets.

To assign a preset:

  1. Move to the LeaseyCut in the list.
  2. Press Alt+P.
  3. Choose the preset number and press Enter on Add preset or Change preset.

To launch a preset:

The Presets dialog also lets you delete an assigned preset.

Typing A Folder Path.

There is also a Leasey command for typing a stored folder path into an edit field.

This is useful in places such as a Save As dialog or an Attach File dialog.

To type a folder path:

  1. Move to the edit field where the path should be inserted.
  2. Press the Leasey key then Control+P.

A list of folder LeaseyCuts appears.

Choose the folder you want and press Enter.

JAWS types the folder path into the edit field.

For example:

H:\Documents\Letters

Options.

To open Options:

Press Control+Comma

Options contains:

Importing From Previous LeaseyCuts.

The first time the new LeaseyCuts runs, it automatically tries to import items from the previous LeaseyCuts system.

This is automatic because most users will expect their existing LeaseyCuts to be available without doing anything special.

LeaseyCuts keeps a note that the first automatic import has been attempted.

It will not keep importing the same old items every time the program starts.

If you need to try the import again:

  1. Open Options with Control+Comma.
  2. Activate Import from Previous LeaseyCuts.

The manual import avoids creating duplicate items where possible.

Leasey Spell Check.

Leasey Spell Check gives JAWS users a consistent way of checking spelling in plain text, regardless of which application was used to write the text.

To use it:

  1. Copy to the clipboard the text you want to check.
  2. Press the Leasey Key followed by ALT+F7.

Leasey Spell Check checks the text currently on the clipboard.

If spelling corrections are made, the corrected text is copied back to the clipboard when the process is complete.

You can then paste the corrected text back into the original application.

If there are no spelling errors, Leasey Spell Check advises that no spelling errors were found.

In that case, the text is not copied back to the clipboard again because it is already there.

The spell checker is for spelling only.

It does not check grammar.

The app supports UK and US English dictionaries.

The dictionary is changed from Options.

To open Options, press Control+Comma.

Options also contains the usual Data location field.

This allows the writable data for Leasey Spell Check to be stored in another location, such as OneDrive, Dropbox, a network drive, or a portable drive.

The Main Spell Checking Window.

The main spell checking window contains:

When a misspelled word is found, JAWS should say the word and then the word is spelled out.

When moving through the suggestions list with Up and Down Arrow, JAWS reads the suggestion, and Leasey Spell Check spells it shortly afterwards.

From the suggestions list, press Enter to accept the focused suggestion.

The Replacement edit field can also be used to type a correction manually.

Change replaces the current word, ALT+C.

Change All replaces all further occurrences of the same word, ALT+A.

Ignore skips the current word, ALT+I.

Ignore All skips all further occurrences of the same word, ALT+G.

Add adds the word to the personal dictionary, ALT+D.

All of these buttons have shortcut keys if you care to use them which JAWS will announce if you have JAWS set to announce shortcut keys, which is always a good idea.

Press Control+R to hear the current sentence without moving focus to the Context field.

Pressing Escape does not close Leasey Spell Check.

Use the Cancel button if you want to close without completing the check. You can also close the Spell Checker by pressing ALT+F4.

Talk to ChatGPT.

Talk to ChatGPT can be found on the Chat Menu, Leasey Key then M.

This is a new experimental way of talking to ChatGPT using your voice.

It is intended for quick spoken questions and spoken answers, including questions where current information may be needed.

For example, you might ask about the weather, a recent news item, or a general question.

When the window opens, focus is placed in the Your question edit field.

This is deliberate.

The best way to use this feature is to stay in that edit field rather than tabbing through the controls.

The main window contains:

When focus is in the Your question edit field:

Press Alt+T to start talking.

Leasey should say:

Start talking

Speak your question.

When you stop speaking, the app should detect the pause and send the question to ChatGPT.

You do not normally need to press the Talk to ChatGPT button a second time.

When the question has been sent, Leasey should say:

ChatGPT is thinking

If the answer takes a little while, Leasey will repeat:

ChatGPT is thinking

approximately every ten seconds.

When the answer is ready, ChatGPT should begin speaking.

JAWS focus should remain in the Your question edit field.

This is intentional, because it prevents unnecessary focus announcements from JAWS while the answer is being received.

If you want to interrupt the spoken answer and ask something else:

Press Alt+S.

Alt+S stops the current speech and immediately starts listening again.

Leasey should say:

Start talking

You can then speak the next question.

Typing a Question Instead.

You can also type a question in the Your question edit field.

Press Control+Enter to send it.

This is useful if you are in a noisy room, if the microphone is not convenient, or if you want to ask something which is easier to type than speak.

Continuous Conversation.

There is a Continuous conversation check box.

If this is checked, after ChatGPT has finished speaking an answer, the app starts listening again automatically.

You can then speak the next question without pressing Alt+T.

If you want to stop the spoken answer and begin a new question immediately, press Alt+S.

Some testers may prefer to leave Continuous conversation unchecked at first.

In that case, press Alt+T each time you want to speak to ChatGPT.

Reading and Copying Answers.

The spoken answer is also placed in the Answer edit field.

Because focus remains in the Your question edit field, you may need to Tab to the Answer edit field if you want to review the answer manually.

The Transcript edit field contains the conversation so far.

This includes the questions and answers in order.

Use the Copy answer button if you want to copy the current answer to the clipboard.

Use the Clear button to clear the current conversation.

Options.

Press Control+Comma to open Options.

Options contains an Assistant voice combo box.

Use Up and Down Arrow to move through the available voices.

Changing the combo box selection does not automatically preview the voice.

This is deliberate so that you can move through the voices without unexpected speech.

To hear the selected voice, Tab to the Preview button and press Enter or Space.

When you have chosen the voice you want, Tab to the OK button and press Space.

Notes for Beta Testers.

This is a voice conversation feature, but it is not quite the same as speaking to a person on a telephone.

There may be a short pause while your speech is transcribed, while ChatGPT thinks, and while the spoken answer is prepared.

The app has been designed to keep JAWS as quiet as possible.

In normal use, focus should remain in the Your question edit field.

You should mainly hear:

Start talking

ChatGPT is thinking

and then the spoken answer.

If silence detection does not behave as expected, you can still use the Talk to ChatGPT button or Alt+T as a controlled way to begin recording.

If speech is currently playing and you want to ask something else, use Alt+S.

The quality of the spoken answer may depend on the selected voice.

Try the voices in Options to find the one you prefer.

The feature uses the OpenAI API key already used by Leasey ChatGPT features.

Data Migration and Check for Updates.

For anyone who has already moved data of some apps, perhaps to a Dropbox folder, you should make a backup of your existing data in the event there is a difficulty.

Check for Updates.

In terms of being notified of a new update or checking for an update, there are no changes.

You will hear about updates automatically if the setting is enabled.

Press the Leasey key then H and select the first item, Check for Updates.

Once this is done, that is where the changes occur.

If an update is available, it will ask if you would like to install it. Press Enter on the Yes button.

The installer will be downloaded to the computer. This is a very lightweight installer so it should not take long. It is by no means the full installer.

The installer itself requires minimal interaction from the user. Just press Enter to begin installing the update.

When it is complete, press Enter again to terminate the installation, whereupon JAWS should restart.

Data Migration and Settings Backup.

Data migration is the process whereby you can change the location of the folder the various apps use, so you can use the same settings across devices.

  1. Press the Leasey key then Control+Shift+B for the Backup and Restore Manager.
  2. Select the first item to backup and restore Leasey and JAWS settings.
  3. The LeaseyData Manager appears. It contains several controls you can work through using the Tab key.
  1. A location edit field. This is the most important. A folder called LeaseyData is going to be created under the folder you specify. For example, if you wanted to store the data in Dropbox, you should specify the path in the root of Dropbox. In my case that would be:
    C:\Users\brian\Hartgen Consultancy Dropbox\brian hartgen
  2. A Browse button is available in the event you do not wish to enter the path.
  3. The next button is, Backup Leasey Settings and use this location. Having entered the path in the previous steps, you will press Enter to activate this button.
  4. For the regular users, this next step will not concern them. If we think you already have data in that location, we're going to ask if you want to use that data or copy over from Drive C. So listen to the question being asked and respond appropriately and carefully.
  5. The data location is changed for all apps and older Leasey settings are copied for backup and restoration purposes.
  1. How do you know if it has done the job correctly?
    Move into the apps you use, activate Options with Control+Comma, and you should be able to verify the path it is now using for the data.
  2. There are other buttons in the Data Manager screen.
  1. Restore Leasey Settings to Standard Location. This does exactly what it says. The new data location will be drive C again.
  2. Backup JAWS Settings. This will take a copy of your JAWS settings, notification rules and voice profiles. It will back them up to the location specified in the previous steps.
    Now, in time this may not be necessary. Vispero are introducing a feature in time where you will be able to synchronise JAWS settings between devices. To my mind, this could have serious implications and in the UK, it may be some time before I can even test it. So our method is good for the time being.
  3. Restore JAWS Settings . Will copy JAWS settings etc from the backup back to JAWS again in the event they need to be restored.