This application contains three methods for obtaining help at any time.
Context Sensitive Help is available for each control within the application.
When focused upon a control, press Insert+F1 (or Caps Lock+F1) if using the JAWS laptop layout.
An Edit Field is available containing the help information. It will briefly describe the purpose of the focused control together with keystrokes you can use.
Press the Arrow keys to read the help and press Escape to cancel. This will return you back to the control which previously had focus.
Press Control+Shift+C or Insert+H to open Leasey Command Centre.
The dialog contains:
Press the Tab key to move through the controls.
Focus starts in the Command Edit Field.
Type part of a command name, shortcut, or related word to filter the list.
If the Command Edit Field is empty, pressing Tab moves to the Matching commands list and shows all available commands.
If you have typed text into the Edit Field, the list shows only commands matching the search term.
Use Up and Down Arrow to move through the list.
You will hear the command name, followed by the corresponding shortcut key.
The list therefore serves two purposes. You can press Enter on a command to carry it out, and you can learn the shortcut key for quicker access next time you need to use it.
Press Control+Shift+I for Where Am I. You will receive a succinct summary of where you are located within the focused application.
Leasey Word is an accessible word processor and document reading tool.
Its purpose is to provide a reliable writing and document searching environment with strong JAWS feedback, predictable keyboard use, bookmarks, spell checking, backups, and accessible rendering of common document formats.
To expand on this further, you can write documents in Leasey Word. You can search for text, bookmark passages, select text and carry out many operations that could be accomplished with a basic word processing application.
However, as can be seen below, it also gives you the ability to be able to open documents in many different file formats. Where possible, the text is presented in an accessible way. Those rendered documents which have been converted can be edited and saved.
In summary, this is not a traditional book reader. When opening and interpreting documents, Leasey Word will render the text in a format where it can be edited if necessary.
Leasey Word includes basic formatting support while preserving strong speech and Braille feedback.
This is a word processor which accomplishes many tasks with a high consideration to both speech and Braille-based output. It is meant to be fast and efficient.
Leasey Word is useful when you want a writing or reading environment which has been designed around JAWS from the beginning.
Many people use large word processors very successfully, but they can be more complicated than necessary for everyday writing, reading, searching, checking or extracting text. Leasey Word is intended to give you a dependable place to work with documents without being distracted by features you do not need at that moment.
It is especially useful for:
What you will notice very quickly is that this is a word processor which does not present you with a bewildering array of options which either you may not use or you do not know what to do with. All the features you can enjoy using with Leasey Word have logical shortcut keys which are quite easy to remember. You should be able to load up Leasey Word very quickly, with or without a document, and be able to use it right away with the minimum of effort. And for a program designed to write documents, that is exactly what you want. You should not have to think too much just to get something written down. Those options that we do have can be found in the Options Dialog Box, activated with Control+Comma.
We will divide this chapter into two parts. First, the essential tasks; those which you may need every day. For most users, the tasks described in part 1 may well be all you want to do: opening and saving files, spell checking, finding text, and bookmarking passages of text to return to later.
Part 2 will be the more advanced tasks including working with PDF files, navigating structured documents, using ChatGPT and other enhanced utilities.
This entire Leasey User Guide has been written using Leasey Word.
So, let's get started!
Press the Leasey Key followed by Windows+W. You should find it launches quickly.
Leasey Word opens with a blank document.
The main editing area is a Rich Edit Field.
This gives Leasey Word better word navigation around punctuation, as well as basic formatting support.
The window title contains the current document name.
If the document has unsaved changes, an asterisk is shown after the document name.
For example:
test.txt * - Leasey Word
This means Insert+T (or Caps Lock+T) in JAWS should tell you which document is active and whether it is modified.
The main window contains the document text Edit Field.
Use this field to type, read, edit and search document text.
Leasey Word can have more than one document open.
There are no visible document tabs for normal use, because repeated tab announcements can be distracting with JAWS.
Instead, use Control+F6 to move to the next open document.
You can also press Control+Tab. Use Control+Shift+F6 to move to the previous open document.
You can also press Control+Shift+Tab. When you switch documents, focus moves to the active document text.
The window title identifies the active document which JAWS will announce automatically.
The status bar shows the current line number, column number, word count and whether the document is saved or modified. This is rarely used because, as we will discover, there are better ways of obtaining that information.
If the current document contains real page markers, such as an extracted PDF, it also shows the current page.
The Menu Bar allows you to access each and every option within the application.
Press the Alt key by itself to access the menu bar, followed by all four arrow keys to explore the menu structure. Many people are very used to this approach.
Press Control+F4 to close the current document.
You can also press Control+W.
If the document has unsaved changes, Leasey Word asks whether you want to save it.
Yes is the default Button. You can press letter Y for Yes, N for No, or just press Enter to save the changes. Press Alt+F4 to exit Leasey Word.
Leasey Word checks each open document for unsaved changes.
When you have answered any save prompts, all open documents are closed.
Unlike many other text editors, Leasey Word does not automatically reopen the previous set of documents on the next launch. This is a distinct advantage as it means that when you launch the application next time, you will not overwrite any existing text in a document which may have inadvertently been opened.
Press Control+N.
A new blank document is opened.
JAWS should announce:
New document
Press Control+Shift+N.
If the Windows clipboard contains text, Leasey Word opens a new unsaved document containing that text.
JAWS should announce:
New document from clipboard
This is useful if you have copied text from a web page, email, chat message or another document.
Step 1. Select and copy the text in the original application.
Step 2. Open Leasey Word by pressing the Leasey Key then Windows+W.
Step 3. Press Control+Shift+N.
Leasey Word opens a new unsaved document containing the clipboard text.
Step 4. Read, edit, save, summarise or search the text as required.
This is a fast way of turning copied text into something you can work with properly.
To open a document.
Step 1. Press Control+O.
Step 2. This is a standard Open dialog box common to many Windows computing applications. Type a file name including full path if necessary. You can also browse to a file if you prefer to do that. Press Enter when the file is located.
Leasey Word can open:
Editable text-based documents are opened as editable text in the document Edit Field. This includes HTML, which is opened as source code so that it can be edited directly.
Other document types are rendered as plain text where possible, making them easier to read, search, copy and save in an accessible way.
For editable text-based formats such as plain text, log, cue sheet, INI, JAWS configuration, JAWS keymap, JSON, PHP, Markdown and HTML files, Control+S can save back to the same file.
For formats such as PDF, EPUB, Word, PowerPoint and RTF, Control+S opens Save As so that the original source document is not overwritten by extracted text.
When Save As opens for an extracted format such as PDF, Leasey Word suggests a text filename rather than the original PDF filename.
Press Control+S.
If the document already has a writable file name, it is saved.
If it is a new document, or if the source format should not be overwritten, Save As is opened.
When an existing writable document is saved, JAWS should announce:
Saved followed by the file name.
Press Control+Shift+S.
The Save dialog supports:
If you have chosen a default save format in Options, Save As will normally open with that format already selected for new documents. You will find this in the first tabbed page entitled "Opening and Saving".
For example, if you usually want to compose documents as Microsoft Word documents, set the default save format to Word document. Then, when you press Control+S in a new document, the Save dialog will be ready to save as DOCX unless the document already has another suitable file type.
To save the current document as a Microsoft Word document, use Save As and choose:
Word document
The file extension is DOCX.
This is useful if you have written a document in Leasey Word and want to send it to someone who expects to receive a Microsoft Word file.
Leasey Word attempts to preserve:
This means that if you have selected text and applied bold, italic, underline, alignment such as centring, a font name or a point size, those settings should be included in the saved Word document where possible.
This is not intended to replace every advanced formatting feature in Microsoft Word. It is intended to give Leasey Word users a practical way of producing a basic Word document without leaving the accessible writing environment.
To save a document as DOCX:
Step 1. Write or open the document in Leasey Word.
Step 2. Apply any basic formatting you require, such as bold, italic, underline, font face or point size.
Step 3. Press Control+S or Control+Shift+S.
Step 4. Type the file name. You can include the full path if that is your preference. This is a standard Windows Save dialog box common to many computing applications.
Step 5. Press Tab to reach the Combo Box of file formats.
Step 6. Press Down Arrow to reach Word document.
Step 7. Tab to the Save Button and press Enter or Space.
If you open the file again, and formatting has been applied, you should be able to still verify it is in place.
Leasey Word normally uses the standard Windows Open and Save dialogs.
If you prefer a simpler browsing experience:
Step 1. Open Options with Control+Comma.
Step 2. You are focused upon the Opening and Saving Tabbed Page described later in this chapter.
Step 3. Press the Tab key until you reach the Check Box entitled "Use simplified Open and Save dialogs".
Step 4. Press the Space Bar to check this box.
Step 5. Press Enter to save the changes.
When this option is checked, Control+O, Control+S and Control+Shift+S use Leasey Word's simplified dialogs.
The simplified Open and Save dialogs contain:
To use the simplified Open dialog:
Step 1. Press Control+O.
Step 2. Type or paste a full path into the Path Edit Field if you know it.
Step 3. Alternatively, press Tab to reach the Folder list.
Step 4. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through folders and files.
Step 5. Press Enter on a folder to open it.
Step 6. Press Enter on a file to open that file.
Press Backspace to move back one folder.
When you press Backspace, focus returns to the folder you just entered.
If you are at the root of a drive, such as C:\, pressing Backspace moves to the list of drives.
Press Enter on a drive to open it.
You can also type the first few letters of a folder or file name.
To use the simplified Save dialog:
Step 1. Press Control+S or Control+Shift+S.
Step 2. Type or paste a full path into the Path Edit Field if you know it. If you type just a document name, it will be saved using the preferred file format and folder location stored in Options. We will discuss this later in the chapter. If that is what you want to do, you can press Enter now and the document is saved.
Step 3. Alternatively, press Tab to reach the Save as Type Combo Box.
Step 4. Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to select a file format. This is particularly important in the case of saving to the .docx Microsoft word format. Leasey Word needs to carry out additional work to save into this file format. Changing the file extension alone is not enough.
Step 5. If you wish to browse to an alternative folder, press Tab to reach the Folder list.
Step 6. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through folders.
Step 7. Press Enter on a folder to open it.
Press Backspace to move back one folder.
When you press Backspace, focus returns to the folder you just entered.
If you are at the root of a drive, such as C:\, pressing Backspace moves to the list of drives.
Press Enter on a drive to open it.
You can also type the first few letters of a folder name.
Step 8. To save the file, when you are inside the required folder, press Tab once to reach the Save Button.
Step 9. Press enter or Space.
In order to print a document, press Control+P.
Leasey Word opens the standard Windows Print dialog.
Choose the printer and any other options, then press Enter or Space on the Print Button. Leasey Word prints the current document text.
To open a recently accessed file:
Step 1. Open the File menu with Alt+F. Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to find Recent Files, then press Enter. You can shortcut this slightly by pressing Alt+F then R.
Step 2. A list of recent files is shown.
Step 3. Press Down Arrow to choose a file and press Enter.
Leasey Word keeps the last 10 recent files by default.
To change this, open Options with Control+Comma and change the Number of recent files setting.
The value can be set from 5 to 50.
If there are no recent files, JAWS should announce:
No recent files
To find text in a document:
Step 1. Press Control+F.
Step 2. Type the text to find and press Enter.
Step 3. If the text is found, Leasey Word selects it in the document Edit Field and speaks the line containing the match.
For example:
Found on line 12: roast beef.
If the text is not found, JAWS should announce:
Text not found
Step 4. To search backwards using the same Find dialog, press Control+Shift+F.
The Find dialog also keeps a history of the 10most recently used searches. This is persistent across documents. So if you had searched for a text string in one document, you can easily carry it out in another.
When the Find dialog opens, focus is in the Find text Edit Field.
This means you can immediately type a new search.
If you want to use a previous search:
Step 1. Press Control+F.
Step 2. Press Shift+Tab to move to Find history.
Step 3. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to review recent search strings.
Step 4. Press Enter on the search string you want.
Leasey Word closes the dialog and searches for that text.
Press F3 to find the next occurrence.
Press Shift+F3 to find the previous occurrence.
The matching text is selected and JAWS speaks the line containing the match.
To replace a text string with an alternative:
Step 1. Press Control+H.
Step 2. Type the text to find.
Step 3. Press Tab to the Replace with field and type the replacement text.
Step 4. Press Enter.
JAWS should announce:
Replaced followed by the number of occurrences.
For example:
Replaced 3 occurrences
If the text is not found, JAWS should announce:
Text not found
Press Control+Delete to delete the next word.
Press Control+Backspace to delete the previous word.
After the word is deleted, JAWS announces the newly focused word.
If there is no word to announce, you should hear the word "Blank".
blank
The deletion is placed into the normal edit control undo history.
Press Control+Z to undo it.
JAWS itself should report the undo action, so Leasey Word does not add an extra Undo message.
It is possible that you wish to change the text capitalisation, perhaps to upper or lower case.
Step 1. Select text if you only want to change part of the document.
If no text is selected, the whole document is changed.
Step 2. Press Control+Alt+U for upper case.
Press Control+Alt+L for lower case.
Press Control+Alt+T for title case. Title case means the first character of each word is capitalised.
JAWS should announce what happened.
For example:
Leasey Word includes basic formatting commands.
Select text if you want to format part of the document.
If no text is selected, the formatting applies to text typed from the cursor position.
Press Control+B to toggle bold.
JAWS should announce:
Bold on
or:
JAWS should announce:
Italic on
or:
JAWS should announce:
Underline on
or:
Underline off
You can always check the formatting by pressing JAWS Key+F.
Press Control+D to open the Font dialog.
You can move through the Font dialog by pressing the Tab key.
The Font dialog contains:
Use the Font field to choose or type a font name. You can use first letter navigation or press Down Arrow.
Use Point size to choose a size between 6 and 96. To change the font, type a value directly or use Up or Down Arrow keys.
Use Style to choose Regular, Bold, Italic or Bold Italic. Press the Down Arrow key.
Use Underline to include or remove underlining. Press the Space Bar.
If you Tab to OK and press Enter or Space, the formatting is applied to the selected text or to text typed from the cursor position.
JAWS should announce:
Font applied
If you activate the Set as Default Button, the chosen font settings are used for new documents.
JAWS should announce:
Default font saved
Select text if you want to align part of the document.
If no text is selected, the alignment applies to text typed from the cursor position.
JAWS should announce:
When you change formatting or text alignment in the document, you are able to verify the change by placing the cursor on any of the words and pressing JAWS Key+F. JAWS speaks and Brailles the formatting information.
If you are saving the file in Microsoft Word format, those settings are preserved. This means that when you open the document subsequently, and you use JAWS to verify the formatting information, you should find everything as it was before.
However, that is not the case with a plain text document. When you save a document as plain text, that is exactly what it is; plain text without formatting. If you have changed the font size or style, this is no longer reflected.
If you want the formatting to be preserved, you need to do this:
Step 1. Press Control+Comma for the Options Dialog Box.
Step 2. You are now in the Opening and Saving tabbed page. Press the Tab key until you reach the Check Box entitled "Create Leasey formatted file for plain text formatting".
Step 3. Press the Space Bar to check this box.
Step 4. Press Enter to save.
What is the effect of what we have just done?
If you make formatting changes after this point, they are stored in a special file which lives elsewhere in the Leasey Word program. Whenever you open the plain text document thereafter, it will check to see if there is a corresponding Leasey Formatted file containing the formatting information. If there is, it will apply the formatting again to your text file. You do not need to do anything special; it happens in the background. But it is important you understand what is happening because additional small files are being created on your computer.
In summary, preserving formatting for plain text files is only necessary if you do not wish to save a document in Microsoft Word .docx format. Even then, it is only critical if you are certain you wish to preserve formatting. If you are just working with plain text files on your computer, and you have no intention of working with formatting, this Check Box should remain unchecked.
It is worth noting that if the text file has been edited in another program, Leasey Word opens it as plain text rather than applying formatting to the wrong text.
If for whatever reason you wish to remove the Leasey Formatted files, we discuss this later when working through the Options Dialog Box. Removing the format files does not remove the original text files on the computer. It just means that formatting will no longer be preserved for those documents.
To spell check a document, press F7.
If text is selected, Leasey Word checks only the selected text.
If no text is selected, Leasey Word checks the whole document from the beginning.
Leasey Word uses the LeaseySpell spelling component.
If the LeaseySpell settings do not specify a language, Leasey Word detects the Windows regional setting.
For example, United States English uses US spelling, while United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India use UK spelling.
The Spell Check dialog contains:
The main spell checking keystrokes are:
When a misspelled word is found, JAWS should announce:
Misspelled word followed by the word and its letters.
For example:
When a suggestion is selected, JAWS speaks the letters of that suggestion after a short delay.
When the Spell Check dialog first moves to a misspelled word, JAWS also spells the first suggestion automatically.
Press Enter or Alt+C on a suggestion to change the current word to that suggestion.
Press Delete or Alt+I to ignore the current spelling issue.
Press Control+R to read the sentence containing the current misspelled word.
Press Alt+A for Change All.
Press Alt+G for Ignore All.
Press Alt+D to add the word to the Exceptions Dictionary.
Press Alt+F to finish spell checking.
These are keystrokes standard to many spell checking tools.
If you wish to type your own corrected spelling, press Tab to move to the Replacement Edit Field and edit the text. Then press Enter or Alt+C to change the current word to the text in the Replacement Edit Field.
Press Escape to cancel spell checking.
When Escape is pressed, focus returns to the document.
Words ignored with Ignore All stay ignored while the document remains open.
Ordinal numbers such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 13th are not treated as spelling errors.
Contractions such as don't, wouldn't and shouldn't are treated as whole words.
If no spelling errors are found, a standard message is displayed saying no spelling errors were found.
Use Change when the current word is wrong in this one place and you want to replace only this occurrence.
Step 1. When a misspelled word is announced, move through the Suggestions list with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.
Step 2. When you hear the correct suggestion, press Enter.
Leasey Word replaces the current word and moves to the next spelling issue.
Step 3. If none of the suggestions are correct, press Tab to move to the Replacement Edit Field.
Step 4. Type the correct spelling.
Step 5. Press Enter, or Tab to Change and press Enter or Space.
Use Change All when the same incorrect word appears several times in the text and should always be corrected in the same way.
For example, if you have repeatedly typed accomodation instead of accommodation, Change All can save time.
Step 1. When the misspelled word is shown, choose the correct suggestion or type the correction in the Replacement Edit Field.
Step 2. Press Alt+A, or Tab to Change All and press Enter or Space.
Step 3. Leasey Word changes this occurrence and automatically changes later matching occurrences during the same spell check.
Use Ignore when the current word is acceptable in this one place, but you do not want to add it to the dictionary.
Use Ignore All when the same word appears several times and should be accepted throughout this spell check only.
For example, a project code, a temporary abbreviation, or a made-up name in a story may not need to be stored permanently.
Step 1. When the word is reported, listen to the word and its spelling.
Step 2. Press Delete or Alt+I to ignore this occurrence.
Step 3. If the word should be ignored for the rest of this spell check, press Alt+G instead.
Use Add when the word is correct and you expect to use it again.
Names of people, towns, products and companies are often reported as spelling mistakes even when they are correct.
Step 1. Press F7 to invoke Spell Check if it is not already active.
Step 2. When the word is reported, listen carefully as JAWS speaks and spells it.
Step 3. If the word is correct, press Alt+D, or Tab to the Add Button and press Enter or Space.
The word is added to your personal dictionary. Leasey Word should not report it as an error in future.
Sometimes a word may be spelled correctly in one context but not another. It can help to hear the sentence.
Step 1. When a misspelled word is shown, press Control+R.
Step 2. JAWS reads the current sentence without moving focus away from the current control.
This helps you decide whether to change the word, ignore it, or type your own replacement.
Press Control+Shift+E to open the Misspelled Words dialog.
If text is selected, Leasey Word lists possible spelling errors in the selected text.
If no text is selected, Leasey Word lists possible spelling errors in the whole document.
The Misspelled Words dialog contains a single list of words.
Each entry gives the word and the line on which it was found.
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+E.
Step 2. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to review the list of possible spelling errors.
Step 3. Press Enter on a word.
Leasey Word closes the dialog and moves to that word in the document.
This is useful when you want an overview of the likely spelling errors before deciding whether to run the full Spell Check command with F7.
Press Control+Shift+M to turn Live Spelling Alerts on or off.
This is a typing assistant.
It does not replace the full Spell Check command available by pressing F7, nor moving to each new misspelling in turn as discussed elsewhere in this document.
When Live Spelling Alerts are on, Leasey Word checks each completed word as you type.
If the word appears to be misspelled, Leasey Word plays a buzzer sound.
No speech is used for the misspelling alert while typing.
This keeps the typing experience fast and avoids interrupting the text being written.
JAWS should announce:
Live spelling alerts on
or:
Live spelling alerts off
Live Spelling Alerts are remembered for the next time Leasey Word starts.
The feature skips ordinal numbers such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 13th, and treats contractions such as don't, wouldn't and shouldn't as whole words.
It also tries to avoid checking web addresses, email addresses, Markdown code, and obvious HTML or source-code lines.
Moving by Spelling Error.
The following commands can be used from the document Edit Field without turning on Quick Navigation Mode discussed later:
When a spelling error is found, Leasey Word selects it and JAWS announces:
Misspelled word followed by the word and its letters.
Sometimes a word is flagged as misspelled even though it is correct. This may happen with names, product names, technical terms or specialised vocabulary.
To add the focused word or selected word to the personal spelling dictionary, press Control+M.
JAWS should announce:
Word added
To remove the focused word or selected word from the personal spelling dictionary, press Control+Shift+D.
JAWS should announce:
Word removed
This can be useful if you added a word by mistake.
Press Control+Shift+W.
Leasey Word opens a Word Count dialog containing the number of words, characters, paragraphs and lines.
The information is in a read-only Edit Field so it can be reviewed with the Arrow keys.
JAWS should also announce the number of words, characters and paragraphs in the current document.
For example:
Document has 245 words, 1320 characters, 6 paragraphs
After the usual word count information, there is a blank line followed by document position information.
This can help you work out how far through a long document you are.
The position information contains:
If the document does not have page markers, the page line says Page information is not available.
To set a bookmark:
Step 1. Move to the position in the document you want to mark.
Step 2. Press Control+K.
Step 3. Type a bookmark name and press Enter.
JAWS should announce:
Bookmark followed by the bookmark name, then set.
For example:
Bookmark Chapter 3 set
Leasey Word stores the bookmark position, the line number, and nearby text around the bookmark.
This helps the bookmark follow the intended text if other text is inserted above it later.
When locating a bookmark, Leasey Word first searches for the exact line where the bookmark was set.
If that line cannot be found, it falls back to the saved line number.
Moving to a Bookmark.
To move to a bookmark:
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+G.
Step 2. The Bookmarks dialog opens.
Move through the bookmarks with Down Arrow.
You can also press the first letter of a bookmark name to move quickly through the list.
Step 3. Press Enter to move to the selected bookmark.
JAWS should announce:
Bookmark followed by the bookmark name.
If the original position no longer contains the expected text, Leasey Word searches for the stored nearby text.
If it finds that text, it moves to the new position and updates the bookmark.
If the text cannot be found, Leasey Word falls back to the saved line number and announces that the position is approximate.
To delete a bookmark:
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+G.
Step 2. Press Down Arrow to select the bookmark or type its initial letter.
Step 3. Press Delete.
JAWS should announce:
Bookmark followed by the bookmark name, then deleted.
A temporary bookmark is useful when you are writing or editing in one part of a document but need to quickly check something elsewhere.
A good example would be as follows. You are reading a User Guide and it advises you to refer to another page for clarification information on a specific point. You can set a temporary bookmark before navigating to the referenced page. You can then move back to the original position later.
The temporary bookmark is not shown in the Bookmarks dialog and it is not intended to be a permanent marker.
Each open document has its own temporary bookmark.
To set a temporary bookmark:
Step 1. Move to the position you want to return to.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+K.
JAWS should announce:
Temporary bookmark set
You can now move elsewhere in the document, search for text, check another section, or read supporting material.
To return to the temporary bookmark:
Press Alt+Shift+K.
JAWS should announce:
Temporary bookmark
If the exact text has moved, Leasey Word tries to find the nearby stored text.
If it can only find an approximate position, JAWS should announce:
Temporary bookmark, approximate position
Leasey Document Notes are notes attached to positions in a document.
They are useful when you want to leave yourself an editing reminder, a question, or a detailed point to check later.
This section gives you the basic keystrokes.
A fuller explanation and example appears in Part 2.
To add a Leasey Document Note:
Step 1. Move to the position in the document where the note should be attached.
The current line must contain text. Leasey Document Notes cannot be attached to blank lines.
Step 2. Press F4.
Step 3. Type a short name for the note.
Step 4. Tab to the Note edit field and type the note itself.
Step 5. Tab to OK and press Enter or Space.
JAWS should announce:
Leasey Document Note added
Leasey Word stores the note text, the position, the line number, and nearby text.
This helps the note follow the intended text if other text is inserted above it later.
When locating a note, Leasey Word first searches for the exact line where the note was added.
If that line cannot be found, it falls back to the saved line number.
To review Leasey Document Notes:
Step 1. Press F5.
Step 2. The Leasey Document Notes dialog opens.
Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through the note names.
Step 3. Press Enter to move to the selected note in the document.
JAWS should announce:
Leasey Document Note, followed by the first part of the note.
If the original position no longer contains the expected text, Leasey Word searches for the stored nearby text.
If it finds that text, it moves to the new position and updates the note.
If the text cannot be found, Leasey Word falls back to the saved line number and announces that the position is approximate.
To delete a Leasey Document Note:
Step 1. Press F5.
Step 2. Select the note.
Step 3. Press Delete.
Step 4. Confirm that you want to delete the note.
JAWS should announce:
Leasey Document Note deleted
When moving through a document line by line, Leasey Word announces the name of the Leasey Document Note if the current line contains one.
This is spoken using the JAWS Message Voice so it is easier to distinguish the note name from the text of the line itself.
This tells you that the current line contains a note without automatically opening the full note, so ordinary reading is not interrupted.
To review the note at the current position, press F6.
The note opens in a read-only Edit Field so you can move through it with the Arrow keys, Control+Home and Control+End.
When Quick Navigation Mode is on, press N to move to the next Leasey Document Note.
Press Shift+N to move to the previous Leasey Document Note.
If there are no more notes in that direction, JAWS says:
No more notes available
If there are no prior notes, JAWS says:
No prior notes available
Leasey Word has full support for setting and locating Leasey Points rather than using the Bookmarks management tools described above. Leasey Points are described fully later in this documentation.
As usual, press the Leasey Key then Control+1 through to Control+0 to set Leasey Points 1 through to 10.
Press the Leasey Key then 1 through to 0 to locate Leasey Points 1 through to 10.
Using the Bookmarks specific to Leasey Word is preferred over Leasey Points since you can give them meaningful names. You will then not forget the text associated with each bookmark.
If you have two documents open with the same file name, it can be difficult to know which one you are editing.
Press Control+Shift+P to hear the full path of the current document.
If the document has not yet been saved, JAWS should announce that the document has not been saved.
Leasey Select is available in this application. Leasey Select is described later in this documentation.
Press the Leasey Key then Comma to mark the start point of a selection and the Leasey Key followed by full-stop or period to mark the end point.
It can be useful to enable or disable word wrap quickly.
When enabled, long lines wrap within the document window. When disabled, long lines continue horizontally.
Turning word wrap off can be useful when editing HTML, source code, log files or other documents where the exact line structure matters.
You can press Control+Alt+W from the document window to turn word wrap on or off quickly. This is a global setting which affects all documents displayed in Leasey Word.
Leasey Word keeps backups for individual saved documents.
When a saved document is saved again, Leasey Word backs up the previous saved version before overwriting it.
To restore a document backup:
Step 1. Open the document.
Step 2. Open the File menu by pressing Alt+F.
Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you reach Restore Document Backup and press Enter. You can shortcut this slightly by pressing Alt+F then B.
Step 4. A list of backups for the current document is displayed by date and time.
Move through the list with Down Arrow.
Step 5. Press Enter to restore the selected backup.
Step 6. Leasey Word asks you to confirm the restore.
Type Y for Yes or N for No. You can also press Enter since Yes is the focused control.
Before restoring the selected backup, Leasey Word backs up the current editor text.
If the restore succeeds, JAWS should announce:
Document backup restored
The restored text is marked as modified.
Press Control+S to save it.
Press Insert+Z to turn Quick Navigation Mode on or off.
When Quick Navigation is on, ordinary typing keys in the document Edit Field become navigation keys.
Keys which are not assigned to Quick Navigation commands are ignored, so ordinary characters are not inserted accidentally.
Press Insert+Z or JAWS Key+Z again before typing normal text.
You can also treat this as a read-only way to review the document. If you want to review the text without fear of corrupting it, enable Quick Navigation keys.
When Leasey Word regains focus after moving away to another window, it reports that Quick Navigation is on.
If Quick Navigation is off, Leasey Word does not speak an extra message when focus returns.
The following keys are available while Quick Navigation is on:
When a paragraph is found, Leasey Word speaks the destination text.
When a sentence is found, Leasey Word speaks the destination sentence.
When a heading is found, Leasey Word announces the heading level and heading text.
When a bookmark is found, Leasey Word announces the bookmark name.
When a Markdown table is found, Leasey Word announces the word Table followed by the first few column names.
When a misspelling is found, Leasey Word selects it and announces the misspelled word and its letters.
If you are on a selected misspelling and want spelling choices, press the Context Menu key or Shift+F10 while Quick Navigation is still on.
The spelling menu contains suggestions, Ignore, Ignore All and Add to Dictionary.
JAWS reads each spelling suggestion as you move through the menu, and Leasey Word speaks the letters of that suggestion after a short delay.
Items such as Ignore, Ignore All and Add to Dictionary are not spelled.
Moving Through a Structured Document.
If a document contains headings, bookmarks, tables or misspellings, Quick Navigation can help you move through it efficiently.
Step 1. Press Insert+Z or Caps Lock+Z to turn Quick Navigation on.
Step 2. Press H to move to the next heading, or Shift+H to move to the previous heading.
Step 3. Press P to move by paragraph.
Step 4. Press M to move to the next misspelling.
Step 5. Press the Quick Navigation toggle again before typing ordinary text.
This makes Leasey Word particularly useful when reviewing longer documents.
Note that you do not have to save the document using a specific format in order to be able to move by heading or other elements, and nor should you. This is just text we are working with. So even if the document is plain text and contains Markdown or HTML code, you can still move by element type.
You can sort lines alphabetically, by whole number, or by date.
This can be useful if you have a list of names, topics, links, commands, short notes, numbered items, invoice entries, track numbers or dated entries and want them in order.
Press Control+Shift+O.
Leasey Word opens the Sort Lines dialog.
The Sort Lines dialog contains:
In the Sort by Combo Box, choose:
or:
Date
Choose:
A to Z
or:
Z to A
If you choose Whole number or Date in the Sort by Combo Box, the Sort order Radio Button changes to:
Ascending
or:
Descending
When sorting by whole number, Leasey Word uses the first whole number found on each line.
Lines without a whole number are placed after the numbered lines.
When sorting by date, Leasey Word recognises common date styles such as 2026-05-07, 7/5/2026, 12/31/2026, 7 May 2026, and May 7 2026.
For numeric dates, Leasey Word tries to infer whether the list is using day/month/year or month/day/year when the numbers make that clear.
Lines without a recognised date are placed after the dated lines.
If text is selected, Leasey Word sorts the complete lines of the selection.
If no text is selected, Leasey Word sorts the whole document.
For example, suppose you have typed a short list of names, one per line, and you want them in alphabetical order.
Step 1. Type each name on its own line.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+O.
Step 3. Choose A to Z.
Step 4. Tab to OK and press Enter or Space.
JAWS should announce:
Step 1. Type or open the list.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+O.
Step 3. In the Sort by Combo Box, choose Whole number.
Step 4. Choose Ascending or Descending.
Step 5. Tab to OK and press Enter or Space.
JAWS should announce something like:
Lines sorted by number ascending in document
Leasey Document Notes allow you to attach your own notes to specific locations in a document.
They are more substantial than simple position markers.
You can store a short reminder, or you can store several paragraphs of text if that is what the task requires.
As you will discover later in this documentation, Leasey has a feature called Leasey Notes.
Those are very short messages you can apply to a location within most applications.
Leasey Document Notes go much further because the note belongs to the document and can contain detailed information.
A good example would be reading a product user guide.
You may find a passage containing detailed steps for performing a task, but you want to add your own accessible explanation, warning, or reminder.
Rather than changing the original document text, you can attach a Leasey Document Note to that line.
Later, when you return to that part of the guide, Leasey Word announces the note name so you know additional information is available.
Another example would be editing a long piece of documentation.
You may want to mark a paragraph with a note such as:
Check this against the installer screen.
Or:
Ask whether this should mention the portable version.
To create a Leasey Document Note:
Step 1. Move to the line of text where the note should be attached.
The line must contain text. Leasey Document Notes cannot be attached to blank lines.
Step 2. Press F4.
Step 3. In the Name Edit Field, type a short name which will identify the note later.
For example:
Installer warning
Step 4. Press Tab to move to the Note Edit Field.
Step 5. Type the note itself.
This can be one sentence or several paragraphs. You can press Enter to create new paragraphs.
Step 6. Press Tab to OK and press Enter or Space.
JAWS should announce:
Leasey Document Note added
When you move line by line through the document, Leasey Word announces the name of the note when you land on the line to which it is attached.
This announcement is made using the JAWS Message Voice.
That helps you distinguish between the document text and the note name.
It does not automatically read the full note.
This is deliberate because the note could be several paragraphs long.
To review the full note at the current position:
Step 1. Move to the line containing the Leasey Document Note.
Step 2. Press F6.
The note opens in a read-only Edit Field.
Use the Arrow keys, Control+Home and Control+End to review it at your own pace.
Press Escape when finished.
To review all Leasey Document Notes in the current document:
Step 1. Press F5.
Step 2. The Leasey Document Notes dialog opens.
Step 3. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through the note names.
Step 4. Press Enter on the note you want.
Leasey Word moves to the note position in the document.
If the original line has moved because text was inserted above it, Leasey Word tries to find the exact stored line and moves there.
If the exact line cannot be found, it moves to the closest approximate position it can identify and tells you that the exact note position could not be found.
When Quick Navigation Mode is on, press N to move to the next Leasey Document Note.
Press Shift+N to move to the previous Leasey Document Note.
If there are no more notes in a forward direction, JAWS says:
No more notes available
If there are no prior notes, JAWS says:
No prior notes available
To delete a Leasey Document Note:
Step 1. Press F5.
Step 2. Select the note.
Step 3. Press Delete.
Step 4. Confirm that you want to delete the note.
JAWS should announce:
Working with PDF documents is one of the most troublesome areas of computing a blind person can face. It is often challenging because the document author has not always written the content with accessibility in mind. Even if this has been done, navigating them can be a tricky business.
Leasey Word gives you three possible ways to work with PDF documents.
First, when you open a PDF, Leasey Word tries to present it in the best reading order it can using local extraction.
Leasey Word chooses the cleaner of two local PDF text extraction methods for each page.
This can improve documents where one extraction method produces one word per line, missing first letters, or confused columns.
Leasey Word also tries to reflow short artificial line breaks into smoother paragraphs and remove spaces before punctuation.
Common PDF ligatures such as fi, fl, ff, ffi and ffl are normalised where the PDF exposes them as special characters.
Large documents are opened in the background so Leasey Word can continue to give progress messages while the document is being prepared.
Second, if the locally extracted PDF is readable but still awkward, open the Tools menu with Alt+T and choose Enhanced PDF detection.
This sends the PDF to an enhanced PDF text detection service and opens the result as a new unsaved document.
You will first be asked if you would like to submit the PDF for analysis. Press Enter on the Yes Button to confirm or type letter Y.
This service can be useful for invoices, purchase orders, forms, and other PDFs where layout makes the local reading order difficult.
Very large PDF files may be rejected by the enhanced PDF service because the upload payload is too large.
JAWS should announce:
Enhanced PDF detection started
While it is working, JAWS should announce progress messages although this is generally unnecessary as the process is very fast.
When the process finishes, JAWS should announce:
Enhanced PDF detection complete
If the process fails, JAWS should announce:
Enhanced PDF detection failed
Third, if the PDF still cannot be understood, or if it contains scanned image text, use Improve Reading Order with ChatGPT from the Tools menu, activated wwith Alt+T.
You will first be asked if you would like to submit the PDF for analysis. Press Enter on the Yes Button to confirm or type the letter Y.
The regular ChatGPT page limit still applies.
As a simple guide, use ChatGPT analysis for PDFs of about 40 pages or less.
This uses the Leasey OpenAI API key if it is already in place. Please refer to the later chapters of this documentation concerned with ChatGPT.
If the PDF contains embedded bookmarks, Leasey Word adds those entries to the normal Bookmarks Manager for that document.
Open Bookmarks with Control+Shift+G to move through them.
In the Bookmarks dialog, first-letter navigation can be used to move quickly through a long list of bookmarks.
If a PDF is password protected, Leasey Word asks for the password.
The password is used only to open the document and is not saved.
When a PDF is sent to ChatGPT, Leasey Word checks the real PDF page count first.
If the PDF is too large to send in one piece, JAWS reports the page count and the document is not sent.
If successfully processed, JAWS should announce:
Opened followed by the file name.
Suppose someone sends you a PDF and you need to find a section about cancellation terms.
Step 1. Open Leasey Word.
Step 2. Press Control+O.
Step 3. Choose the PDF file and press Enter.
Step 4. Leasey Word renders the text where possible into the document Edit Field.
Step 5. Press Control+F and search for a word such as cancellation.
Step 6. Press Enter to confirm.
Step 7. If the word is found, read the surrounding text using the normal JAWS reading keys. JAWS will have announced the context already.
The advantage is that you do not need to fight with the original PDF viewer if all you want is the text in a form you can search and copy.
Step 8. If you find that the content displayed is unsatisfactory, try one of the other utilities on the Tools menu, activated wwith Alt+T. We recommend starting with Enhanced PDF Detection because in very many cases this should produce the result you want. If that fails, try Improve Reading Order with ChatGPT.
As stated previously, Leasey Word first tries to extract readable text locally.
For many PDF documents, this works well.
Some PDF documents are poorly structured.
Others are scanned images and contain no readable text.
If no readable text is found in a PDF, Leasey Word says so and asks whether you want to send the PDF to ChatGPT to try to render it as accessible plain text.
This is intended primarily for scanned-image PDFs.
Older DOC documents can also be inaccessible, particularly if the text is contained in text boxes which JAWS is unable to interpret.
If Leasey Word cannot read an older DOC file locally, it offers to send the document to ChatGPT to try to render it as accessible plain text.
Very large scanned PDFs are not sent.
As a simple guide, use this for scanned PDFs of about 40 pages or less.
If ChatGPT succeeds, the rendered text is opened as a new unsaved document in the Leasey Word editor.
The rendered text opens as a new unsaved document with a suggested file name.
Pressing Control+S on that ChatGPT result opens Save As, so the original PDF, DOC or other source document is not overwritten.
JAWS should announce:
Sending document to ChatGPT
When the process finishes, JAWS should announce:
ChatGPT document analysis complete
If the process fails, JAWS should announce:
ChatGPT document analysis failed
To improve the reading order:
Step 1. Open a document.
Step 2. Open the Tools menu wwith Alt+T and choose Improve Reading Order with ChatGPT.
ChatGPT Text Tools can help you work with text in Leasey Word. You can use them to ask questions, correct spelling and grammar, rewrite text, summarise information, expand rough notes, create action lists, produce FAQs, write a short social media post, prepare a summary email, and more.
Some tools only give you information. They do not change your document.
Some tools suggest or apply replacement text. These can change the selected text, or the whole document if nothing is selected.
The important thing to remember is this.
If you select text before opening ChatGPT Text Tools, Leasey Word works only with the selected text.
If you do not select text, Leasey Word works with the whole document.
To open ChatGPT Text Tools:
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+T.
You can also press the Chat Key then T. The Chat Key is the Leasey Key with Control pressed together. So press the Chat Key, release it, and then type the letter T.
Because ChatGPT Text Tools are built into Leasey Word, Control+Shift+T is usually the quickest command to use.
Step 2. The ChatGPT Text Tools dialog opens.
The dialog contains:
Step 3. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow in the Tools list to choose the tool you want.
Step 4. If text was selected before opening the dialog, the Text Edit Field contains the selected text.
If no text was selected, the Text Edit Field contains the whole document.
You can press Tab to move to the Text Edit Field and review or edit the text before sending it to ChatGPT.
Press Shift+Tab to return to the Tools list.
Step 5. When you have chosen the tool, press Enter.
Use this when you want ChatGPT to explain something, answer a question, or help you understand part of a document.
For example, you might select a paragraph from a letter and ask:
What do I need to do next?
You might select a paragraph from a manual and ask:
What does this instruction mean?
You might select a paragraph from a contract and ask:
Does this mention a cancellation period?
Leasey Word asks you to type your question.
The answer is displayed in a read-only Edit Field.
This tool does not change the document.
Use this when you want ChatGPT to correct spelling mistakes and obvious capitalisation problems.
For example, if you have typed a short article quickly and you know there may be spelling mistakes, use this tool.
If text is selected, only the selected text is checked.
If no text is selected, the whole document is checked.
By default, the corrected version replaces the selected text or the whole document.
Use this when you want to know what a word means.
If no text is selected, Leasey Word uses the word at or just after the cursor.
If text is selected, Leasey Word uses the selected word or phrase.
The definition is shown in a read-only Edit Field.
The result includes clear definitions and examples of how the word can be used.
This tool does not change the document.
Use this when you want alternative words.
For example, if you have used the word good several times, the Thesaurus may suggest alternatives such as useful, helpful, positive or effective, depending on the context.
If no text is selected, Leasey Word uses the word at or just after the cursor.
If text is selected, Leasey Word uses the selected word or phrase.
ChatGPT returns a list of alternatives.
Move through the list with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.
Press Enter on the alternative you want.
The chosen word or phrase replaces the original word or phrase.
Use this when you have a longer piece of text and want a shorter version.
For example, you could use it on:
The summary replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when the text needs to sound more professional.
For example, you might use it for:
The rewritten version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when you have typed rough ideas but need them turned into proper sentences and paragraphs.
For example, you might type:
ChatGPT could turn those notes into a finished announcement or email.
This is useful for:
The finished version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when text is too complicated, too long, or too heavy.
For example, you might use it on:
The aim is to make the text easier and more pleasant to read.
The simplified version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when the text is mostly correct but you want it cleaned up.
This tool checks grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and style.
For example, it may improve commas, sentence endings, repeated words or awkward phrasing.
This is useful before sending an email, publishing a document, or saving a final version.
The corrected version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when you want the important information pulled out of a longer piece of text.
For example, you could use it on a long email and get a short list of the main points.
This is useful for:
The key points replace the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when the document needs to be especially clear and easy to understand.
This is different from simply making the text shorter. The aim is to make the meaning easier to follow.
This is useful for:
The plain language version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when the text is correct but sounds too cold, abrupt or flat.
For example, you might use it on:
The friendly version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when a paragraph explains a process but you want it turned into clear steps.
For example, a paragraph explaining how to register for a service could be turned into:
Step 1. Open the web site.
Step 2. Choose Create Account.
Step 3. Type your email address.
This is useful for instructions, training material and help documentation.
The step-by-step version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when you want to turn information into questions and answers.
For example, if you have written a help topic about a feature, ChatGPT can create likely questions users may ask about it.
This is useful for:
The FAQs replace the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when the reader may be new to the subject.
For example, if a paragraph assumes the reader already understands technical terms, this tool can make the explanation more suitable for a beginner.
This is useful for:
The beginner version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when you have notes, a report, meeting information or a long message and want to turn it into an email summary.
For example, you might paste notes from a meeting and ask ChatGPT to create a short email explaining what was discussed.
The summary email replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when you want to know what needs to be done.
For example, from a meeting note, ChatGPT might extract:
This is useful for meeting notes, emails, project information and long messages.
The to-do list replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when you want the same meaning expressed in a different way.
This can be useful if a sentence sounds awkward, repetitive or too close to another source.
The meaning should remain the same.
The paraphrased version replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when you want to turn longer text into a very short post.
The post will be no more than 280 characters.
This is useful for short announcements, reminders, promotional messages or social updates.
The social media post replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when the text contains meeting notes, minutes, or a discussion.
The result may include what was discussed, decisions made and possible next steps.
This is useful when your notes are rough and you want a cleaner meeting summary.
The meeting summary replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
Use this when you do not want ChatGPT to rewrite the text, but you do want comments about it.
For example, ChatGPT might tell you:
The feedback is shown in a read-only Edit Field.
This tool does not change the document.
Use this when you want written material turned into something suitable to be spoken aloud.
This is useful for:
The speech draft replaces the selected text or the whole document, unless you have enabled Preview full ChatGPT result before applying under Options, described below.
The following tools do not change the document:
These tools display their results in a read-only Edit Field.
The Thesaurus can change one word or phrase.
It shows a list of alternatives.
When you press Enter on one of the alternatives, that alternative replaces the original word or phrase.
Most of the tools can replace text.
If text is selected, the selected text is replaced.
If no text is selected, the whole document is replaced.
These replacement tools include:
Leasey Word creates a document backup before applying replacement text.
You can also press Control+Z to undo the change.
Please refer to the later section of this chapter to see how automatic replacement of text is controlled.
Use Ask a question about the text when you want an answer, not a rewrite.
Example:
You have selected a paragraph from a letter and want to know what it is asking you to do.
Use Dictionary when you want to understand a word.
Example:
You are reading a document and do not know what a word means.
Use Thesaurus when you want a different word.
Example:
You have used the word important too many times and want another suitable word.
Use Summarise when the text is too long and you want the main idea.
Example:
You have copied a long email into Leasey Word and want the main points.
Use Formal rewrite when the text needs to sound professional.
Example:
You have written a complaint or business email.
Use Expand rough notes when you have ideas but not a finished document.
Example:
You have typed bullet points for an announcement and want a complete message.
Use Simplify when the text is too complicated.
Example:
You have a technical paragraph and want it to be easier to read.
Use Grammar, punctuation and style check when the text is finished but needs polishing.
Example:
You have written an email and want to check it before sending.
Use Extract key points when you want the important items as a list.
Example:
You have a long document and want the main facts.
Use Plain language for accessibility when the text needs to be especially clear.
Example:
You are writing instructions for a wide range of users.
Use Friendly rewrite when the text sounds too cold.
Example:
You are writing a welcome message or support response.
Use Step-by-step instructions when the text describes a process.
Example:
You have a paragraph explaining how to do something and want it turned into steps.
Use FAQs when you want likely questions and answers.
Example:
You have written a help topic and want a short FAQ section.
Use Beginner rewrite when the reader may not understand the subject yet.
Example:
You are writing a first-time guide.
Use Summary email when you want notes turned into an email.
Example:
You have meeting notes and want to send someone a short summary.
Use Action items when you want a to-do list.
Example:
You have meeting notes and want to know what needs to be done.
Use Paraphrase when you want the same meaning in different words.
Example:
A sentence is awkward but the meaning is correct.
Use Social media post when you want a very short announcement.
Example:
You want a brief post for Mastodon, X or another service.
Use Meeting summary when the text contains meeting notes.
Example:
You have rough notes from a meeting and want a cleaner summary.
Use Constructive feedback when you want advice but do not want the document changed.
Example:
You want to know whether your article is clear and whether anything is missing.
Use Speech draft when the text will be spoken aloud.
Example:
You are preparing a short talk, presentation or radio script.
The same size safeguard applies to selected text and whole documents.
If the text is too large to send to ChatGPT in one request, Leasey Word displays a clear message and does not send it.
As a simple guide, use ChatGPT Text Tools with documents or selections of about 40 pages or less.
There are two Options check boxes which affect ChatGPT replacement tools.
Open Options with Control+Comma.
The two check boxes are:
They sound similar, but they do different jobs.
This option is useful when you want to inspect individual changes.
For example, if you ask ChatGPT to check spelling or grammar, you may want to see that it has changed:
Goood
to:
Good
The Review ChatGPT Changes dialog tries to identify words or phrases which ChatGPT appears to have changed.
You can accept or reject individual changes before applying the result.
This is particularly useful when the text contains:
For example, suppose your document contains the name:
Neil
ChatGPT may suggest:
Neal
If Neal is correct, accept the change.
If the spelling should be Niall, Tab to the Replacement Edit Field, change the replacement to Niall, then accept it.
The Review ChatGPT Changes dialog contains:
When the dialog opens, focus is in the Changes List Box.
Each item describes one proposed change.
Press Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through the list.
The Context Edit Field is read-only. It shows the original sentence and the replacement sentence.
The Original Edit Field is read-only. It shows the original text for the selected change.
The Replacement Edit Field can be edited. It shows the text ChatGPT proposes to use.
To accept or reject individual changes:
Step 1. Move to a change in the Changes List Box.
Step 2. If you want to check the sentence, press Tab to move to the Context Edit Field and review it with the Arrow keys.
Step 3. Press Tab to move to the Original Edit Field if you want to review the exact original text.
Step 4. Press Tab to move to the Replacement Edit Field.
Step 5. If the replacement is correct, leave it as it is. If it is wrong, edit the replacement text.
Step 6. Press Tab to move to Accept or Reject.
Step 7. Press Enter or Space.
If you accept a change, it is marked as accepted.
If you reject a change, it is marked as rejected.
When you have finished, Tab to Apply and press Enter or Space.
Leasey Word applies the accepted changes and keeps your original text for rejected changes.
If you want to accept all changes without reviewing them one by one, press Enter while focused in the Changes List Box.
Press Escape or activate Cancel to leave the document unchanged.
This option is useful when you want to see the whole ChatGPT result before it changes your document.
For example, suppose you choose:
Summarise the main points concisely in plain UK English.
If Preview full ChatGPT result before applying is checked, Leasey Word shows the summary before placing it in the document.
You can then decide what to do.
Press Escape if you do not want to use the result.
Or review and edit the replacement text.
Then Tab to Accept and press Enter or Space if you want to apply it.
This is useful for tools such as:
Review individual ChatGPT changes before applying lets you inspect individual changes.
Preview full ChatGPT result before applying lets you inspect the whole result.
You can use either option, both options, or neither option.
If you are unsure, leave both options checked until you are comfortable with how ChatGPT Text Tools behave.
If you moved a document to a different folder, Leasey Word may treat it as a different document because bookmarks are stored against the document path.
To recover those bookmarks:
Step 1. Open the moved document in Leasey Word.
Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F and choose Recover Bookmarks from Previous Location by pressing the Down Arrow key until the item is reached, then press Enter.
Step 3. The dialog shows the current document path.
In the Previous folder Edit Field, type or browse to the folder where the document used to be stored.
An Edit Field is available into which you can type the path. Pressing Tab allows you to reach a Browse Button to browse to the folder using standard Windows techniques.
Step 4. Press Enter when the folder is located.
Leasey Word combines that previous folder with the current file name and transfers any bookmarks, Leasey Points, saved cursor position, recent file entry and document backups to the current document location.
JAWS should announce:
Bookmarks recovered
It is possible to increase or decrease paragraph text by a specific amount.
Indentation is useful when you want part of a document to stand out from the surrounding text.
For example, you might indent a quotation, a set of instructions, a note within a larger document, or a paragraph which belongs under a heading.
It can also be helpful when writing structured material where some paragraphs are subordinate to others.
This is document formatting, not spaces or tabs typed into the document.
The command applies to selected text if text is selected.
Otherwise, it applies to the current line.
JAWS should announce:
Indent level followed by the level number.
For example:
Indent level 2
In Options, activated with Control+Comma, there is a checkbox entitled Speak document composition indentation level when moving by line.
When this is checked, Leasey Word announces the document composition indentation level when you move to a line with a different indentation level.
If you are writing code, HTML, JSON, JAWS scripts, PHP, configuration files, or similar text, indentation is usually made with actual spaces or tab characters.
This is different from document composition indentation.
In Options, there is a checkbox entitled Speak code indentation when moving by line.
When this is checked, Leasey Word announces the actual leading spaces and tabs at the start of a line as you move with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.
For example, JAWS may announce:
No code indentation
Or:
4 spaces
Or:
1 tab, 2 spaces
This can help you check whether code lines are aligned correctly.
If you are a heavy user of Leasey Notes, you may wish to bring one of them into your document.
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+L.
Step 2. A list of Leasey Notes is shown.
Step 3. Press the Down Arrow key to choose a note.
Step 4. Press Enter to insert the selected note text into the current document at the cursor position.
If text is selected in the document, the selected text is replaced.
JAWS should announce:
Inserted LeaseyNote followed by the note title.
For documents which contain real page markers, such as locally extracted PDF files, Leasey Word can report the current page.
Press Page Up or Page Down.
Leasey Word moves to the previous or next page marker.
JAWS should announce:
Page followed by the page number.
For example:
Page 4
If the document does not contain real page markers, Page Up and Page Down perform normal Edit Field movement.
To move to a specific page if the document contains page markers:
Step 1. Press Control+G.
Step 2. Type the page number and press Enter.
Step 3. Leasey Word moves to that page if the current document contains page markers.
This is most useful for PDF documents which have been extracted into page order.
JAWS should announce:
Page followed by the page number.
If you use LeaseySocial, Leasey Word can send the current document or selected text directly to the LeaseySocial compose window.
This is useful if you draft social media posts in Leasey Word because you can use the word processor features first, then move the finished text into LeaseySocial without copying and pasting manually.
To send text to LeaseySocial:
Step 1. Write or open the text you want to post.
Step 2. If you only want to send part of the document, select that text.
If no text is selected, Leasey Word sends the whole document.
Step 3. Press Control+Alt+S.
LeaseySocial opens.
If more than one account is available, LeaseySocial asks which account you want to use.
Step 4. Choose the account if asked with the Up and Down Arrow keys. Then press Enter.
Step 5. The normal LeaseySocial New Post dialog opens with the text already inserted.
Step 6. Review or edit the post as usual.
Step 7. Send the post from LeaseySocial when you are ready by pressing Enter.
Leasey Word does not post automatically.
It only prepares the text and opens LeaseySocial so you remain in control of the final post.
This is a menu of actions which are relevant to the text or word you are focused upon.
The Context Menu is especially useful if you do not remember the shortcut for a command.
It is also useful because it confirms what actions are available in the current situation.
To open the Context Menu:
Step 1. Move to the document Edit Field.
Step 2. Press the Applications Key. On many keyboards, this key is near the right Control key.
Step 3. If your keyboard does not have an Applications Key, press Shift+F10.
Step 4. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through the menu.
Step 5. Press Enter on the command you want.
In normal editing, the Context Menu is the standard Edit Field menu provided by Windows.
It may contain commands such as:
For example, suppose you want to copy a paragraph but cannot remember the copy shortcut.
Step 1. Select the paragraph.
Step 2. Press the Applications Key or Shift+F10.
Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you hear Copy.
Step 4. Press Enter.
Step 5. The selected text is copied to the Windows Clipboard.
The Context Menu is also useful with Quick Navigation spelling errors.
If Quick Navigation Mode is on and you have moved to a misspelled word with M or Shift+M, press the Applications Key or Shift+F10.
Leasey Word opens a spelling menu containing suggestions for the misspelled word.
It also contains:
For example, suppose Quick Navigation finds a misspelled word and you want to choose a correction.
Step 1. Press Insert+Z to turn Quick Navigation Mode on.
Step 2. Press M to move to the next misspelling.
Step 3. Press the Applications Key or Shift+F10.
Step 4. Move through the suggestions with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.
Step 5. Press Enter on the suggestion you want.
Leasey Word changes the word and announces what it changed the word to.
The Context Menu is not intended to replace shortcut keys.
Instead, it gives you a convenient way to discover and use commands while you are learning the application.
Leasey Word can be used as a general word processor, but it can also help you write documents which are intended for web pages, documentation systems, blog posts, podcast show notes, help files and other structured text.
This is where Document and Writing Tools become useful.
These tools help you create HTML and Markdown without needing to remember every character of the syntax. This matters because both HTML and Markdown are precise. A missing bracket, slash, quotation mark or blank line can mean that a heading is not recognised, a list does not form correctly, a link does not work, or a table is not rendered as expected.
If you are working in Leasey Word, this is now the preferred way of creating HTML and Markdown components. The separate HTML Assistant and Markdown chapters remain useful because those tools can still be used in other text editing environments. However, when your document is already open in Leasey Word, Document and Writing Tools give you a more integrated approach.
You can use the tools in two ways.
You can place the cursor where the new component should be inserted, then let Leasey Word ask for the information it needs.
You can also select text which already exists, then use the tool to wrap that selected text in the appropriate HTML or Markdown. With the exception of creating tables, this is by far the preferred method as you have maximum control.
For example, you can select a line of text and turn it into a heading, select several lines and turn them into a list, or select text and turn it into a link.
Step 1. Open or create a document in Leasey Word.
Step 2. Move to the place where the HTML or Markdown should be inserted.
Step 3. If you want the command to work on existing text, select that text first.
Step 4. Press Control+Shift+H.
You can also press Alt+Control+Windows+H.
The Document and Writing Tools dialog opens.
The dialog contains:
The Format Combo Box contains:
Choose HTML if you are writing HTML source code or a document which will be published directly as a web page.
Choose Markdown if you are writing a Markdown document, or if you want to create structured plain text which can later be converted to HTML or Word.
After choosing the format, Tab to the Component List. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to choose the component you want, then press Enter.
Leasey Word remembers the last format and component you used.
For example, if you last inserted an HTML Link, the next time the dialog opens HTML is selected and Link is highlighted in the Component List.
Focus still starts on the Format Combo Box so the dialog is predictable and matches the normal Tab order.
Leasey Word asks any further questions if responses are needed. For example, a link asks for a web address. An image asks for the image source and alternative text. A table asks for column headings and row information.
When the information has been entered, Leasey Word inserts the appropriate HTML or Markdown at the cursor position, or wraps the selected text where appropriate.
JAWS should announce the format and component inserted.
For example:
HTML Link inserted
or:
Markdown Heading 2 inserted
You can press Insert+F1 in the dialog if you need additional guidance.
HTML is the language used to structure web pages. It allows you to identify headings, paragraphs, links, images, lists, tables and other parts of a page.
A well-structured HTML page is not only better visually. It is usually easier for a screen-reader user to navigate because headings, links, lists and tables can be identified properly.
Markdown is a lighter form of markup. It is written as plain text and is widely used for documentation, notes, web publishing, show notes, technical instructions and many other kinds of writing.
Markdown is often easier to read while you are writing. For example, a Markdown heading may begin with one or more number or hash signs. A Markdown link can be written as visible text followed by a web address in brackets. A Markdown table can be created with plain text rows and separator lines.
The advantage is that Markdown stays readable as text. The disadvantage is that the syntax still needs to be accurate if you want a good result when it is converted to HTML or Word.
Leasey Word helps with both approaches.
When the Format Combo Box is set to HTML, the Component List can include items such as:
Leasey Word creates the correct HTML markup for you.
HTML headings are used to organise a page into sections.
Heading 1 is normally used for the main title of the page. Heading 2 is used for major sections. Heading 3 and below are used for sub-sections.
Step 1. Move to the place where the heading should be inserted, or select the existing heading text.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose the heading level you want.
Step 5. Press Enter.
Step 6. If Leasey Word asks for the heading text, type it and press Enter.
If text was selected first, Leasey Word should use the selected text as the heading text.
A paragraph is a block of text. In HTML, paragraphs should be marked properly so browsers and screen readers can identify them as separate units.
Step 1. Move to the place where the paragraph should be inserted, or select existing paragraph text.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Paragraph.
Step 5. Press Enter.
Step 6. Type the paragraph text if requested. Press Enter to create line breaks.
Step 7. Press Tab to reach the OK Button and press Enter or Space.
A link consists of two parts: the destination and the visible text.
The destination is the web address, such as:
https://www.hartgenconsultancy.com
The visible text is what the reader hears or sees, such as:
Visit Hartgen Consultancy
Step 1. Type or select the visible link text.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Link.
Step 5. When asked for the web address, type or paste it and press Enter.
Step 6. If asked for the visible link text, type it and press Enter.
Leasey Word creates the HTML link.
If the web address is long, it is often easier to copy it to the Windows Clipboard before opening Document and Writing Tools. You can then paste it into the web address field with Control+V.
An email link opens a new email message addressed to the email address you specify.
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 2. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 3. Press Tab and choose Email Link.
Step 4. Type the email address, such as support@hartgenconsultancy.com, and press Enter.
Step 5. Type the visible link text, such as Email technical support, and press Enter.
Leasey Word inserts the email link.
HTML supports numbered lists and bulleted lists.
Use a numbered list when the order matters. Step-by-step instructions are a good example.
Use a bulleted list when the order does not matter. A list of features or choices is a good example.
To create a new HTML list while writing:
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 2. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 3. Press Tab and choose Numbered List or Bulleted List.
Step 4. Type each item to be included in the list on a separate line. For example:
Step 5. When you want to end the list, press Tab to reach the OK Button and press Enter or Space.
To convert existing lines into a list:
Step 1. Select the lines for the list.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Numbered List or Bulleted List.
Step 5. Press Enter.
A table presents information in rows and columns.
Tables should be used for genuine tabular information, not merely to position text visually.
Before creating a table, think about the column headings. For example, if you are creating a table of people and scores, the columns might be:
To create an HTML table:
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 2. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 3. Press Tab and choose Table.
Step 4. Press enter.
Step 5. Type the table caption and press Enter.
The caption is important because it summarises the purpose of the table for screen-reader users.
Step 6. Type the column headers separated by commas, such as:
First Name,Last Name,Score
Step 7. When all the columns are added, press Enter.
Step 8. Now type the information for the rows. Each cell will be separated by a comma, such as:
Jane,Jones,200
Step 9. When you are ready to enter the information for the next row, press enter.
Step 10. Type the next row as before, with each cell being separated by a comma, like this:
Bary,Johnson,150
Step 11. Repeat the process until all the rows have been added.
Step 12. When the table is complete, press Tab to reach the OK Button and press Enter or Space.
A block quote is used for quoted material or text which should be set apart from the surrounding paragraph.
Step 1. Select the quoted text if it has already been written.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Block Quote from the list.
Step 5. Press enter.
Step 6. Type the text if you had not selected it previously. Then Tab to Insert and press Enter or Space
An image on a web page should include alternative text. Alternative text is the short description a screen-reader user receives when encountering the image.
When creating an HTML image, Leasey Word may ask for:
The image source might be a file path or a location on your web site, such as:
/images/logo.jpg
The alternative text should describe the image in a useful way. For example:
Hartgen Consultancy logo
If the image is important to the page, make the alternative text meaningful. If the image is decorative, consider whether it should be included at all.
You should ask a sighted person to check the final visual result of a web page containing images.
The Full HTML Document option is useful when you are starting a new standalone web page.
It can insert the basic structure needed for an HTML page, including the page title and body area.
This option is usually not needed if you are writing inside a blogging system, content management system or form field where the surrounding page structure already exists.
To create a full HTML document:
Step 1. Open a new document or move to the place where the HTML document structure should be inserted.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Full HTML Document.
Step 5. Press Enter.
Step 6. Type the document title and press Enter.
Step 7. Type the body text and press Enter.
Leasey Word inserts the basic HTML document structure.
For a long web page, a table of contents can help readers move quickly to the section they need.
In HTML, this is usually done by creating links near the top of the page and matching anchor points or IDs near the headings lower down the page.
Leasey Word can help create those links and targets.
Leasey Word will scan the HTML headings and build the table of contents for you.
Step 1. Create your HTML document with heading tags.
Step 2. Move to the place where the table of contents should be inserted.
Step 3. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 4. Choose HTML in the Format Combo Box.
Step 5. Press Tab and choose Build Table of Contents.
Step 6. Press Enter.
Leasey Word scans the heading tags, such as Heading 1 through to Heading 6, creates a linked table of contents, and adds IDs where necessary.
JAWS should announce:
HTML table of contents inserted followed by the number of items.
When the Format Combo Box is set to Markdown, the Component List can include items such as:
Markdown is plain text. This means you can read the formatting characters with JAWS and Braille.
For example, a Markdown heading is marked with number signs. A Markdown link contains the visible text and the web address. A Markdown table uses text characters to show rows and columns.
Step 1. Move to the place where the heading should be inserted, or select the existing heading text.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose the heading level you want.
Step 5. Press Enter.
Step 6. If text had not been previously selected, type it and press Enter.
After a Markdown heading, press Enter twice to create the next ordinary paragraph.
When in Quick Navigation Mode:
Bold and italic are useful for emphasis.
Inline code is useful when referring to a command, filename, variable name or short piece of code within a sentence.
A code block is useful for a longer command, script fragment or example where exact text matters.
Step 1. Select the text if it has already been written.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Bold, Italic, Bold and Italic, Inline Code or Code Block.
Step 5. Press Enter.
Step 6. Type or confirm the text if asked to do so.
Step 7. Press Enter.
Leasey Word inserts the required Markdown characters.
A Markdown link consists of visible link text and the destination address.
Step 1. Type the visible link text, such as Hartgen Consultancy.
Step 2. Select that text.
Step 3. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 4. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 5. Press Tab and choose Link and press Enter.
Step 6. Type or paste the web address and press Enter.
Leasey Word changes the selected text into a Markdown link.
A Markdown email link is similar to a web link, but the destination is an email address.
Step 1. Type or select the visible link text, such as Email technical support.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Email Link.
Step 5. Press Enter.
Step 6. Type the email address, such as support@hartgenconsultancy.com, and press Enter.
Leasey Word changes the selected text into a Markdown email link.
Markdown supports numbered and bulleted lists.
Use numbered lists for procedures. Use bulleted lists for choices, features or examples.
To create a Markdown list as you write:
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 2. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 3. Press Tab and choose Numbered List or Bulleted List.
Step 4. Press Enter.
Step 5. Type each list item on a separate line.
Step 6. Press Tab to reach OK and press Enter or Space.
To convert existing text into a Markdown list:
Step 1. Write each item on its own line.
Step 2. Select the lines.
Step 3. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 4. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 5. Press Tab and choose Numbered List or Bulleted List.
Step 6. Press Enter.
Leasey Word applies the Markdown list structure to the selected lines.
Markdown tables are useful when you want a simple table that remains readable as plain text.
Before creating the table, decide how many columns you need and what the column headings should be.
For example:
Step 1. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 2. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 3. Press Tab and choose Table.
Step 4. Press Enter.
Step 5. Type the column headers separated by commas, such as:
First Name,Last Name,Score
Step 6. When all the columns are added, press Enter.
Step 7. Now type the information for the rows. Each cell will be separated by a comma, such as:
Jane,Jones,200
Step 8. When you are ready to enter the information for the next row, press enter.
Step 9. Type the next row as before, with each cell being separated by a comma, like this:
Bary,Johnson,150
Step 10. Repeat the process until all the rows have been added.
11. When the table is complete, press Tab to reach the OK Button and press Enter or Space.
When reviewing a Markdown document in Quick Navigation Mode, T moves to the next Markdown table and Shift+T moves to the previous Markdown table.
A Markdown image contains alternative text and an image source.
The alternative text is important because it describes the image for a screen-reader user.
Step 1. Type or select the alternative text for the image.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Image.
Step 5. Press Enter.
Step 6. Type or paste the image source or URL and press Enter.
Leasey Word inserts the Markdown image reference.
Footnotes allow you to place additional explanation at the end of a document while keeping the main text easier to read.
For example, you may want to add a reference, a side note or an explanation without interrupting the main sentence.
Step 1. Move to the point in the text where the footnote reference should appear.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Footnote.
Step 5. A footnote number is offered. You can change it or leave it at the suggestion which is available.
Step 6. Press Enter and type the text for the footnote.
Step 7. Press Tab to reach the OK Button and press Enter or Space.
A horizontal rule can be used to separate one part of a document from another.
Step 1. Move to the place where the horizontal rule should be inserted.
Step 2. Press Control+Shift+H.
Step 3. Choose Markdown in the Format Combo Box.
Step 4. Press Tab and choose Horizontal Rule.
Step 5. Press Enter.
Leasey Word inserts the Markdown horizontal rule.
When you are writing HTML or Markdown, source text alone does not always tell you how the finished document will behave.
Preview as HTML lets you open a rendered version in your default browser.
This is useful for checking:
To preview the current document:
Step 1. Ensure the document you wish to preview is open.
Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F.
Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you reach Preview as HTML.
Step 4. Press Enter.
Leasey Word creates a temporary HTML preview and opens it in the default browser.
If the current document is Markdown, Leasey Word uses the Markdown preview so that Markdown headings, links, lists and tables are rendered properly.
JAWS should announce:
HTML preview opened
Previewing does not replace careful checking of the source. It gives you another way to understand the structure of the finished document.
If you have written a Markdown document, you may want to create an HTML version for a web page or online resource.
Step 1. Ensure the Markdown document is open.
Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F.
Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you reach Export Markdown as HTML.
Step 4. Press Enter.
Step 5. Using standard Windows file browsing techniques, choose the save location.
Step 6. Press Enter to save.
JAWS should announce:
Markdown HTML exported
You can then open the HTML file in a browser and review the result.
You may also want to create a Microsoft Word document from Markdown.
This is useful if you have written the document efficiently as plain text but need to distribute it as a Word file, edit it in Word, or send it to someone who does not work with Markdown.
Step 1. Ensure the Markdown document is open.
Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F.
Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you reach Export Markdown as Word.
Step 4. Press Enter.
Step 5. Using standard Windows file browsing techniques, choose the save location.
Step 6. Press Enter to save.
JAWS should announce:
Markdown Word document exported
If you are creating a web page or structured document in Leasey Word, a sensible workflow is:
Step 1. Write the main text first.
Step 2. Use Document and Writing Tools to mark headings, links, lists, tables and other components.
Step 3. Save the document in the appropriate format, such as HTML or Markdown.
Step 4. Use Preview as HTML to check the rendered structure.
Step 5. Return to Leasey Word and correct anything which does not appear as expected.
Step 6. Preview again if necessary.
Step 7. Export the document if you need a separate HTML or Word version.
This approach gives you the accessibility and editing power of Leasey Word while still producing structured documents which can be used elsewhere.
Leasey Word can open and export Braille files.
The supported Braille file extensions are:
This feature uses the Liblouis Braille translator which is installed with JAWS.
Leasey Word does not ship its own separate Braille translator.
When you open a BRF or BRL file, Leasey Word asks how the file should be opened.
The choices are:
Print text is the default choice.
If you choose Print text, Leasey Word attempts to back-translate the Braille file into ordinary text.
This means you can use normal Leasey Word commands such as Find, Find Next, copy, word count, bookmarks and other text navigation commands.
This is especially useful if you have a Braille file and want to search for a word or phrase inside it.
To open a Braille file as print text:
Step 1. Press Control+O.
Step 2. Choose the BRF or BRL file and press Enter.
Step 3. When the Open Braille File dialog appears, leave Print text selected.
Step 4. Press Enter.
Leasey Word opens the file as ordinary text where possible.
There is an important point to understand.
A Braille file is already laid out for Braille reading. When it is back-translated into print text, the original print paragraph layout may not be recoverable.
For that reason, the text may not contain the same line breaks or paragraph breaks as the original print document.
However, it should be searchable.
If you choose Braille cells, Leasey Word preserves the Braille-cell representation of the file.
This is useful if you want to read the file on a Braille display in a form closer to the original Braille layout.
To open a Braille file as Braille cells:
Step 1. Press Control+O.
Step 2. Choose the BRF or BRL file and press Enter.
Step 3. In the Open Braille File dialog, press Down Arrow to choose Braille cells.
Step 4. Press Enter.
In Braille cells mode, normal text Find is not expected to work in the same way.
This is because the document is being shown as Braille cells rather than ordinary print letters.
As a general rule:
Choose Print text if you want to search, copy or work with the words as text.
Choose Braille cells if you want to review the Braille layout itself.
Leasey Word can export the current document to a Braille file.
This is useful if you have written or edited a document and want to move it to a Braille notetaker or another device which can read BRF files.
To export a document as Braille:
Step 1. Open or write the document in Leasey Word.
Step 2. Open the File menu with Alt+F.
Step 3. Press Down Arrow until you reach Export as Braille.
Step 4. Press Enter.
The Export as Braille dialog appears.
The dialog contains:
The Braille code choices are:
The output format choices are:
BRF Braille ASCII is usually the best choice if the file is to be used on a Braille notetaker.
The Line length control determines how many Braille cells are placed on each line.
The default is 40.
Step 5. Choose the Braille code you want.
Step 6. Press Tab to choose the output format.
Step 7. Press Tab to set the line length if required.
Step 8. Press Tab to reach OK and press Enter or Space.
Step 9. Choose the folder and file name using the standard Windows Save dialog.
Step 10. Press Enter to save.
JAWS should announce:
Exported Braille file followed by the file name.
Suppose you have written a meeting agenda in Leasey Word and want to read it on a Braille notetaker.
Step 1. Write the agenda in Leasey Word.
Step 2. Open the File menu and choose Export as Braille.
Step 3. Choose the Braille code you prefer, for example UK English contracted.
Step 4. Choose BRF Braille ASCII.
Step 5. Leave the line length at 40 unless your device requires something different.
Step 6. Save the file.
Step 7. Copy the BRF file to the Braille notetaker.
The notetaker should then be able to open the BRF file as a Braille document.
Open Options with Control+Comma.
Options is divided into tabbed pages so related settings are grouped together.
To move quickly to an Options tab:
The Opening and Saving tab contains settings which affect how documents are opened, saved and presented in file dialogs.
Restore last cursor position when opening documents Check Box. When this is checked, Leasey Word returns to the last known cursor position when opening a document you have used before.
This is useful when reading or editing long documents because you do not need to manually find your previous place.
Number of recent files Edit Spinbox.
This controls how many files are kept in the Recent Files list.
The value can be between 5 and 50.
Use this if you frequently return to documents you have recently edited.
Default document save folder Edit Field and Browse Button. This is the folder Leasey Word suggests when saving a new or unsaved document.
You can type a path or use the Browse Button to choose a folder.
If quotation marks are included, Leasey Word removes them.
If the folder does not exist, Leasey Word tries to create it when Options is saved.
If a document already has a file location, Save As starts in that document's own folder.
Default save format Combo Box. This controls the file type Leasey Word suggests when saving a new composed document.
The choices are:
Text document is the default.
If you choose Word document, new documents will normally be offered as DOCX files when Save As opens.
This setting does not force every document to become that format.
If you open an existing editable file, such as HTML or Markdown, Leasey Word continues to save it in its existing format.
If you open a PDF or another rendered document, Leasey Word still protects the original file and opens Save As.
Suggest first line as file name Check Box. When this is checked, Leasey Word uses the first non-empty line of a new document as the suggested file name when Save As opens.
For example, if the first line is:
Meeting Notes for Friday
The Save dialog will suggest:
Meeting Notes for Friday
Leasey Word removes characters which cannot be used in Windows file names.
This option is useful if you usually begin a document with a title.
Use simplified Open and Save dialogs Check Box. This option is not checked by default.
When unchecked, Leasey Word uses the standard Windows Open and Save dialogs.
When checked, Control+O and Control+Shift+S use simpler Leasey dialogs.
The simplified dialogs contain a Path Edit Field, Folder list, Open or Save Button, and Cancel Button. In the Folder list, use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through folders and files.
Press Enter on a folder to open it.
Press Enter on a file to choose it.
Press Backspace to move back one folder.
When you press Backspace, focus returns to the folder you just came out of.
If you are at the root of a drive, such as C:\, pressing Backspace moves to the list of drives.
Press Enter on a drive to open it.
You can type the first few letters of a folder or file name to move to it.
You can also type or paste a full path into the Path Edit Field and press Enter.
The Speaking and Display tab contains settings which affect what Leasey Word shows or announces while you move through a document.
Speak document composition indentation level when moving by line Check Box. When this is checked, Leasey Word announces paragraph formatting indentation changes while you move with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.
This relates to document composition indentation, such as increasing or decreasing paragraph indentation for ordinary writing.
Speak code indentation when moving by line Check Box. When this is checked, Leasey Word announces actual leading spaces and tabs at the start of a line while you move with Up Arrow and Down Arrow.
This is useful when editing code, scripts, configuration files, HTML, PHP or other structured text where indentation is part of the content.
Word wrap Check Box. This option is checked by default.
When checked, long lines wrap within the document window.
When unchecked, long lines continue horizontally.
Turning word wrap off can be useful when editing HTML, source code, log files or other documents where the exact line structure matters.
You can also press Control+Alt+W from the document window to turn word wrap on or off quickly.
Plain Text View Check Box. When this is checked, Leasey Word uses a simpler edit control for the document text.
This can help some Braille displays, but formatting features are not available in this view.
When checked, Leasey Word announces the name of a Leasey Document Note when Up Arrow or Down Arrow lands on a line containing one.
The announcement is made using the JAWS Message Voice so it can be distinguished from the line text.
If this option is unchecked, Leasey Word does not announce note names during line-by-line navigation.
You can still use F5 to open the Leasey Document Notes list, F6 to review the note at the current position, and Quick Navigation N or Shift+N to move by notes.
The ChatGPT tab contains settings which affect how ChatGPT Text Tools place results into your document.
Review individual ChatGPT changes before applying Check Box. This option is checked by default.
When checked, Leasey Word displays the Review ChatGPT Changes dialog before ChatGPT Text Tools replace text in the document.
This gives you a chance to inspect each proposed change.
You can accept or reject individual changes and then apply the result.
If this option is unchecked, Leasey Word applies ChatGPT replacement results immediately, as it did in earlier versions.
Preview full ChatGPT result before applying Check Box. This option is not checked by default.
When checked, Leasey Word does not immediately replace text when a ChatGPT Text Tool returns replacement text.
Instead, it opens the ChatGPT Replacement Preview dialog.
The dialog contains an editable field called Replacement text.
You can read the result, make any small changes you want, then Tab to Accept and press Enter or Space.
If you press Escape, the document is not changed.
This option is useful if you want to inspect the whole ChatGPT result before it is placed into the document.
The Data and File Explorer tab contains settings and commands which affect where Leasey Word stores its own data and how it integrates with Windows File Explorer.
Leasey Word data location Edit Field and Browse Button. This controls where Leasey Word stores its settings, document recovery information, bookmarks and other application data.
This will be fully described in the chapter of this documentation relating to the Backup and Restore Manager and should generally not be changed here.
Restore to Location Default Button. This restores the Leasey Word data location to the standard Leasey location.
Use this only if you deliberately changed the data location and want to return to the default.
Register File Explorer entries Button. When activated, this registers Leasey Word with Windows so supported documents can be opened from File Explorer using Leasey Word.
This adds Leasey Word to Windows Open With choices and adds an Open with Leasey Word entry for supported document types.
JAWS should announce:
File Explorer entries registered
Delete formatted files Button. This deletes saved Leasey formatted files from the Formatted Files folder. It does not delete your documents. Use this if you no longer need Leasey Word to restore formatting for plain text files, or if you want to clear the stored formatting information.
Leasey Word asks before deleting the files.
JAWS should announce:
Deleted followed by the number of formatted files.
Leasey Word can currently open and render the following formats as plain text:
RTF support is basic.
If Microsoft Word is available, Leasey Word asks Word to read the RTF document.
Otherwise it uses a simple fallback which may not preserve all formatting.
Older binary PowerPoint files, PPT, are not yet supported.
Leasey Key followed by Windows+W starts Leasey Word.
Control+N creates a new blank document.
Control+Shift+N creates a new document from the Windows clipboard.
Control+O opens a document.
Control+S saves the current document.
Control+Shift+S opens Save As.
Control+P opens the Print dialog.
Control+Alt+W turns word wrap on or off.
Control+F4 closes the current document.
Control+W also closes the current document.
Alt+F4 exits Leasey Word.
Control+F6 moves to the next open document.
Control+Tab also moves to the next open document.
Control+Shift+F6 moves to the previous open document.
Control+Shift+Tab also moves to the previous open document.
Control+Z performs Undo.
Control+Y performs Redo.
Control+X cuts selected text.
Control+C copies selected text.
Control+V pastes text.
Control+A selects all text.
Control+Delete deletes the next word.
Control+Backspace deletes the previous word.
The Leasey Key followed by Comma marks the start point for Leasey Select.
The Leasey Key followed by full-stop or period marks the end point for Leasey Select.
Control+F finds text.
Control+Shift+F searches backwards.
F3 finds the next occurrence.
Shift+F3 finds the previous occurrence.
Control+H opens Find and Replace.
Control+Alt+U changes selected text, or the whole document, to upper case.
Control+Alt+L changes selected text, or the whole document, to lower case.
Control+Alt+T changes selected text, or the whole document, to title case.
Control+Shift+O opens Sort Lines.
Control+Shift+H opens Document Writing Tools.
Control+B toggles bold.
Control+I toggles italic.
Control+U toggles underline.
Control+D opens the Font dialog.
Control+L aligns left.
Control+E centres the current line or selection.
Control+R aligns right.
Control+J justifies the current line or selection.
Control+Alt+Right Arrow increases indentation.
Control+Alt+Left Arrow decreases indentation.
F7 opens Spell Check.
Tab moves to the next control in the Spell Check dialog.
Shift+Tab moves to the previous control in the Spell Check dialog.
Up Arrow and Down Arrow move through the Suggestions list.
Enter or Alt+C changes the current word when focus is in the Suggestions list.
Enter or Alt+C changes the current word when focus is in the Replacement Edit Field.
Delete or Alt+I ignores the current spelling issue.
Control+R reads the sentence in the Spell Check dialog.
Alt+A activates Change All.
Alt+G activates Ignore All.
Alt+D activates Add.
Alt+F activates Finish.
Escape cancels spell checking.
Control+Shift+E opens the Misspelled Words dialog.
Control+Shift+M turns Live Spelling Alerts on or off.
Control+M adds the focused word or selected word to the personal dictionary.
Control+Shift+D removes the focused word or selected word from the personal dictionary.
Alt+Semicolon moves to the next spelling error.
Alt+Apostrophe moves to the previous spelling error.
Alt+Shift+Semicolon moves to the first spelling error.
Alt+Shift+Apostrophe moves to the last spelling error.
Control+K sets a Leasey Word bookmark.
Control+Shift+G opens the Bookmarks dialog.
Control+Shift+K sets a temporary bookmark.
Alt+Shift+K moves to the temporary bookmark.
F4 adds a Leasey Document Note at the current position.
F5 opens the Leasey Document Notes dialog.
F6 opens the Leasey Document Note at the current position in a read-only Edit Field, if one is available.
Control+G opens Go To Page.
Page Down moves to the next page marker where page markers exist.
Page Up moves to the previous page marker where page markers exist.
Control+Shift+W opens Word Count.
Control+Shift+I performs Where Am I.
Control+Shift+P speaks the full path of the current document.
The Leasey Key followed by Control+1 through to Control+0 sets Leasey Points 1 through to 10.
The Leasey Key followed by 1 through to 0 moves to Leasey Points 1 through to 10.
Insert+Z turns Quick Navigation Mode on or off.
Caps Lock+Z does the same if using the JAWS laptop keyboard layout.
When Quick Navigation Mode is on:
P moves to the next paragraph.
Shift+P moves to the previous paragraph.
S moves to the next sentence.
Shift+S moves to the previous sentence.
Space moves to the next page marker if available.
Backspace moves to the previous page marker if available.
H moves to the next heading.
Shift+H moves to the previous heading.
1 through to 6 move to the next heading at that level.
Shift+1 through to Shift+6 move to the previous heading at that level.
B moves to the next bookmark.
Shift+B moves to the previous bookmark.
N moves to the next Leasey Document Note.
Shift+N moves to the previous Leasey Document Note.
T moves to the next Markdown table.
Shift+T moves to the previous Markdown table.
M moves to the next misspelling.
Shift+M moves to the previous misspelling.
Context Menu or Shift+F10 opens spelling suggestions when a misspelling is selected.
Control+Shift+C opens Leasey Command Centre.
Control+Shift+T opens ChatGPT Text Tools.
Control+Shift+L inserts a Leasey Note into the current document.
Control+Alt+S sends the selected text, or the whole document if nothing is selected, to Leasey Social.
Control+Comma opens Options.
Insert+F1 opens Context Sensitive Help for the focused control.
Caps Lock+F1 does the same if using the JAWS laptop keyboard layout.
The following commands are available from the menu bar and from Leasey Command Centre where appropriate:
Recover Bookmarks from Previous Location
Export as HTML
Export as Braille
Preview as HTML
Export Markdown as HTML
Export Markdown as Word
Recent Files
Restore Document Backup
Improve Reading Order with ChatGPT
Enhanced PDF detection
Register File Explorer entries, from Options