WhatsApp Web.

Introduction.

WhatsApp is a popular, free, multi-platform messaging app that lets users make video and voice calls, send text messages, share their status, and more with just a Wi-Fi connection. Part of what makes this app appealing is that it works on various phone and computer operating systems, so you can continue your conversation anytime, anywhere. It can also take advantage of Wi-Fi and cellular data to make one-to-one or group calls, reducing the need for expensive calling charges. You never miss messages, but even if you miss notifications while your phone is off, the app saves recent messages for when you re-open it.

WhatsApp can identify people in your contact list who currently use the app, so you typically don’t have to add them manually. You can also invite people who don’t have WhatsApp or connect with other users you know but who aren’t on your contact list.

This document does not consist of a full tutorial on how to use WhatsApp. It broadly outlines the support given specifically for use with JAWS and Leasey and the special functions which have been created. We will however describe the primary screen layout and how to carry out some simple tasks.

WhatsApp is downloadable (and can be installed) from the Microsoft Store. It is an official Microsoft app. Alternatively you can Run WhatsApp in a browser such as Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome instead.

Starting WhatsApp.

WhatsApp is usually launched from the Start Menu. Into the Edit Field you can type "WhatsApp" and press Enter when JAWS announces it is in focus. When the app is launched, be sure to press Insert+Q or Caps Lock+Q. You will hear a build number of the WhatsApp scripts, followed by the fact that the WhatsApp settings are loaded. If you do not hear a build number, our support for WhatsApp is not being used.

Before You Begin.

When you start WhatsApp for the first time, there is a procedure where you need to link WhatsApp from your phone to the computer. However fortunately this is an accessible process. It involves using your phone number as the linking mechanism as follows:

1. Start WhatsApp on the Windows PC.
2. Press Tab to reach the Button entitled "Get Started" or similar, and press the Space Bar to activate it. Indeed it may already be the focused control.
3. On your phone, open the app, select "Settings" and then "Link Device". You may then be asked to enter your PIN or use Face (or touch) ID for identification.
4. On the computer, press Tab to the button labelled "Link with Phone Number" and press Space".
5. On the next screen, type your phone number using the international format into the edit field and press Enter. An example of such a format might be +44 7654 321987.
6. A code is then sent to the computer which you must type into the phone in order that the linking mechanism can take place. Press the Tab key repeatedly. You will find an item which states that the process for linking WhatsApp via your phone number has begun. Eventually, JAWS will speak the code we are wanting. In order to read the code a character at a time, press function key F9. This will place the code into the JAWS virtual viewer. Review each character and type it on the phone. As soon as the code has been entered, the link is complete and this screen will be dismissed.

Please note. We cannot assist you with, and do not provide any support for, the above process of linking your computer to your WhatsApp account.

Screen Layout.

The WhatsApp screen contains a large number of controls through which you can press Tab and Shift+Tab. Initially this feels quite daunting. The appearance within the older WhatsApp Classic app was far more intuitive and straightforward. Your best approach is to press ALT+C for the Chats List. This is always a good keystroke to remember so as to orientate yourself at any time.

Essentially this version of the application contains Buttons you can Tab through and two primary List Boxes. The first List Box we have already discovered if you have pressed ALT+C. This is the Chats List. The second is the list of messages inside a conversation. We refer to this as the Messages List.

As a quick start, you focus on a conversation you wish to review. You press Enter to open up that conversation and press Escape to close it.

Because there are quite a number of such controls to move through, keyboard shortcuts have been provided as part of the scripts to directly move to key areas of the application. Some of these are as follows:

• Typing edit field: ALT+T.
• Chats List: ALT+C.
• Messages list: ALT+M.
• Record a Voice message: F1. This does not have a pneumonic keystroke such as ALT+R and the reason for this will be explained later.

You can obtain a complete list of all keyboard shortcuts by checking the scripts's Hotkey Help, Insert+H. They will all be explained in their correct context later.

Moving Through Messages in a Conversation.

When you open a conversation by pressing Enter, focus is immediately placed in the Edit Field. You can return to this at any time by pressing ALT+T. Again, this is a good orientation point.

To move through the messages in the conversation, press Tab repeatedly to move to the Messages List, or press ALT+M from anywhere to move to it directly. You can then use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move through the list to review activity.

We should make mention of the Filter Edit Field, activated with ALT+Control+slash. When the field is focused, you can type the name of the person whose conversation you wish to access. The purpose of this field is to ensure you only see the messages relating to that person in the Messages List. When the text has been entered, press Tab twice or ALT+C, and you should find a list of chats which match your search. Press Enter to move into the chat, and then press ALT+M to move to the messages list.

Should you wish to check the conversation name on which you are focused, press ALT+N for Name. This is especially helpful prior to sending a message to ensure you are in the correct conversation. JAWS will announce or Braille the name of the user and the status, such as "Laura Online". Press the keystroke twice quickly so as to send the details to the JAWS Virtual Viewer for closer inspection.

Sending a Text Chat Message to an Active Conversation.

If a conversation is already in progress, you can send a text chat message to it. Prior to doing this, you may like to enable the typing sound indicator. This can be done by pressing F11 repeatedly. This feature has four options:

• No information is spoken when a message is being composed.
• You will hear a typing sound when a message is being composed.
• You will hear a typing sound when a message is being composed and the name of the person typing. This is the preferred option.
• You will hear the name of the person typing. Using this setting, no typing sound indicator is heard.

Regardless of the above typing indicator setting, you can always check if a person is typing by pressing F12. So even if it is disabled, and you just wish to check who is typing, just press F12 by itself.

Assuming the feature is not disabled, when someone is typing a message to you, if you are focused within the WhatsApp application you will hear a report of this.

As soon as the message is sent by the other participant in the conversation, the scripts instruct JAWS to announce it automatically if the option is set in the scripts to announce the messages. This can be enabled or disabled by pressing Control+Shift+F12. You will notice that sometimes, the typing indicator sound will stop, but no message is announced. This is because the other person has stopped typing for a moment but has not sent the message. The typing sound indicator will pick up again when the person resumes typing. JAWS understands that a new message has not been added to the conversation and so does not cause JAWS to announce anything new.

If you are focused in an alternative conversation, or if you are working in an application other than WhatsApp, you are notified of the incoming message through the playing of a sound and through a standard Windows notification. The easiest way to review the details of the message would be:

1. Press ALT+Tab to focus back on WhatsApp.
2. Open up the chat concerned.
3. Press ALT+1. JAWS reports the last message received. ALT+1 through to ALT+0 will report the most recent 10 messages in the list. These keystrokes can be used to read the most recent 10 messages in any WhatsApp chat. Press these keystrokes twice quickly to output the message to the JAWS Virtual Viewer for closer inspection, perhaps word by word.

If you have our Leasey product, you can import our notification rules including those for WhatsApp. They significantly reduce verbal clutter when such notifications arrive and only output information in an abbreviated form.

To send a message yourself, press ALT+T to set focus to the typing Edit Field, type the message and press Enter. JAWS will announce the message which has been sent. You will also hear a sound play to advise you it has been sent. Finally, JAWS speaks the message which has just been sent for confirmation.

Finding a Contact to Chat With.

We have already described how to find a conversation which is ongoing through the use of the Chats List.

Alternatively, you can:

1. Press ALT+Control+N for a new chat.
2. Type the name of the person you would like to chat with. This person must be in your contacts list.
3. Press Shift+Tab repeatedly. You will find a Button pertaining to each contact which has been found.
4. When you have found the desired contact to chat with, press Enter. You can then verify the name again by pressing ALT+N, which has the added advantage of reporting the status, such as "Online".
5. You can then begin a text chat if you wish. Focus is immediately in the text entry field for this purpose.
6. You could if you wish press F1 to record a voice message. This is described in an upcoming section of this documentation.

When you have pressed ALT+Control+N for a new chat, and you type nothing at all, you can press the Tab key. You will reach useful Buttons such as "New Contact", "New Group" and "New Community".

About the Messages List.

As previously explored, the Messages List contains a list of all messages inside a conversation. There are a number of actions you can carry out on each message.

When focused on a message, press the Right Arrow key. The Left Arrow key can be pressed as well but Right Arrow does in many cases provide slightly quicker results. These keys are context sensitive relative to the content of the message in focus.

If a voice message is focused, a Play button is available when you press Right Arrow. You can press Enter to listen to the voice message. Please refer to the next section of this documentation relating to voice messages.

However the chances are high that you will focus on one of two menus. You can always press right Arrow again to reach the second menu. One of these menus is a React menu. Pressing Enter here for example will allow you to give a "thumbs up" to the message. The second is a context menu. Pressing Enter on this item will allow you to reply to the sender or group, reply privately, and so on. Note that if you wish to reply to the focused message, this can easily achieved by avoiding the context menu entirely and pressing Control+R.

Sending a Voice Message.

It is possible to send someone a voice message. Upon careful research, it seems there is no limit as to the size of the voice message. Apparently people have sent entire church services for example as WhatsApp messages.

1. Locate a contact or conversation as described in previous sections.
2. Press Enter to move into the chat.
3. Press F1 so as to begin recording a voice message. An ascending tone will indicate that recording is in progress.
4. Should you wish to pause the recording, press F2. A descending tone will play. You will note that a "Play" Button is focused which, when activated by pressing Enter, will play back the Voice Message.
5. To resume the recording again, press F2.
6. To check whether the recording is in progress or in pause mode, press F5.
7. To send the message, press F3.
8. If you are creating a Voice Message, and you wish to cancel it, press F4. A Dialog Box will appear, asking if you are sure you wish to cancel. The focused Button is "Yes", so go ahead and press the Space Bar.

In summary, the keystrokes conveniently placed are:

• F1 Record.
• F2 Pause or resume recording Voice Message.
• F3 Send Voice Message.
• F4 Cancel Voice Message.
• F5 verifies whether the recording is paused or ongoing.

Listening to Audio Messages You Have Received.

As you browse through your list of messages in a chat, (ALT+M), you may hear that someone has sent you a voice message. If this occurs, press Right Arrow. Focus should be on the "Play" button. Press Enter to play it. The presence of a voice message is also denoted by an audio cue. This means that if you are quickly searching for an audio message, you can quickly skim up or down the list. As soon as you hear the sound play, you know such a message is focused without waiting to hear the output from JAWS which notifies you.

If while playing an audio message you wish to change the speed of playback, type the greater than sign. To decrease the speed of playback, type the less than sign.

Audio and Video Calls.

To place an audio or video call:

1. Open up the chat with the person with whom you wish to place the call. Focus should immediately be in the typing edit field which JAWS confirms.
2. Press ALT+a for an audio call or ALT+V for a video call.
3. The call is made within a second or two.
4. To end the call, from the calling window press ALT+E.

If a call arrives, focus upon the calling window and press ALT+Windows+A to accept call or ALT+Windows+D to decline call.

Working With File Attachments.

To attach a file from your computer to a message:

1. Ensure the relevant chat is open.
2. Locate the file you wish to attach using File Explorer.
3. Copy the file to the Windows Clipboard with Control+C.
4. Focus back on the WhatsApp message and paste it with Control+V.
5. Press Enter to send.

If you receive an attached file as part of a message, use the Messages List to locate the item containing the attachment. Press the Right Arrow key and you will find the file name. Press Enter to download it to your computer.

Setting a Nickname.

1. Open up a chat from the list. It is important you are inside the chat.
2. Press ALT+M so as to focus upon the message history. This can be within a group or individual chat.
3. Use the Up or Down Arrow keys to find a message containing the long name or phone number.
4. Press ALT+Windows_N for Name.
5. An Edit Field appears containing the name or phone number which has been captured. In nearly all cases this should be correct. If it is not, you can edit it, but only do so if you are sure there is a problem. In cases where the user is in your contacts list, JAWS is easily able to retrieve the name. However, if a phone number is given, the text in the edit field may require editing so as to only include the name and phone number. A typical example of what should be in this edit field in such a situation is: Maybe Deborah +123456789.
6. Press Enter and, when prompted, type the new name in its shortened form.
7. Press Enter and it has an immediate effect.