This application contains three methods for obtaining help at any time.
1. Context Sensitive Help.
Context Sensitive Help is available for each control within the application. When focused upon a control, press Insert+F1, or Caps Lock+F1 if using the JAWS laptop layout. You can also press Control+Alt+Z. An Edit Field is available containing the help information. It will briefly describe the purpose of the focused control together with keystrokes you can use.
Press the Arrow keys to read the help and press Escape to cancel. This will return you back to the control which previously had focus.
2. Leasey Command Centre.
Press Control+Shift+C or Insert+H to open Leasey Command Centre.
The dialog contains:
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. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through the list. Press Enter on a command to carry it out.
3. Where Am I?.
Press Control+Shift+I for Where Am I. You will receive a succinct summary of where you are located within the focused application.
A Leasey Text allows you to reproduce a block of text with the minimum of keystrokes. A Leasey Text can be very short, such as a single word, symbol, code or marker. It can also contain several paragraphs. Blank lines within the text are preserved.
A Leasey Text can be inserted into any editable control. This could be an Email message, a text document, a social media client or a web-based form.
Typical examples include:
Leasey Texts can be inserted from a simple list, created quickly from the Windows Clipboard, or managed from a full Windows application interface.
The Leasey Texts application contains two components: The Leasey Texts interface and Clipboard History. The Clipboard History will be fully described later in this chapter.
There are three main Leasey commands.
The simple list is the quickest method when you only want to insert a stored text. The clipboard command is the quickest method when you have already copied text and want to store it. The main interface is used when you want to create, edit, organise, or configure Leasey Texts in more detail.
Before you can store a Leasey Text by this method, the text must be on the Windows Clipboard.
Step 1. Select the text you want to store.
Step 2. Press Control+C to copy it to the Windows Clipboard.
Step 3. Press the Leasey Key then T.
Step 4. A simple dialog appears asking for the name of the Leasey Text.
Step 5. Type a clear name and press Enter.
The Leasey Text is saved as an uncategorised item. When it is inserted later, Leasey Texts speaks the name of the text followed by the word Inserted.
This method is designed to resemble the traditional Leasey Texts workflow. It is identical to that which has been in place for many years. It is quick and does not require you to move through the full manager interface.
To insert a Leasey Text from the simple list:
Step 1. Move to the application and Edit Field where the text should be inserted.
Step 2. Press the Leasey Key then L.
Step 3. A List Box appears containing all stored Leasey Texts in alphabetical order.
Step 4. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to choose a Leasey Text. You can also use first letter navigation.
Step 5. Press Enter.
The list closes and the selected text is pasted into the application where you were working.
Press Escape to close the simple list without inserting anything.
This method is designed to resemble the traditional Leasey Texts workflow. It is identical to that which has been in place for many years. It is quick and does not require you to move through the full manager interface.
When focused on an item in the simple list, press Delete to delete it. You will be asked to confirm before the item is removed.
You may wish to view the text available which forms part of a Leasey Text.
Step 1. Press the Leasey Key then V.
Step 2. A List Box appears containing all stored Leasey Texts in alphabetical order.
Step 3. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to choose a Leasey Text. You can also use first letter navigation.
Step 4. Press Enter.
The list closes and an Edit Field appears containing the text. You can leave that window open if you would like to refer to the text while working within an alternative application.
You can edit the text from here if you wish. If you would like to save your edited text, press Control+S.
Step 5. When you wish to dismiss the text, be sure you are focused within the Leasey Text window and press Escape.
If you wish to return to the Leasey Text previously opened, press the Leasey Key then ALT+V.
The last known Leasey Text opens and you should be focused upon the line you previously accessed. You can then read the text or edit it. If you have edited the text, press Control+S to save.
If you press Escape, this closes the Leasey Text window.
Press the Leasey Key then Shift+T to display the main Leasey Texts interface.
The main window contains:
You can press the Tab key to move through the controls.
When the main window opens, focus is placed in the Leasey Texts list. This means you can immediately use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through your texts.
The list contains columns for the name, abbreviation and category. JAWS users will usually hear the name first. If you want to review or change the abbreviation, category, sound or speech options, press Enter on the selected item to open its properties.
The main window also contains a Clipboard History tab. Press Alt+1 to return to the Leasey Texts tab. Press Alt+2 to move to Clipboard History. We will ignore Clipboard History for the time being.
To create a Leasey Text from the main interface:
Step 1. Press the Leasey Key then Shift+T.
Step 2. Press Control+N.
Step 3. The New Leasey Text dialog opens.
The controls appear in this order:
The Name is what appears in the Leasey Texts list. The Leasey Text Edit Field contains the full text to be inserted.
If you are viewing a category when you create a new Leasey Text, the new item is placed in that category unless you choose a different one. If automatic alphabetical sorting is not enabled, the new item is inserted near the current position in the list.
To edit the properties of a Leasey Text:
Step 1. Press the Leasey Key then Shift+T.
Step 2. In the Leasey Texts list, move to the item you want to change.
Step 3. Press Enter.
Step 4. The Leasey Text Properties dialog opens.
From this dialog you can change the name, abbreviation, full text, category, speech option and sound option for that item.
Press Enter or Space on OK to save. Press Escape to cancel and return to the main list.
When focused in the main Leasey Texts list, press Control+C to copy the selected stored text to the Windows Clipboard.
Press Delete to delete the selected Leasey Text. You will be asked to confirm. If the item is deleted, Leasey Texts tries to maintain your position in the list.
An abbreviation is a short sequence of characters which can be expanded into the full Leasey Text.
For example, you could create a Leasey Text called signature with the stored text:
Yours sincerely [[text]] John James
You could then give it the abbreviation:
sig
You can also use it for short-forms. For example
By the way
You could then give it the abbreviation:
btw
When you type the abbreviation followed by Space, Leasey Texts removes the abbreviation and inserts the full stored text.
Abbreviations can also expand before punctuation. For example, if punctuation expansion is enabled, typing an abbreviation followed by a comma or full stop (or period) expands the text and places the punctuation at the end.
The punctuation signs can be changed in Options.
To modify the punctuation signs which could potentially trigger an abbreviation:
Step 1. Press Control+Comma for Options.
Step 2. Press Tab until you reach the Check Box "Expand abbreviations before punctuation".
Step 3. Press Space Bar to check the box.
Step 4. Press Tab to reach the punctuation signs Edit Field. Punctuation signs are written like this:.,;:!? That is period comma semicolon colon exclamation mark question mark all without a space. You type the punctuation signs and not the words.
Step 5. Press Tab to reach OK and press Enter or Space.
The Leasey Texts application must be running for abbreviations to work.
Step 1. Press Control+Comma for Options.
Step 2. Press Tab repeatedly until you reach the Check Box "Minimize to system tray on close".
Step 3. Press the Space Bar to check it.
Step 4. A Dialog Box appears which states: "This setting will also add the necessary Windows Startup entry so LeaseyTexts can start automatically and remain in the system tray. For this to work, JAWS must be configured to start automatically after Windows login. Are you sure JAWS is configured to start after login?"
Step 5. Press Tab to reach the "Yes" Button and press Enter or Space.
Here is some useful guidance when creating an abbreviation. You could prefix it with a dollar (or other punctuation sign such as an exclamation mark) to avoid any possible confusion when typing. A good example might be:
$sig
Each Leasey Text can have its own abbreviation settings.
If Name of Leasey Text is selected in What To Say, Leasey Texts speaks the item name followed by the word Inserted. This is often preferable for long texts because it avoids speaking several paragraphs.
If Full Text is selected, the full stored text is spoken after expansion. This can be useful for very short items, but may be too verbose for long passages. That is why you can customise them on an individual basis.
A Leasey Text can play a sound when its abbreviation expands.
Check Play sound in the properties dialog. The sound controls then become available. You can choose from installed JAWS and Windows sounds, preview the selected sound, or browse for a wave file as you can in Leasey Diary.
Step 1. Open the main Leasey Texts interface by pressing the Leasey Key followed by Shift+T.
Step 2. Press Control+N to create a new Leasey Text.
Step 3. Into the Leasey Text Name Edit Field, type:
Good Day
Step 4. Press Tab to reach the Abbreviation Edit Field.
Step 5. Type the characters:
gd
Step 6. Tab to the Leasey Text Edit Field.
Step 7. Type:
I hope you are having a good day
Do not end it with a full-stop or period. Later, we are going to reproduce that abbreviation with the keyboard ending with a punctuation sign, and the full-stop or period will automatically be inserted.
Step 8. Press Tab to reach the "Enable Abbreviation" Check Box and ensure it is checked by pressing the Space Bar.
Step 9. Tab to the "Abbreviation is Case Sensitive" Check Box. You can check or uncheck this as desired. For example, if it is checked, and your abbreviation was written as capital G capital D, you would have to type those characters with the Shift Key held down in order to trigger it. Usually this would be unchecked.
Step 10. Tab to the "Speak Expanded Text" Check Box and check it by pressing the Space Bar. If you did not do this, nothing would be spoken when the text was expanded.
Step 11. Tab to the "What to Say" Radio Buttons. The choices are Name of Leasey Text which is the preferred option or "Full Text" which reads everything.
Step 12. Tab to the "Add Trailing Space" Check Box and check it by pressing the Space Bar if it is not already checked. This adds an extra space after the punctuation sign in this example.
Step 13. Tab to the "Play Sound Check Box. If you check it, this plays an additional sound when the expansion occurs. Controls are revealed so as to choose the sound to play. In this example we will not check this box.
Step 14. Tab to the OK Button and press Enter or Space to save the Leasey Text.
Step 15. Move into an edit area of any kind within Windows.
Step 16. Type the abbreviation
gd
and then type a full-stop or period.
Step 17. JAWS should announce:
Good day inserted.
Step 18. If you check the current line of text by pressing Insert+Up Arrow, you should find that the text states:
I hope you are having a good day.
A space character should then appear at the end of that line, the theory being that you can type the abbreviation and then immediately continue writing regular text.
If you had typed:
gd
and then pressed the Space Bar, the phrase
I hope you are having a good day
would have been inserted without a full-stop or period at the end. This is because we did not include one when creating the Leasey Text.
Leasey Texts can be divided into categories. You do not have to use categories. If you prefer one straight list, you can continue to work that way.
The Category Combo Box lets you choose which category you want to access.
The choices include:
All categories shows every Leasey Text. Uncategorised shows items which are not currently assigned to a category. Choosing a specific category shows only items in that category.
To create a new category, press Control+Shift+N. Type the category name and press Enter.
To move the selected Leasey Text to a category, press Control+M. Choose the category and press Enter. Choose Uncategorised to remove the item from a category.
To manage categories, press Control+Shift+M. In Manage Categories, use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move through the category list. Press F2 to rename the selected category. Press Delete to delete the selected category after confirmation. Deleting a category does not delete the Leasey Texts inside it. Items in that category become uncategorised.
The Search Edit Field lets you narrow the current list.
Press Control+F to move to the Search Edit Field.
Type part of the name, abbreviation, category or stored text. The list changes to show matching items in the current category view.
Sometimes you may not know which category contains the item. Press Control+Shift+F to search across all categories.
This is different from the normal Search Edit Field. Control+F filters the current list. Control+Shift+F searches everywhere.
If automatic alphabetical sorting is not enabled, you can move items manually in the current list.
Press Alt+U to move the selected Leasey Text up.
Press Alt+D to move the selected Leasey Text down.
Leasey Texts confirms the new position, for example, moved Signature below Address.
To sort the current list alphabetically, press Control+Shift+S.
To always show lists alphabetically, press Control+Comma for Options and check Sort Leasey Texts alphabetically automatically. While this option is checked, Move Up and Move Down are unavailable.
When Leasey Texts starts for the first time, it attempts to import texts and abbreviations from the previous Leasey Texts system.
You can also run the import manually from Options:
Step 1. Press Control+Comma to move into the Options dialog.
Step 2. Press Tab repeatedly to reach the button entitled "Import from previous LeaseyTexts".
Step 3. Press Enter or Space Bar to activate it.
Imported texts are created as Leasey Texts. If an abbreviation is found, it is assigned to the matching text. Imported items are set to speak the name of the Leasey Text when inserted, rather than speaking the full stored text.
Leasey Texts stores and reproduces plain text. It does not preserve font, size, colour or other rich formatting.
For example, if you copy text which was originally formatted in 14 point Arial Black, Leasey Texts stores the words and line breaks, not the font formatting.
Clipboard History is part of the Leasey Texts application.
When Leasey Texts is running, text copied to the Windows Clipboard is stored as a clipboard history entry. The most recent entries appear first unless you choose to sort clipboard history alphabetically in Options.
For the time being, Clipboard History stores plain text. It is intended for copied text, short links, phrases, paragraphs and other text you may want to use again. Up to 1000 entries are stored. If there are duplicate entries copied to the Clipboard, these are filtered out and the most recent remains.
To open Clipboard History from the main interface, press Alt+2.
The Clipboard History tab contains:
Press Control+F to move to Clipboard Search. Type a word or phrase to narrow the list. Press Enter from the Search field to return to the Clipboard History list with the filtered results.
When focused in the Clipboard History list:
Pressing Enter opens Properties where the text can be read in its entirety.
Pressing the Tab key moves through different controls depending upon the content of the Clipboard Entry.
An Edit Button allows you to edit the text of the Clipboard Entry. Edit as necessary and press Enter, whereupon focus returns to Properties. You can immediately read the text with your changes. This function can also be invoked by pressing F2 from the main Clipboard Entry list.
If a clipboard entry is a web link beginning with http:// or https://, the Properties window includes an Open Link Button. Pressing it opens the link in the default browser.
If a clipboard entry is an existing file or folder path, the Properties window includes an Open Path Button. Depending upon the Options setting, this opens the path in File Explorer or Leasey File Manager.
Several global shortcuts are available when Leasey Texts is running. They can be changed if necessary in Options, under the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
Alt+Shift+F9 shows or hides the Clipboard History tab.
For example, typically the application is hidden away in the System Tray area. You want to view a recently copied entry or copy it to the Windows Clipboard. Press ALT+Shift+F9. The Clipboard History window appears. Review the entries and press Escape to hide it again so you return to your original application.
Alt+Shift+F10 opens a simple Clipboard History paste list.
The simple paste list is designed for quick insertion into the application where you are working.
To use it:
Step 1. Move to the application and Edit Field where the clipboard entry should be inserted.
Step 2. Press Alt+Shift+F10.
Step 3. A List Box appears containing clipboard history entries.
Step 4. Use Up Arrow and Down Arrow to choose an entry. You can also press Control+F to search, followed by Enter.
Step 5. Press Enter on the required item.
The list closes and the selected clipboard entry is pasted into the application where you were working.
Press Escape to close the list without pasting.
Leasey Texts can paste any of the ten most recent Clipboard History entries directly into the application where you are working.
By default:
After the text is pasted, JAWS speaks the first sentence of the pasted entry.
These shortcut keys can be changed from Options, under the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
To copy a Clipboard History item to a Leasey Text:
Step 1. Press ALT+Shift+F9 to bring into view the Clipboard History.
Step 2. Find the entry of interest.
Step 3. Press Control+Shift+T.
Step 4. You are asked for the name of the Leasey Text. Type it in and press Enter.
To copy a Clipboard History item to a Leasey Clip:
Step 1. Press ALT+Shift+F9 to bring into view the Clipboard History.
Step 2. Locate the item of interest.
Step 3. Press Control+Shift+L.
Step 4. A list of Leasey Clip positions is now available. Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow to move through the twelve possible positions.
Step 5. Press Enter to copy it to a Leasey Clip.
You can mark more than one Clipboard History entry and then copy them together.
When focused in the Clipboard History list:
Marked entries show the word Selected in the Marked column of the list and are spoken first.
When one or more entries are marked, press Control+C to prepare those entries for pasting. They are prepared in the order in which you marked them.
Leasey Texts also places a combined copy of the marked entries on the Windows Clipboard as a fallback. The separator placed between marked entries is controlled from Options. Choices include a space, comma, full-stop or period, vertical bar, line break, or paragraph break. A Radio Button group determines the Clipboard Separator.
If no entries are marked, Control+C copies the focused Clipboard History entry in the usual way.
Marked entries can also be pasted one at a time into another application.
For example, you may have copied an artist name and a song title, and you want to paste them into two separate fields.
Step 1. Open Clipboard History with Alt+Shift+F9.
Step 2. Mark the entries you want using comma. Mark them in the order in which you want them to be pasted.
Step 3. Move back to the application where the text should be pasted. You may be able to press Escape to do this if it had focus prior to invoking the Clipboard History window.
Step 4. Press Control+V. Leasey Texts pastes the first marked entry.
Step 5. Move to the next field if necessary and press Control+V again. Leasey Texts pastes the next marked entry.
After each paste, Leasey Texts says which marked item has just been pasted.
When the final marked entry has been pasted, the marked selection is cleared.
If you press Control+C in Clipboard History before moving away, the marked entries are prepared for the one-at-a-time paste routine. The visible Selected marks are cleared, but Leasey Texts remembers the prepared entries until they have been pasted.
There is an even faster way to paste clipboard entries if you can remember the order in which they were copied.
Consider this line of text:
Sophie B Hawkins - Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover
We have a form where we need to paste the artist in the first field and the song title in the second field.
Step 1. Copy the first item of data to the clipboard with Control+C. In this example that is Sophie B Hawkins.
Step 2. Move to the second text segment and copy it with Control+C. In this example that is Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover.
Step 3. Move to your form where the information is to be pasted.
Step 4. Move to the Artist field and press ALT+Shift+2. We are pressing this keystroke because Sophie B Hawkins is the second most recent entry copied. JAWS announces the item which was pasted.
Step 5. Move to the form field requiring the title. Press ALT+Shift+1. We are pressing this keystroke because that is the most recent entry copied. JAWS announces the item which was pasted.
If you have shared out your data, as defined within the Backup and Restore Manager chapter, Clipboard Entries can be shared across devices. Alternatively, this application shares the same Leasey application protocol as other applications, so you can manually set the data folder in Options.
Press Control+Comma to open Options.
The Options dialog contains two tabs:
Press Control+Shift+1 from within Options to move to the General tab.
Press Control+Shift+2 from within Options to move to the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
The General tab is divided into LeaseyText Options, Clipboard History Options and Application Options.
Sort LeaseyTexts alphabetically automatically.
When this option is checked, Leasey Texts keeps the main LeaseyTexts list in alphabetical order. Move Up and Move Down are not used while automatic alphabetical sorting is enabled.
Expand abbreviations before punctuation.
When this option is checked, abbreviations can expand when followed by punctuation, not only when followed by Space. For example, an abbreviation followed by a comma can expand and place the comma after the inserted text.
Punctuation signs.
This edit field contains the punctuation characters which can trigger abbreviation expansion. The default signs are comma, full-stop or period, semicolon, colon, exclamation mark and question mark. Type the punctuation signs themselves, without spaces.
Import from previous Leasey Texts.
This button runs the old Leasey Texts import again. It imports text names, abbreviations and matching text files from the previous Leasey Texts system where available. Imported items are set to speak the Leasey Text name when inserted.
Sort clipboard history alphabetically.
When this option is checked, Clipboard History is shown alphabetically. When it is not checked, the most recent copied entries appear first. The ten recent clipboard entry shortcut keys still use the true most recent entries, even if the visible list is sorted alphabetically.
Open file and folder paths with.
This radio button group controls what happens when a Clipboard History entry is a file or folder path and you press Open Path from Properties.
If File Explorer is selected, the path opens in Windows File Explorer.
If Leasey File Manager is selected, Leasey Texts starts Leasey File Manager with the selected path.
Clipboard Separator.
This radio button group controls how marked Clipboard History entries are separated when copied together with Control+C. The choices are space character, comma, full-stop or period, vertical bar, line break and paragraph break.
Minimize to system tray on close.
When this option is checked, closing the Leasey Texts window keeps the app running in the system tray. This allows abbreviations, Clipboard History and global shortcut keys to continue working. It also creates the Windows Startup entry used to start Leasey Texts with Windows. JAWS should also be configured to start automatically with Windows.
Data location.
This edit field controls where Leasey Texts stores its writable data. You can use the default LeaseyData folder, or choose another folder such as a Dropbox folder if you want the data backed up or shared between computers.
Browse.
This button lets you choose the Data location folder.
The Keyboard Shortcuts tab lists each global shortcut action with an edit field beside it.
If a shortcut field is blank, that shortcut is not assigned. This means you can backspace out a shortcut and press OK to disable it.
Leasey Texts checks that assigned shortcuts are valid and that no two assigned shortcuts are the same. Blank shortcut fields are ignored during duplicate checking.
The available shortcut fields are:
Show or hide Clipboard History.
This controls the global shortcut used to show or hide the Clipboard History tab. The default is Alt+Shift+F9.
Open Clipboard paste list.
This controls the global shortcut used to open the simple Clipboard History paste list. The default is Alt+Shift+F10.
Paste recent Clipboard entry 1 through to Paste recent Clipboard entry 10.
These controls set the global shortcuts used to paste the most recent 10 Clipboard History entries. The defaults are Alt+Shift+1 through to Alt+Shift+0.
When a recent Clipboard entry shortcut is used, Leasey Texts pastes the entry into the application where you are working and speaks the first sentence of the pasted text.
The quickest way to use Leasey Texts is still the simple list. Press the Leasey Key then L, choose the text and press Enter.
The quickest way to create a basic text is to copy text to the Windows Clipboard and press the Leasey Key then T.
The main interface, opened with the Leasey Key then Shift+T, is for users who want more control. From there you can add abbreviations, categories, sounds, punctuation expansion, speech behaviour and sorting.
If you use abbreviations or Clipboard History frequently, consider enabling system tray mode so Leasey Texts can remain available after Windows starts.
Simple list of Leasey Texts, Leasey Key then L. Press Enter to paste.
Store text from clipboard, Leasey Key then T.
View Leasey Text, Leasey Key then V. Choose a Leasey Text and press Enter to view or edit.
Save edited text, Control+S.
View the last Leasey Text, Leasey Key then V.
Main Leasey Texts interface, Leasey Key then Shift+T.
Leasey Texts tab, Alt+1.
Clipboard History tab, Alt+2.
New Leasey Text in the main interface, Control+N.
Open properties for the selected Leasey Text, Enter.
Delete selected Leasey Text, Delete.
Copy selected stored text to the Clipboard, Control+C.
Search current list, Control+F.
Search all categories, Control+Shift+F.
Show or hide Clipboard History, Alt+Shift+F9.
Open simple Clipboard History paste list, Alt+Shift+F10.
Paste recent clipboard entries 1 through 10, Alt+Shift+1 through Alt+Shift+0.
Convert selected clipboard history entry to a Leasey Text, Control+Shift+T.
Convert selected clipboard history entry to a Leasey Clip, Control+Shift+L.
Edit selected clipboard history entry, F2.
Mark clipboard history entry, comma.
Mark clipboard history entry, Space Bar.
Unmark clipboard history entry, full-stop or period.
Clear marked clipboard history entries, slash.
Options, Control+Comma.
Create new category, Control+Shift+N.
Move selected Leasey Text to a category, Control+M.
Manage categories, Control+Shift+M.
Move selected Leasey Text up, Alt+U.
Move selected Leasey Text down, Alt+D.
Sort current list alphabetically, Control+Shift+S.
Suspend or resume abbreviations, Alt+S.
Context Sensitive Help, Insert+F1, Caps Lock+F1, or Control+Alt+Z.
Leasey Command Centre, Control+Shift+C or Insert+H.
Where Am I, Control+Shift+I.
Close the simple list without pasting, Escape.