JAWS Scripts For Movies & TV
Doug Lee
Last Revised October, 2021
This document describes the scripts for Movies & TV and provides
tips for using this application with JAWS.
This document can be opened from within the application via a double press
of JAWSKey+F1 (or Insert+F1)
when the scripts are running.
At this writing, the scripts focus primarily on the popup window in which media is played.
Table of Contents
System Requirements For JAWS Users
In addition to any system requirements for the application, the following
apply for JAWS users:
- The computer should be running Windows 10.
- JAWS 18.0 or later should be used. The scripts will not
work with or install into JAWS versions older than 18.0.
The scripts are most thoroughly tested against JAWS 2019.
Script Installation Instructions
To install these scripts on a new system:
- Load JAWS if this has not already been done. This will require
administrative privileges on the computer.
- Run JAWS as the user for whom the scripts are to be installed.
This and the following steps must be performed for each user of the computer
who will be using JAWS with these scripts.
- Download and run, or run directly, the installer for these scripts; and follow the on-screen
directions. Be sure to install the scripts in the currently running
JAWS version if a JAWS version list is presented.
- To verify successful installation, type Ins+Q from
within the application. Part of the JAWS spoken response should be a
revision number. If you do not hear a revision number, the scripts are
not correctly loaded.
In some cases, restarting JAWS may fix this issue.
Key Sequences
These scripts incorporate commands that consist of sequences of keystrokes, all beginning with a common prefix, or "command keystroke."
This approach allows many script commands without the risk of conflicting with application keystrokes.
See the "Multi-Key Command Sequences" section of the "Common Script Elements" document for further details, including
how to explore the available script commands (similar to exploring a menu system),
and how to change the Command keystroke if necessary.
By default, the Command keystroke for these scripts is [.
This document may refer to this keystroke as [ or Command;
so, for example, [ Tab and Command Tab both refer to typing the prefix keystroke, then separately the Tab key.
Some sequences may consist of more than two keystrokes, or "levels"; for example, [ d r would refer to typing [, then d, then finally r.
Script Commands and Features
The scripts provide the following commands:
- Command v virtualizes (displays in a JAWS virtual view) the text from the current screen.
This makes reading of some information, such as time elapsed and remaining in a file, easier than with the standard JAWS command for reading the current dialog or screen, Insert+b.
Press Esc to close the virtual view when finished reading.
Note that the times elapsed and remaining may not be shown, or shown accurately, by the application itself except when the playing file is paused.
The scripts also provide the following features:
- If subtitles are enabled, they speak as they appear while the application is in focus.
This author finds this feature a handy way, in some media, to obtain English translations to dialog in another language:
- Enable English subtitles by pressing Enter on the Audio and Subtitles button.
- Play the section of media containing dialog in another language.
- If it is difficult to hear JAWS speech over the media file itself, pause the file by pressing Space, then use the JAWS Speech History feature (Insert+Space h) to bring up the spoken text for review.
Press Esc to close the Speech History view when finished.
- Use the Audio and Subtitles button again to turn off subtitle display if desired, or Alt+Tab out of the application to prevent the subtitles from speaking as they appear.
- The Space bar is silent when pressed, regardless of user preference for key announcement, so that it will not disrupt play/pause of an active file.
- JAWSKey+Q, along with announcing the active configuration name, will announce the revision number of these scripts.
- Typing Ins+F1 twice in quick succession will open this document.
- Typing Ctrl+JAWSKey+V three times in quick succession brings up a JAWS virtual view listing all versions of this application seen
on this machine while JAWS and these scripts were running over time.
(JAWS itself makes a single press of this command speak version information and a double press virtualize it.)
Each version is shown with the date on which it was first seen by the scripts.
This can help in diagnosing problems and establishing whether they
represent script bugs or problems caused by a silent application update to a not-yet supported version.
Known Issues
The following issues are known and may be encountered during use of the application with these JAWS scripts.
These issues may be fixed in a future update to the scripts or to the application itself.
Braille support is not well tested and is likely incomplete.
Revision History
This is the revision history of these scripts, most recent revision first:
Revision 18, released October 26, 2021, tested against application version 10.21092.0.10731
- Screen readers respond better to activation of Table of Contents links in this document.
- Fixed a bug that could cause some localized strings not to be spoken where expected.
- Included minor updates to improve support for JAWS 2021 and later.
- For those who need to change the Command key, the left bracket ([) by default, the system is significantly improved, so that you need not type the key or key combination out as a name or string of key names. You may
edit the keystroke names before accepting them, but JAWS will type them out for you now.
The system is documented in more detail in the Multi-Key Command Sequence section of my Common Script Elements page.
- The installer contains version and product information visible from the Details tab in Windows Explorer, to better identify its contents.
- A "directives" text file is included that provides information on how to install this set of scripts manually.
See "Handling Directives Files" in the "Common Script Elements" document for further information.
- The messages for these scripts are now distributed in XML rather than jsm files so that translators can create translations with no need for script source recompilation.
See the Script Translation Procedure document for details on how to translate these scripts, including how to update the XML message file.
- Fixed a rare cross-project bug that could cause JAWS to speak or Braille out-of-date information about the current screen.
For technical details on the bug and fix, refer to The JAWS Script Cache Life Cycle (CLC) Bug and Resolution.
It is not known whether this bug ever affected these scripts in particular.
- There are significant internal code updates affecting how fields are named.
- There are numerous internal code changes to stay in sync with changes in JAWS and Windows since the last
script release.
- Source code to the scripts is no longer included. See my Script Distribution Policy document for details. As one side effect, this will cause installation to run much faster.
Revision 8, October 1, 2019, tested against application version 10.19072.0.12011
- Initial script release, with support for silencing Space, virtualizing screen text for review, and announcing subtitles as they appear.