When I edit Microsoft Word document and use the command to know the cursor location with NVDA, sometimes I get numeric values. For example, Positioned at 1580, 607. Other times I get this in centimeters which is my preferred way of announcing cursor location. Sometimes this happens even if the content under cursor is text. Any idea how to keep this announcement in CMs not in numeric values?
Comments
Is this native behavior, or an add-on?
Does this work for you from only within Word? Or is it a system wide feature?
System wide
In my numeric keypad windows laptop, I press Insert + delete to get system caret location.
*Update* Well, hey, I learned something new!
I did not know about this shortcut, though there is a similar one with NVDA plus Backspace, which is supposed to set focus.
To answer your initial question, I am not sure how to make it give consistent cm measurements.
Apologies. If I find anything out, I will update this post. 🙂
**Update**
Figured it out. Check my post below with the subject line, Centimeters in Word".
Maldalain
When you are using this shortcut, what do you hear exactly? Also what do you hear when you do a double press of this shortcut?
For example, on this thread, with my cursor focused on the Heading at level 1, which is the topic starter of this thread, I get the following. Keep in mind this is on Firefox at full screen:
Single press: 5%, at 291, 313
Double press: Object edges positioned 0.0 percent from left edge of screen, 0.0 percent from top edge of screen, width is 100.0 percent of screen, height is 100.0 percent of screen
Would you mind copying/pasting what you get when you use this? Doesn't matter where, or which app, I am just curious as to how you are sometimes getting readouts in cm.
Thanks in advance. 🙂
Here what I found
These are all done in the same Word document, also it is text all the time, no another type of content. Here what is said:
One press:
2.54 centimeters from left edge of page, 2.54 centimeters from top edge of page
Double press:
Object edges positioned 0.0 percent from left edge of screen, 22.0 percent from top edge of screen, width is 98.8 percent of screen, height is 75.2 percent of screen
Few lines down the same document:
One press:
Positioned at 639, 720
Double press:
Object edges positioned 0.0 percent from left edge of screen, 22.0 percent from top edge of screen, width is 98.8 percent of screen, height is 75.2 percent of screen
Again, that's all in the same Word document, content is all textual.
Interesting
I will keep investigating. I have no idea why you sometimes get centimeters and sometimes get, whatever the other thing is, inches or pixels? Wondering if this is a region setting, or an NVDA setting that I am missing? Either way, I'll keep looking into it. I am very curious as to how you're getting those readings.
Edit: forgot to ask what version of NVDA you are running? I am running 2025.2, the latest version which reportedly has support for the new Monarch braille display.
Sorry for the double post
Comment removed by user.
My NVDA
It is the latest too.
Thanks for your time and effort
Thanks for your time, Brian. I’m currently working on formatting a large number of documents for my students, and it’s important that everything is consistent, especially in terms of text placement and overall layout. I need to be able to handle this independently.
Although I primarily use a Mac, I’ve been running into problems when exporting documents to Word. The formatting often looks very different from what I intended on the Mac—particularly with fonts and background colors—and this inconsistency becomes noticeable when I print the documents for my students.
Re: Exporting
Unfortunately exporting a document from Mac to PC tends to cause issues with formatting. Not sure why, but it has been like this for quite a while now. It is one of the reasons I ended up BootCamping Windows back in my college days, on my Intel based MacBook Pro, so that I could write my essays in Microsoft Word directly, and not have to worry about format corruption.
Centimeters in Word
Hi Maldalain,
So after doing a little research, I found the following. This is from Google's AI generated results:
• Go to "File" > "Options" > "Advanced" in Microsoft Word.
• Scroll down to the "Display" section.
• In the "Show measurements in units of" dropdown, select "Centimeters".
• Click "OK" to apply the changes.
• In the Word document, navigate to the desired location of the caret (cursor).
• Press NVDA + NumpadDelete.
• NVDA will announce the location of the caret. This might include the percentage through the document, the distance from the edge of the page, or the exact screen position.
Important considerations
• While setting the Word measurement unit to centimeters should ideally result in NVDA announcing the caret position in centimeters, occasional inconsistencies may occur, and NVDA might announce numeric values instead.
• Pressing NVDA + NumpadDelete twice may provide further details about the caret's location.
• The "NVDA" key is typically the Insert key, but it can be configured to use the Capslock key instead.