messages app on the mac

Submitted by LaBoheme on Tuesday, July 19, 2016.
Forum
macOS & Mac Apps

for those who use messages app on the mac often: how do you make it speak every incoming message? or at least jump between text entry field and the bottom of the transcript easily? the usual suspect such as hotspot doesn't work.

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Comments

Submitted by Alyssa on Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Hi,
The method I use is a bit cumbersome, but I interact with the conversations which are a few spots above the text field. That usually presents the last message sent. If there are multiple ones, I VO right of the conversations list to a spot that says HTML. In there is the entire conversation. I interact with that and do VO function right arrow to send the cursor to the last element. I then arrow left respectively to find any other messages. This is the best way I have found. If anyone knows of a quicker way, I would love to know.

Submitted by Fred on Tuesday, July 19, 2016

You can turn cursor tracking off with VO-shift-F3. This allows you to monitor incoming messages and type new messages without moving the typing cursor back and forth between the iMessage window where you type and the conversation table.

1. VO right arrow to iMessage window. Press VO-Shift-F3 to turn off cursor tracking.
2. Now you can move VO cursor to the conversations table. Type your message and press enter.
3. When you hear the whoosh, meaning a new message has dropped, simply VO-left arrow and then VO-right arrow to have VoiceOver read you the incoming message. Simply type your reply and press enter, since typing cursor is still in iMessage or typing window. VO-shift-F3 to turn cursor tracking back on.