trying to get tables in a pages, or word document to read on the mac.

By Scott, 15 October, 2021

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hello all. I'm trying to read tables that are appearing in a word document in word for mac. I've also tried to open the document in pages and when I interact with the tables, I'm not able to move around in them. However, if I open the file in TextEdit, everything reads just fine. Any ideas?

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By Kevin Shaw

1 year 11 months ago

Here's how I handle tables in Pages.

  1. Stop interacting with the body text and navigate to the table using VO-Command-T or VO-arrowing until you find the desired table. VoiceOver will say something like "Table with 2 columns and 5 rows".
  2. Interact. Once you're in the table, you will need to use BOTH VO and the arrow keys to navigate through the table cells. VO-up, down, left and right. You cannot use the arrow keys alone to move between cells.
  3. To edit a cell, VO-space.
  4. Press Escape when you're done.
  5. Stop interacting and VO-arrow left or right until you're back in the body.
  6. Interact again.

This method is a little cumbersome at first, but you'll eventually get the hang of moving between the body and tables. The one tricky piece to manage are tables with nested rows or columns inside.