Use a screen reader to check recent activity in microsoft teams

This article is for people with visual impairments who use a screen reader program with the Office products and is part of the Office Accessibility content set. For more general help, see Microsoft Support home.

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To quickly check out what's been happening since your last visit to Microsoft Teams, open the Activity view using your keyboard and a screen reader, and browse through your activity feed in a snap. We have tested it with JAWS and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Notes: 

• New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

• To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft Office.

• Recent versions of JAWS no longer have the virtual PC cursor mode set as default for Microsoft Teams. For instructions on how to switch the virtual PC cursor mode on, go to Enable the JAWS virtual cursor.

In this topic

• Find notifications in the Activity feed

  • Filter the Activity feed

• Check your activity

• Reply to notifications

• Customize the notification settings

Find notifications in the Activity feed

All your notifications appear in your Activity feed in the Activity view, so you'll always be on top of things. You'll get a notification whenever someone:

• @mentions you

• @mentions the teams and channels you belong to

• replies to posts you're part of

• replies to your messages

• adds a reaction to your messages

1. To open the Activity feed, press Ctrl+1. Your screen reader announces: "Feed is selected." The focus is on the listing option menu in the list pane.

2. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Activity and notifications list."

3. Press the Tab key to move to the first notification in the feed. You hear the sender info, notification content and details, and the number and position of the selected notification in the list.

4. To open the More options menu, press Spacebar. You hear: "Mark as read" or "Mark as unread." To move in the menu, press the Up or Down arrow key. To select, press Enter. To exit the menu, press Esc.

   Note: You may not have the More options menu available for all notifications, such as missed calls and voicemail.

5. To move in the list of notifications, press the Up or Down arrow key.

Tips: To quickly find a notification, use the search at the top of the screen. To go to the Search, press Ctrl+E.

• To find a person's activity, type /activity in the search field and press Enter. You hear: "Enter the name of a person." Type the name of a person whose activity you want to find and press Enter.

• To find your @mentions, type /mentions in the search field and press Enter.

Filter the Activity feed

You can select the notifications that appear in the feed. For example, you can get notifications when someone has replied to your message.

1. To open the Activity feed, press Ctrl+1. Your screen reader announces: "Feed is selected." The focus is on the listing option menu in the list pane.

2. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Activity and notifications list."

3. Press Shift+Tab to move the focus to the Filter button. Press Spacebar to open the filter menu.

4. Press the Tab key until you hear "More options button," and press Spacebar to open the menu.

5. To move in the menu, press the Up or Down arrow key. To select, press Enter. The feed now lists notifications on the selected item only.

6. To remove the filter, press the Tab key until you hear: "Close filter button." Press Enter.

Note: If you choose to not receive notifications about a particular activity, you'll stop getting banner notifications about them, too.

Check your activity

You can find the messages you've sent in My Activity.

1. To open the Activity feed, press Ctrl+1. Your screen reader announces: "Feed is selected." The focus is on the listing option menu in the list pane.

2. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Activity and notifications list."

3. Press Shift+Tab until you hear: "Feed button menu." To select My Activity, press the Down arrow key until you hear "My activity," and press Enter.

   The list of sent messages opens in the list pane. The most recent message is selected and the focus moves to the conversation containing the message in the content pane. Your screen reader reads the message.

4. To move back to the My Activity list, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear "Activity and notifications list," and then press the Tab key once.

5. To move down in the list of messages, press the Down arrow key. To move to the conversation containing the currently selected message, press Enter.

Reply to notifications

When you hear an interesting notification, you can navigate to the action and participate. For example, if a teammate has @mentioned you, go to the message with the @mention in the Posts tab, see what it's all about, and reply to the message.

1. To open the Activity feed, press Ctrl+1. Your screen reader announces: "Feed is selected." The focus is on the listing option menu in the list pane.

2. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Activity and notifications list."

3. To move into the list of notifications, press the Tab key once.

4. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the notification you'd like to reply to, and press Enter. The related conversation is displayed on the Posts tab.

5. To reply to a channel message, press the Down arrow key until you hear "Reply, button," followed by the message content. Press Enter.

6. Type your message. To send the reply, press Enter.

Customize the notification settings

You can fine-tune what sort of notifications you receive in the Activity feed, in your email, or in the banners.

1. Anywhere in Microsoft Teams, press Ctrl+Comma (,). The Settings dialog opens.

2. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Notifications tab," and then press Enter.

3. Press the Tab key until you hear: "Custom. Choose what you get notified for and how," and press the Tab key.

4. To expand a dropdown menu, press Spacebar. To move in the menu, press the Up or Down arrow key. To select, press Enter. To move on the next list, press the Tab key.

5. To exit the Notifications tab, press Esc.

6. To close the Settings dialog, press Esc again.

Note: If you're not signed in to Microsoft Teams, you'll get an email notification on any missed activity.

See also

Use a screen reader to chat in Microsoft Teams

Use a screen reader to create and modify teams in Microsoft Teams

Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Teams

Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Teams

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Office 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Microsoft Teams

To quickly check out what's been happening since your last visit to Microsoft Teams on Mac, open the Activity view using your keyboard and VoiceOver, the macOS screen reader, and browse through your activity feed in a snap.

Notes: 

• New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

• This topic assumes that you are using the built-in macOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, go to VoiceOver Getting Started Guide.

In this topic

• Find notifications in the Activity feed

  • Filter the feed

• Check your activity

• Reply to notifications

• Customize the notification settings

Find notifications in the Activity feed

All your notifications appear in your Activity feed in the Activity view, so you'll always be on top of things. You'll get a notification whenever someone:

• @mentions you

• @mentions the teams and channels you belong to

• replies to posts you're part of, or posts you are following

• replies to your messages

• likes your messages

1. To open your Activity feed, press Command+1, then press the Tab key until you hear "Feed, popup button."

2. Press the Tab key until you hear the first notification in the feed. You hear the sender's name and current status followed by channel info and notification content.

3. To move in the list of notifications, press the Up or Down arrow key.

Tips: 

• You can use Search to quickly find your @mentions or someone's activity. To go to your @mentions, press Command+E to go to the Search field, type /mentions and press Return. The focus moves to the most recent message where you were mentioned. To reply, press R and start typing. To find your other @mentions, go to your Activity feed.

• To find someone else's activity, press Command+E, type /activity and press Return. Type the name of the person you're looking for. The search results are listed as you type. To move to the list of results, press the Down arrow key. To select a person, press Return when you hear their name.

Filter the feed

You can select the notifications that appear in the feed. For example, you can get notifications when someone has replied to your message.

1. To open the Activity feed, press Command+1, then press the Tab key until you hear "Feed, popup button."

2. Press the Tab key once. You hear: "Filter." To select, press Spacebar. The focus changes to the Type to filter field.

3. Do one of the following:

   • To filter by a text string, type it into the Type to filter field. The activity feed is filtered automatically as you type.

   • To open the filters menu, press the Tab key until you hear "More options," and press Spacebar. To move in the menu, press the Left or Right arrow key. VoiceOver announces the filters as you move. To select, press Return. The feed now lists notifications on the selected item only.

4. To remove the filter and list all notifications again, in the Activity feed, press the Tab key until you hear "Close Filter button," and press Spacebar.

Check your activity

You can find the messages you've sent in My Activity.

1. To open the Activity view, press Command+1, then press the Tab key until you hear "Feed, popup button."

2. To select My Activity, press Return, press the Down arrow key once, and then Return again.

   The list of sent messages opens in the list pane. The most recent message is selected and the focus moves to the conversation containing the message in the content pane. Your screen reader reads the message.

3. To move back to the My Activity list, press Esc, and then press Shift+Tab until you reach the message in the list pane.

4. To move down on the list of messages, press the Down arrow key. To move to the conversation containing the currently selected message, press Return.

Reply to notifications

When you hear an interesting notification, you can navigate to the action and participate. For example, if a teammate has @mentioned you, go to the message with the @mention in the Posts tab, see what it's all about, and reply to the message.

1. To open the Activity feed, press Command+1, then press the Tab key until you hear "Feed, popup button."

2. Press the Tab key until you hear the first notification in the feed. Then press the Down arrow key until you hear the notification you'd like to reply to, and press Return. The focus moves to the message in the related conversation on the Posts tab.

3. To reply to the message in a channel, press R. Type your message, and press Return to send.

Customize the notification settings

You can fine-tune what sort of notifications you receive in the Activity feed, your email, or the banners.

1. Anywhere in Microsoft Teams, press Command+Comma (,). The Settings menu opens.

2. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Notifications tab," and press Return.

3. To navigate in the menu, press the Tab key.

4. To expand a list of options, press Spacebar. To move in the list, press the Up or Down arrow key. To select, press Return.

5. To close the Settings menu, press Esc.

   Tip: You can switch on email notifications to receive emails on any missed activity when you're not signed in to Microsoft Teams.

   Note: If you choose not to receive notifications about a particular activity, you'll stop getting banner notifications about them, too.

See also

Use a screen reader to chat in Microsoft Teams

Use a screen reader to create and modify teams in Microsoft Teams

Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Teams

Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Teams

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Office 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Microsoft Teams

To quickly check out what's been happening since your last visit to Microsoft Teams on the web, open the Activity view using your keyboard and a screen reader, and browse through your activity feed in a snap. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Notes: 

• New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

• To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft Office.

In this topic

• Find notifications in the Activity feed

  • Filter the Activity feed

• Check your activity

• Reply to notifications

• Customize the notification settings

Find notifications in the Activity feed

All your notifications appear in your Activity feed in the Activity view, so you'll always be on top of things. You'll get a notification whenever someone:

• @mentions you

• @mentions the teams and channels you belong to

• replies to posts you're part of

• replies to your messages

• add a reaction to your messages

1. To open the Activity feed, press Ctrl+Shift+1. Your screen reader announces: "Feed is selected." The focus is on the listing option menu in the list pane.

2. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Activity and notifications list." 

3. Press the Tab key to move to the first notification in the feed. You hear the sender info, notification content and details, and the number and position of the selected notification in the list.

4. To open the More options menu, press Spacebar. You hear "Mark as read" or "Mark as unread." To move in the menu, press the Up or Down arrow key. To select, press Enter. To exit the menu, press Esc.

5. To move in the list of notifications, press the Up or Down arrow key.

Tips: 

• To quickly find any mentions of yourself, press Ctrl+E to move to the search at the top of the screen. Type /mentions, and then press Enter. The activities where you have been mentioned are listed in the list pane.

• To quickly find out all the recent activities of a specific person, press Ctrl+E to move to the search region at the top of the screen. Type /activity, press Enter, and start typing the name of the person. The list of search results is updated as you type. Press the Down arrow key to browse the list until you hear the result you want, and then press Enter. The activities of the selected person are listed in the content pane.

Filter the Activity feed

You can select the notifications that appear in the feed. For example, you can get notifications when someone has replied to your message.

1. To open the Activity feed, press Ctrl+Shift+1. Your screen reader announces: "Feed is selected." The focus is on the listing option menu in the list pane.

2. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Activity and notifications list."

3. Press Shift+Tab to until you hear: "Filter button." Press Spacebar to open the filter menu.

4. Press the Tab key until you hear "More options button," and press Spacebar to open the menu. To move in the menu, press the Up or Down arrow key. To select, press Enter. The feed now lists notifications on the selected item only.

5. To move in the menu, press the Up or Down arrow key. To select, press Enter. The feed now lists notifications on the selected item only.

6. To remove the filter, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear: "Close filter button." Press Enter.

Note: If you choose to not receive notifications about a particular activity, you'll stop getting banner notifications about them, too.

Check your activity

You can find the messages you've sent in My Activity.

1. To open the Activity feed, press Ctrl+Shift+1. Your screen reader announces: "Feed is selected." The focus is on the listing option menu in the list pane.

2. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Activity and notifications list."

3. Press Shift+Tab until you hear: "Feed button menu." To select My Activity, press the Down arrow key until you hear "My activity," and press Enter.

   The list of sent messages opens in the list pane. The most recent message is selected and the focus moves to the conversation containing the message in the content pane. Your screen reader reads the message.

4. To move back to the My Activity list, press Ctrl+Shift+F6 until you hear "Activity and notifications list," and then press the Tab key once.

5. To move down in the list of messages, press the Down arrow key. To move to the conversation containing the currently selected message, press Enter.

Reply to notifications

When you hear an interesting notification, you can navigate to the action and participate. For example, if a teammate has @mentioned you, go to the message with the @mention in the Posts tab, see what it's all about, and reply to the message.

1. To open the Activity feed, press Ctrl+Shift+1. You hear: "Feed menu." Your screen reader announces: "Feed is selected." The focus is on the listing option menu in the list pane.

2. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Activity and notifications list."

3. To move into the list of notifications, press the Tab key once.

4. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the notification you'd like to reply to, and then press Enter. The related conversation is displayed on the Posts tab.

5. To reply to a channel message, press the Down arrow key until you hear "Reply, button," followed by the message content. Press Enter.

6. Type your message. To send the reply, press Enter.

Customize the notification settings

You can fine-tune what sort of notifications you receive in the Activity feed, in your email, or in the banners.

1. Anywhere in Microsoft Teams on the web, press Ctrl+Shift+Comma (,). The Settings dialog opens.

2. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Notifications tab," and then press Enter.

3. Press the Tab key until you hear: "Custom. Choose what you get notified for and how," and press the Tab key.

4. To expand a dropdown menu, press Spacebar. To move in the list, press the Up or Down arrow key. To select, press Enter. To move on to the next list, press the Tab key.

5. To exit the Notifications tab, press Esc.

6. To close the Settings dialog, press Esc again.

Note: If you're not signed in to Microsoft Teams on the web, you'll get an email notification on any missed activity.

See also

Use a screen reader to chat in Microsoft Teams

Use a screen reader to create and modify teams in Microsoft Teams

Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Teams

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Microsoft Teams

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.