Use a screen reader with a blog created in SharePoint Online

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

Use SharePoint Online with your keyboard and screen reader such as JAWS or Narrator, the built-in Windows screen reader, to move around typical blog content, hear an entire post, comment on or like a blog posts, search for content, and so on.

A blog in SharePoint Online is a great tool for announcing company news and events, or sharing ideas, observations, and expertise within your team or organization, just to name a few uses.

Notes: 

• New Office 365 features are released gradually to Office 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you could get new features faster, visit When do I get the newest features in Office 2016 for Office 365?.

• For keyboard shortcuts, go to Keyboard shortcuts in SharePoint Online.

• This topic assumes that you are using the built-in Windows screen reader, Narrator. To learn more about using Narrator, go to Get started with Narrator.

• This topic makes note of the JAWS functionality as well. To learn more about JAWS for Windows, go to JAWS for Windows Quick Start Guide.

• This topic assumes you are using this app with a PC. Some navigation and gestures might be different for a Windows phone or tablet.

• When you use SharePoint Online, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because SharePoint Online runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you'll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not SharePoint Online.

In this topic

• Get started: tab order and default content in a blog

• Tools for blog authors

• Navigate in a blog on SharePoint Online

• Common blog actions

Get started: tab order and default content in a blog

When an author creates a blog in SharePoint Online, they typically use the Blog template, which inserts default content (in Web Parts) in the blog, as well as the following default web pages:

• A home page for the blog

• A page for every blog post

• A page for every blog category

• A page for every monthly blog archive

Tab order for default pages

The following sections describe the tab order for each web page. Knowing the tab order can make it much easier for you to move around each page.

Tab order for blog pages

Every page has the following default content, listed in tab order:

1. Default graphic that links to the blog home page.

2. Home link to the blog home page.

3. Search this site box .

4. Categories list. This contains links to the Events, Ideas, and Opinions categories, and if you are the blog author a link to Add Category.

5. Archives list organized by month and a link to Older Posts.

Home page

The Home page lists all blog posts in descending chronological order. Each post includes:

• Title, author name, and list of blog categories

• Comments link

• Like and Unlike links

• Email a link

• (Author only) More button, which includes an Edit link.

• RSS Feed link

• Alert Me link

Web page for a blog post

This list shows the tab order for a blog post web page:

• Title of the blog post.

• Blog author's name.

• Names of the categories to which the blog post belongs.

• Like link or Unlike link.

• Comment link.

• More list, which contains a link to Email a link. If you are the blog author, the More list contains the links: Email a link and Edit link (to edit the blog post).

• Add a comment text box, where you can type a comment.

• Post button (to post your comment).

• All comments for the blog

Category page

This page lists all blog posts in the category. Each post shows the title of the blog post, the blog author's name, and the names of the categories to which the blog post belongs.

Monthly blog archive page

This page shows all blog posts for the month. Each post shows the title of the blog post, the blog author's name, and the names of the categories to which the blog post belongs.

Tools for blog authors

If you are the author of the blog you are using, after the elements for the final post on every webpage of the blog, additional authoring elements are included. The Blog Tools list provides access to the following links:

• Create a post

• Manage posts

• Manage comments

• Manage categories

• Launch blogging app

• Choose post layout box (Basic, Boxed, and Inline options).

Navigate in a blog on SharePoint Online

• Navigational links.

  To move directly to and select the navigational links on a blog page, press the Tab key until you hear "Skip ribbon commands, Link." Press Enter.

• Main content.

  To move directly to and select the main content on a blog page, immediately after you open the page, press the Tab key until you hear "Skip to main content link." Press Enter.

• Each element on a page.

  To move from one page element to the next, press the Tab key. To move back, press Shift+Tab. As the focus moves to each element, you hear the name of the element.

• Blog home page.

  To move to and select the Home link for the blog home page, press Alt+1. You hear "Home, Currently selected." Press Enter.

• Blog posts on the home page.

  To move from one post to another on the home page, you must tab through the informational elements of each post (such as title, categories, and comments). As the focus moves to the title of a post, you hear the post's name followed by "Heading level one, Link." As the focus moves to each of the other elements of the post, you hear the name of the element followed by "Link." To select one of the post's elements, press Enter.

  Tips: 

  • When the focus moves to the Comments link for a blog post, in addition to hearing "Comments, Link," you hear the total number of comments for the post.

  • To find out which informational elements are included with all blog posts, go to Get started: tab order and default content in a blog in this article.

• Blog posts in a particular category.

  By default, in the tab order on a blog page, the Categories list is after the Search button. As you tab to the Search button, you hear "Search button." If you press the Tab key again, the focus moves to the links in the Categories list. You hear the name of each category followed by "Link." To select a category, press Enter.

• Blog posts in a particular month.

  By default, in the tab order on a blog page, the Archives list is after the last category (or Add Category, if you are the blog author) in the Categories list. As the focus moves to the last category, you hear the category name followed by "Link." If you tab forward, the focus moves to the links in the Archives list. You hear "Archives, Link." As you tab to each month in the list, you hear the name of the month followed by "Link." The last link in the Archives list is Older Posts. As the focus moves to Older Posts, you hear "Older Posts, Link." To select a month, press Enter.

Common blog actions

Hear a blog post and its comments

1. On the home page, a category page, or an archive page for the blog, move the focus to the title of the blog post you want to open. You hear the post's title followed by "Heading level one, Link."

2. Press Enter. As the blog post opens on its own page, you hear the title of the blog post, the blog author's name, the contents of the post, each comment for the post along with the name of the person who posted the comment, and the names of all elements on the webpage.

Comment on a blog post

1. Move the focus to the title of the blog post on which you want to comment. You hear the post's title followed by "Heading level one, Link."

2. To move the focus to the Add a comment text box for the post, use either of the following two methods:

   • If you are on the blog's home page, press the Tab key until the focus moves to the Comments link. You hear the total number of comments for the blog post, and then "Comments, Link." Press Enter. The individual page for the post opens. Press the Tab key until the focus moves to the Add a comment text box. You hear "Edit, Type text."

   • If you are already on the individual page for the post, press the Tab key until the focus moves to the Comment link. You hear "Comment, Link." Press Enter. As the focus moves to the Add a comment text box for the post, you hear "Edit, Type text."

3. Type your comment.

4. To post the comment, press the Tab key. As the focus moves to the Post button, you hear "Post, Button." Press Enter.

Like a blog post

1. On the blog's home page or the individual page for a post, move the focus to the title of the blog post you like. You hear the post's title followed by "Heading level one, Link."

2. Press the Tab key until the focus moves to the Like link and you hear "Like, Link." Press Enter. You hear the number of likes for the post, and "Unlike." An Unlike link is added, in case you change your mind. (To unlike a post, select the Unlike link and then press Enter.)

Search for content

1. To move the focus to the Search this site text box, press Alt+S. You hear "Search this site, Type text."

2. Type your text, and then press Enter. As the focus moves to a new page (opened in the same tab) that contains your search results, you hear the search results.

3. Press the Tab key until you hear the title of the result you want, and then press Enter.

Follow a blog

• After you open a blog created in SharePoint Online in a web browser, the focus moves to the web page, which is open in a tab in the browser. You hear the name of the tab and the name of the browser you're using.

• To move the focus to the Follow button that's at the top of every blog created in SharePoint Online, press the Tab key until you hear "Follow this site and get back to it easily from your sites page," and then press Enter.

This adds a link to the blog in your Sites page under Sites I'm following.

See also

Use a screen reader to explore Following and Recent sites list in SharePoint Online

Keyboard shortcuts in SharePoint Online

Get started using a screen reader with a modern document library in SharePoint Online

Accessibility features in SharePoint Online

Technical support for customers with difficulties

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