Use a screen reader to get notified when a file or folder changes in sharepoint online

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 Office Support home.

Use SharePoint Online with your keyboard and a screen reader to create alerts that notify you about changes to files and folders. We have tested it with Narrator and JAWS, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques. When you create an alert, you can specify the delivery method (email or text message), when the alert is sent, and what kind of changes trigger the alert.

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 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.

• 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.

Create an alert to notify you when a file or folder is changed

1. Sign in to your organization's Office 365 account, start the SharePoint app, and then open your document library.

   Tip: Document libraries in SharePoint Online have two different views: classic and SharePoint Online experience. For most people, SharePoint Online experience is the default. However, if you hear "Check it out button" when navigating your document library, you're using the classic experience. To view SharePoint Online document libraries, when you hear "Check it out button," press Enter. After the view of your document library changes to the SharePoint Online experience and the focus moves from the Check it out button to the New link, you hear the name of your document library, followed by "New."

2. To move to the list of folders and files, press the Tab key until you hear: "Table, list of folders, files, or items."

3. To move through the list and select the item you want to get alerts for, use the Up and Down arrow keys. If the item you need is in a subfolder, select the folder, and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear "Table, list of folders, files, or items," and then, to select the item, use the Up and Down arrow keys.

4. To move to the menu bar, press Shift+Tab until you hear: "Command bar."

5. Press the Right or Left arrow key until you hear "Other things you can do with the selected item," and then press Enter.

6. To define an alert for the item, press the Down arrow key until you hear "Alert me," and then press Enter. The Alert me when items change dialog appears.

7. Press the Tab key until you hear "Alert Title," and type a name for the alert.

8. To specify the delivery method, press the Tab key until you hear: "Email, radio button." Depending on how your account is set up, other delivery methods, such as text messaging, may be available. If the Text message option is available, to select it, press the Down arrow key. If you select this option, you can also choose to have the URL sent within the text message. To do this, press the Tab key until you hear "Send URL in text message (SMS)," and then press Spacebar to fill the checkbox.

9. To specify which events to receive alerts for, press the Tab key until you hear: "Anything changes, radio button." Use the Down arrow key to cycle through the options until you hear the one you want.

10. To specify how frequently you want to be alerted, press the Tab key until you hear: "Send notification immediately, radio button." Use the Down arrow key to cycle through the options until you hear the one you want. If you select a daily or weekly summary, press the Tab key until you hear a day or time, and then use the Up and Down arrow keys to define the day and time you want to be alerted at.

11. To save the alert settings, press the Tab key until you hear "OK," and then press Enter.

See also

Use a screen reader to review the version history for a file in a document library in SharePoint Online

Use a screen reader to review file activity in a document library in SharePoint Online

Keyboard shortcuts in SharePoint Online

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate SharePoint Online

Accessibility features in SharePoint Online

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.