Turn off virtual or browse mode in screen readers in windows 10 fall creators update

Screen reader content

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.

If you're using a screen reader, and want to edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in Office for the web with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update installed, turn off virtual/browse mode in your screen reader.

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 Windows screen reader, Narrator. To learn more about using Narrator, go to Complete guide to Narrator.

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

Turn off scan mode in Narrator

In Narrator, the built-in Windows screen reader, virtual/browse mode is known as scan mode. If you have Windows 10 Fall Creators Update installed, Windows automatically turns on scan mode when using Narrator. In order to edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in Office for the web, you have to turn off scan mode first.

1. To turn scan mode on and off, press Caps Lock+Spacebar.

   You hear "Scan" when you turn scan mode on, and "Scan off" when you turn it off.

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