FYI, rotor actions are not necessarily a function of QuickNav, With QuickNabv off, as you have already discovered, rotor actions may be performed by holding down the VO modifyer and CMD, then using the left/right arrow keys to select rotor category, and the up/down arrow key to perform the rotor action for that category.
HTH - Brad - On Aug 29, 2025, at 10:20, Jonathan Cohn <[email protected]> wrote: Hi, This changes what the up/down arrow keys do in quicknav. If you have navigation set in the rotor then up will move up a line. If you have word in the rotor then up will move back a word. There is also the “line” rotor entry which in text should do exactly the same as Navigation, but in a table or web page (especially if you have group navigation enabled ) up/down will move to the previous column or item that is directly above the current VoiceOver cursor. Also, the rotor will effect the first value of what list of items shows up with VO-U command. So if the rotor is set to headings and then you press VO key with the U key, you should get a list of headings. Using QuickNav navigation movement with Web Group navigation one can view a table on the web that has not been configured with table HTML elements. No other screen reader that I am aware of has this ability. That being said, I generally do not turn on arrow quickNav unless I am using a keyboard without a numeric keypad. BTW, in modern MacOS, pressing both the left and right arrow keys toggles not only arrow QuickNav, but single letter QuickNav by default. I expect this answer is probably going to generate as many questions as it answered, but understanding the rotor and all its effects are fairly important to understanding how to effectively use VoiceOver. Jonathan > On Aug 28, 2025, at 11:24 PM, Frank Ventura <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi all, on my Mac (m4 MBA); when I press VO COMMAND and RIGHT ARROW it cycles > through choices like navigation, words, characters, etc. However, what is > this used for? What exactly does it change? thanks > Frank > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is i/down nappropriate, please contact the > owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: > [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/7220194C-D6FD-4C66-9BD0-19EC9860D618%40littlebreezes.com. -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/38636DDE-26E9-45A9-ACCE-206EDFE5CB24%40gmail.com. -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/CE842949-AF9C-46DA-A38B-404314DAB1BE%40swbell.net.
