Re: Guide for switching from windows to Mac?

[Kendra Schaber]

Hi all!  As I understand it, Google Dox and the like are not fully accessible on a Mac, but they are more accessible on a Windows computer, though from my own personal experience, Google Dox is not consistant with its accessability, usually functionally speaking even when it’s technically accessible. I haven’t played with Google Dox and JAWS 2025 so that might make the Google sweet more accessible than earlier versions of JAWS, but there are some apps like Google Sheets that are not as accessible as Google Claims. Google Earth is a good example because when I tried to use Google Earth for a science class, only the menus were accessible and none of the maps were accessible at all!!! I wound up having to pull the old school search with Google’s orriginal functioning which is to simply search on its search engine. This worked a lot better than anything on Google Earth would and I was also able to skip the sighted assistance that way, with the acception that I was getting the required information in the first place, which I picked my professor’s brains there just to make sure I was getting the info I needed for my labs in that class. I personally like the Office sweet much better on a Windows computer over the Google sweet other than its search engine and Gmail with Outlook on the Windows side or the native mail app on the Apple side. I have not played around with  the Office sweet on a Mac, but I use it all the time on a Windows computer and sometimes on my iphone, though I mainly read Word documents on my iphone or iPad. I installed Word on those devices just in case I ever need to edit or open Word documents there. I have not yet installed Word on my Mac yet.  Kendra  Sent from my iPhone  On Nov 23, 2025, at 11:13, Shai <shai...@gmail.com> wrote:  How is Google Docs and sheets support? what about if one wants to review comments that they received in a word document?     From: 'Jason J.G. White' via MacVisionaries <macvisionaries@googlegroups.com> Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2025 10:28 AM To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Guide for switching from windows to Mac?   One of the most striking differences for Linux and Windows users is that, on VoiceOver for mac, it's what NVDA calls "object navigation" everywhere. You're essentially using screen reader commands to review and interact with the tree of objects created by the accessibility interfaces. On 22/11/25 16:13, Herbie Allen wrote: As someone who started on Windows and transitioned to the Mac later, I found that knowing both Windows and the iPhone was a big help. Knowing how to use element shortcuts for instance like keys for web navigation, copy and paste, etc. I already used Safari on my iPhone so understanding things like the rotor, and just how Apple labels things made the learning that much easier for me. I did have to learn the Mac, but a lot of it was applying concepts I already knew. On Nov 22, 2025, at 14:34, Greg Wocher <gtwoc...@gmail.com> wrote:   Hello, There is a youtube channel called stur it up that has free lessons on the mac. This channel does a pretty good job at explaining voiceover on the mac. Notice that stur is spelled with a U instead of an I.   Greg Wocher   On Nov 22, 2025, at 1:39 PM, Kendra Schaber <redwing...@gmail.com> wrote:   Hi all!  There is also the Mac class at IBUG for those who currently own their first Mac computer or for those who have access to one and wish to learn it either for the very first time or as a blind user after going blind later in life. They run twice per year; once in the fall and once in the spring. Make sure to regester ASAP if you wish to make the spring offering because they fill up, and I’m not sure if that one is already full. I’m finishing up the fall term one and it has been very helpful to me learning my own Mac laptop. Yes, I still have Windows laptops, but I picked up a MacBook Pro last year around the winter hollidays and I wanted to learn how to use my Mac book pro so it’s not a glorified paperweight since I bought it to use it, and not as a very expensive paperweight. You also get a lot of good resources to use both in the class and long after the class ends. You can also attend the IBUG Mac related meetings they offer to anyone, regardless of being in their Mac class. They run the main Mac talk on the fourth Tuesday of each month and their Mac talk mini on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. If you can’t or don’t want to take the Mac class, you can always attend these meetings to get your questions answered. Of course, you still have the manuals and guides that exist, but from my own personal experience with learning tech in general, having human guides are much better than any kind of written guide. Not that you can’t use one in a pinch, but humans tend to be more accurate than the written guides when they know what they’re doing. The ones at IBUG sertainly do so it’s worth a look. Many of the students in there own Macs they got for Christmas from their tech purchasing family members. Not all of them though because one is a teacher who has to teach the Mac, one or two know the Mac when they were sighted, but they recently went blind and have to relearn the Mac from the Voice Over user’s perspective. Some have access to a Mac and are conciddering on getting one of their own and in one or two cases, they simply want to know how to use one to help others such as the teacher. There are different folks in there who want to learn the Mac for different reasons and just owning your own Mac regardless of how you got it counts, so long as you either own it or you’re allowed to learn off of someone else’s Mac with their permition. They don’t even care if you also own a Windows computer so long as you can use a Mac to do your homework on. You don’t have to take the Mac class, but it’s another good option to learn how to use one for those, like me, who also have a background with owning and using Windows computers.     Kendra    Sent from my iPhone  On Nov 22, 2025, at 10:13, 'Jason J.G. White' via MacVisionaries <macvisionaries@googlegroups.com> wrote:    On 22/11/25 11:15, Dennis Long wrote: I won’t bounce between operating systems.  Way to much to remember by doing that. 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