Ultimate Screen Access (USA) combines the open source NVDA screen reader with the powerful magnification capabilities of Windows 10. This creates a very powerful package that can provide a good solution in various situations.
To successfully use USA, the following system requirements apply:
N.B. To successfully use Ultimate Screen Access, it is necessary to use an installed version of NVDA.
In a portable version of NVDA (for example from a USB stick), the mouse will not function correctly when the screen is enlarged.
If you do not have NVDA yet, you can download it from nvaccess.org. On the download page you will find the link to the latest version of NVDA. By running the downloaded file, a temporary copy of NVDA is started. You will then be asked whether you want to install NVDA, create a portable copy or continue using the temporary copy. Choose install and follow the further instructions on the screen.
USA is delivered as an NVDA add-on (expansion package). Installation is therefore done via the item “Manage Add-ons” under Extra in the NVDA menu.
In the “Manage Add-ons” dialog box you will find a list of all installed Add-ons that are currently in your user configuration folder. The package name, status, version and author of each Add-on are displayed. To install a previously obtained USA Add-on, press the “Install” button in this window. You then look for the USA installation file (a file with the extension “*.nvda-addon”). As soon as you press the “Open” button, the installation procedure will begin.
At the start of the installation, NVDA will ask if you really want to install Ultimate Screen Access. Since the functionality of Add-ons within NVDA is not restricted, which in theory means that access is gained to your personal data as well as the entire system, it is important to only install Add-ons that you trust with the installed version of NVDA. In other words, only install a version of Ultimate Screen Access that comes from Babbage. Once USA has been installed, NVDA must be restarted to activate the Add-on. Without a restart, the status “Installing” will be displayed for USA.
For the use of NVDA, we refer to the NVDA manual. This can be found in the NVDA menu, which can be opened by pressing NVDA+N or clicking the NVDA icon in the Windows system tray. Then, in the “Help” menu, you can select “User Manual”.
When the USA NVDA add-on is installed, USA can be enabled as follows.
When USA is enabled, the following settings can be changed in “simple USA settings” or in the “Visual” tab of the NVDA settings.
The magnification step level is the size of the magnification that USA applies per step. At 0.1, the image becomes 10% larger with each magnification step.
This setting will improve the quality of text in most cases. In the situation where this option is disabled, the content of the screen is literally magnified. When this option is enabled, the software tries to smooth out the edges of images and letters to present a more natural result.
When this option is enabled, USA will always keep the system focus as much as possible in view. For example, the system focus will change when you use the keyboard to navigate through a dialog box or make a selection in a list.
The settings in this drop-down list allow you to set where the system focus is positioned on the screen.
When you switch between different active windows, for example by using the keyboard combination alt+tab, there is a foreground window change. When this option is enabled, USA tries to ensure that the relevant information from the foreground screen is immediately visible. When this option is enabled, USA tries to ensure that the relevant information from the foreground screen is immediately visible. Wanneer deze optie is ingeschakeld, probeert USA ervoor te zorgen dat de relevante informatie van het voorgrondscherm direct zichtbaar is. When this option is enabled, USA attempts to ensure that the relevant information from the foreground screen is immediately visible. Wanneer deze optie is ingeschakeld, probeert USA ervoor te zorgen dat de relevante informatie van het voorgrondscherm direct zichtbaar is. When this option is enabled, USA attempts to ensure that the relevant information is immediately visible from the foreground screen. Wanneer deze optie is ingeschakeld, probeert USA ervoor te zorgen dat de relevante informatie direct zichtbaar is op het voorgrondscherm.
When this option is enabled, USA will ensure that the object you have selected with the NVDA object navigation is visible on the screen. For more information about the navigator object, please refer to the NVDA manual.
The system cursor is the normally blinking cursor that is visible in text fields, for example in Word or Notepad. When this option is enabled, USA will follow the position of the cursor and ensure that the part of the text where the cursor is blinking is always visible. This option also applies to NVDA’s browse mode.
This setting determines how much the system cursor is bounded within the edges of the screen. The options for this option are the same as for the Focus Boundary option.
When this option is enabled, USA will ensure that the text where the NVDA reading cursor is located is visible on the screen. For more information about the reading cursor, see the NVDA manual. For the position of the NVDA browse mode cursor, the system cursor setting is used.
For following text during continuous reading (NVDA+ down arrow or NVDA+A), USA can be set to follow the words read aloud. In addition, the settings can be used to choose whether a rectangle is projected over the spoken word and whether the caret should be moved along. The color and thickness of the rectangle can also be adjusted in the settings menu.
When this option is enabled, USA will follow the position of the mouse and ensure that the mouse is always visible. Disabling this option will cause the mouse pointer to disappear from the screen when it falls outside the edge of the magnified reality on the screen.
This setting determines the boundary of the mouse pointer within the edges of the screen. The options for this option are the same as the Focus boundary option.
You can set various predefined color schemes with this option.
The option “Manage custom color scheme…” affects the color scheme “custom”. Here you can create your own color scheme. In the settings you can also make a subselection of all available color schemes, with this you only switch through color schemes that you actually use.
It is also possible to select a color scheme for a specific application. With NVDA+Control+Shift+P the current color scheme is linked to the current application. Every time this application comes to the foreground, this color scheme will be switched.
Object Reader Mode is a mode in which NVDA and USA can be used more simply. With this mode the voice is off by default and is only used for reading. With USA you can also read from the object under the mouse. This can be activated with NVDA+left mouse click. USA will then automatically jump along and a rectangle will be drawn around the spoken word if that is set.
To use USA you need a valid license code. It is possible to activate USA up to three times per license code.
If you have a valid license code, you can enter it by selecting the option “Manage USA license…” in the “Vision” tab of the NVDA settings. In this window, simply enter the license code and select OK, after which the license will be activated. The license can also be deactivated using the same method, for example if it is desired to remove USA from the computer.
USA also offers offline activation. This allows the user to request an activation code via support@babbage.com using the instance ID and the license code. This allows USA to be used without having to check it online.
Within USA, specific shortcuts are assigned to adjust the magnification functionality and for the color schemes.
The settings below can be adjusted via the NVDA menu. Select “Options” and then “Input Gestures”. The USA shortcuts can then be found under the category “Ultimate Screen Access”. For more information about the operation of the “Input Gestures” dialog, please refer to the NVDA manual.
| Shortcut | Function |
|---|---|
| control+0 | Toggles the magnification on or off |
| NVDA+alt+0 | Toggles the magnification on or off |
| NVDA+alt+= | Increase the magnification factor |
| NVDA+alt+- | Decrease magnification |
| control+= | Increase magnification |
| control+- | Decrease magnification |
| control+pageUp | Increase magnification |
| control+pageDown | Decrease magnification |
| alt+= | Increase movement speed |
| alt+- | Decrease movement speed |
| NVDA+alt+left arrow | Scroll magnification area left |
| NVDA+alt+right arrow | Scroll magnification area right |
| NVDA+alt+up arrow | Scroll magnification area up |
| NVDA+alt+down arrow | Scroll magnification area down |
| NVDA+alt+backspace | Toggles between different color schemes |
| control+backspace | Toggles between different color schemes |
| NVDA+alt+s | Toggles soft edges around images and text |
| NVDA+alt+r | Start reading everything from the object under the mouse |
| NVDA+alt+w | Toggles word tracking on or off. |
| NVDA+left mouse click | starts reading from object under mouse |
| not connected | disables speech and browse mode if applicable. If speech and browse mode are disabled, the escape key is passed. This is only if Object Reader mode is active! |
| not connected | Toggles the word follower visual rectangle on or off |
| NVDA+control+shift+p | Set current color scheme as default for foreground application |
| NVDA+control+r | Read all from mouse |
| NVDA+down arrow | Read all command from caret in USA |
| NVDA+i | Reports current magnification |
Ultimate Screen Access is a product that is continuously under development. As a result, some desired functionality may not (yet) be present in the product. When using USA, you should take the following known limitations into account: