Basic tasks using a screen reader with email in Outlook

Read an email

Navigate to an email in the message list in new Outlook and hear your screen reader read the email and its details.

1. In the new Outlook main view, press F6 or Shift+F6 until you hear "Message list."

2. Press the Down or Up arrow key to find desired email.

3. Press Enter or Shift+Enter to open the message in the content pane.

4. To read through the whole email with Narrator, press Narrator+Ctrl+R or Narrator+Down arrow key. With JAWS and NVDA, the message will automatically read aloud upon opening. To reread the message from the beginning with JAWS and NVDA, press Ctrl+Home, then press Screen Reader key+Down arrow key. To stop reading, press Ctrl. To close the email and return to the message list, press Esc.

Reply to an email

Use your screen reader to promptly respond to your emails in new Outlook.

1. In an email or when on an email on the message list, press Ctrl+R. If you want to reply to all, press Ctrl+Shift+R.

2. Type your reply, to send the email, press Ctrl+Enter.

Forward an email

You can easily forward an email using keyboard shortcuts and your screen reader.

1. In an email or when on an email on the message list, press Ctrl+F. 

2. Type the name or email address of the recipient. When you start writing, new Outlook offers you matching suggestions. To browse the suggestions, press the Down arrow key. If you find the right persons among the suggestions, press Enter to add them to the To field.

3. Press the Tab key until you hear "Message body," and type your message.

4. To send the email, press Ctrl+Enter.

Add a file as a OneDrive link

1. When you're composing a new mail, press F6 to go to the ribbon tab.

2. Press the Right arrow key until you hear "Insert tab."

3. Press the Tab key until you hear "Attach file, button," and then Press Enter.

4. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "OneDrive," and then press Enter. The focus is on your OneDrive  Recent folder.

5. To change to a different folder, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Select files from," and then use the Down and Uparrow keys to browse the folders. Press Enter to select.

6. In the file list, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the file you want to attach, and then press Enter.

   The link to the OneDrive file is added to the message.

Add a local file from your computer

1. When you're composing a new mail in new Outlook, press F6 to go to the ribbon tab.

2. Press the Right arrow key until you hear "Insert tab."

3. Press the Tab key until you hear "Attach file, button." Press Enter.

4. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Browse this computer," and then press Enter.

5. Use the Tab key and arrow key to navigate to the file you want to attach, and press Enter.

Turn off the Conversation view in new Outlook

It's easier to navigate the messages if you don't use the Conversation view.

1. In new Outlook, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Settings button," and then press Enter to open the Settings pane.

2. Press the Tab key until you hear "Accounts tab." Then press the Down arrow key until you hear "Mail tab," and then press Enter.

3. Press the Tab key until you hear "Layout tab, selected."

4. Press the Tab key to navigate the Layout settings. Do one of the following:

   • With Narrator and NVDA, press the Tab key until you hear "How do you want your messages list organized?" Then confirm the radio button has Groupe message  by conversation selected. Press the Tab key until you hear "Arrange the reading pane." Then press the Down arrow key to move to the radio button to the Show each message separately setting. The radio button will automatically be selected as you navigate to it.

   • With JAWS, press the Tab key until you hear "Show email grouped by conversation, radio button, checked." Keep the Show email grouped by conversation radio button selected. Press the Tab key once more and hear "Newest on top" or "Newest on bottom," then press the Down arrow key to move to the radio button to the Show each message separately setting. The radio button will automatically be selected as you navigate to it.

5. Press Tab until you hear "Save button," and press Enter to save your settings changes.

6. Press Esc to close the Settings pane.

Turn off the reading pane in new Outlook

The instructions in this topic assume that the Reading pane is off.

1. Press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Settings button," and then press Enter to open the Settings pane.

2. Press the Tab key until you hear "Accounts tab." Then press the Down arrow key until you hear "Mail tab," and then press Enter.

3. Press the Tab key until you hear "Layout tab selected." Keep that selection and do one of the following:

   • With Narrator and NVDA, press the Tab key until you hear "Where do you want the reading pane to appear?" Then press the Down arrow key until you move to the Hide reading pane radio button. The radio button will automatically be selected as you navigate to it.

   • With JAWS, press the Tab key until you hear "On the right" or "At the bottom," then press the Down arrow key until you hear "Hide reading pane radio button." The radio button will automatically be selected as you navigate to it.

4. Press Tab until you hear "Save button," and press Enter to save your settings changes.

5. Press Esc to close the Settings pane.

Use Dark mode in new Outlook

If you are using new Outlook in a dark room, using the Dark mode puts less strain on your eyes.

1. In the new Outlook  main view, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Settings button," and then press Enter.

2. Press the Tab key until you hear "Accounts tab." Then press the Down arrow key until you hear "General tab," and then press Enter.

3. Press the Tab key until you hear "Language and time tab selected." Press the Down arrow key once to move to the Appearance tab, and press Enter.

4. Press the Tab key to navigate the Appearance settings.

5. Press the Right arrow key until you hear "Dark radio button." 

6. Press Tab until you hear "Save button," and press Enter to save your settings changes.

7. To close the Settings pane, press Esc.

Open and read an email

Navigate to an email in the message list in classic Outlook ​and hear your screen reader read the email and its details.

1. In Inbox, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear the first mail in the message list. Your screen reader indicates if the email is unread, then announces the sender, subject, and received date and time.

   • To browse the message list, press the Up or Down arrow key.

   • To open an email, press Enter.

   • To read the email from top to bottom, press the SR key+Ctrl+R.

   • To stop reading, press Ctrl.

   • To move to the next email, press Alt+5.

   • To move to the previous email, press Alt+4.

2. When you are finished reading the email, to return to Inbox, press Esc.

Reply to an email

Use your screen reader to promptly respond to your emails in classic Outlook.

1. In an email or on an email in Inbox, do one of the following:

   • To reply to just the original sender, press Ctrl+R.

   • If the message has multiple recipients and you want to reply to all, press Ctrl+Shift+R.

2. A new email opens with the same subject and set to reply to either just the sender or everyone included in the original email. The focus is on the body of the message and type your message.

3. When you are finished composing the message, press Alt+S to send the email.

Forward an email

You can easily forward an email using keyboard shortcuts and your screen reader.

1. In an email or on an email in Inbox, press Ctrl+F, and type the names of the recipients.

2. If you want to include a message, press the Tab key until you hear "Forward," followed by the message subject, and "Message editing," and then type your message.

3. When you are finished composing the message, press Alt+S to send the email.

Switch between the Focused and Other inboxes

By default, Outlook opens the Focused inbox.

1. In Inbox, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Other button," and then press Enter.

2. To move back to the Focused inbox, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Focused button." To select, press Enter.

Move an email from the Other inbox to the Focused inbox

1. In your Other inbox, navigate to the email you want to move to the Focused inbox.

2. To move the email, press Shift+F10, V.

Hide the Focused inbox

You can hide the Focused inbox and work with a single list of messages.

1. To check if the Focused inbox is shown or already hidden, press F6 until you reach the contents of your inbox.

2. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Sort arrange, or filter messages button," then press Shift+Tab once. If you hear "Other," the Focused inbox is already hidden. If not, press Alt+V, W to hide it.

Search for an email

1. In Inbox, press Ctrl+E. The focus moves to the Search text field.

2. To change the folder which you want to search, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Current mailbox," and then press Spacebar.

3. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Spacebar.

4. Type your search words. To browse through the suggestions, press the Down arrow key.

5. To select a suggestion, press Enter. The search results are displayed in the message list.

6. Press the Tab key until you hear the first message. To browse through the list, press the Down arrow key. To open an email, press Enter.

7. To clear the search results list, press Esc.

   To return to Inbox from an open email and clear the search results list, press Esc twice.

Use a filter to find an email

1. In the Inbox, press Alt+H, L. The focus moves to the first item in the filter options list.

2. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter. You hear either "No results found," or "Found," followed by the number of emails matching the filter.

3. To move to the list of emails matching the filter, press the Tab key until you hear the first message. To browse through the list, press the Down arrow key. To open an email, press Enter.

4. To clear the results list and the filter, press Esc to return to Inbox.

Open attachments

When you receive an email, your screen reader announces if the email has attachments and the number of attached files.

1. Open an email with an attachment. The focus is on the message body.

2. Press Shift+Tab until you hear the attachment details, including the file name and type.

3. To open the attachment, press Enter. The file opens in a compatible application.

Add attachments

You can send files like resumes, newsletters, or pictures as copies or as OneDrive files.

1. In an email, press Alt+N, A, F.

2. Do one of the following:

   • To attach a recent file, press the Down arrow key until you hear the file, and then press Enter.

   • To attach a file from a web location, press W. You hear the first online location, for example, "OneDrive." To select, press Enter. The Insert File dialog opens. Press the Tab key and the arrow keys until you hear the file you want, and then press Alt+S. Use the Down arrow key to navigate to the Attach as copy and then press Enter.

   • To attach a file from local storage, for example, your hard drive, press B. The Insert File dialog opens. Press the Tab key and the arrow keys until you hear the file you want, and then press Alt+S.

Read an email

By default, the Outlook for iOS app lists the newest email first.

1. To hear VoiceOver read the emails in your Outlook for iOS  Inbox, in the message list, flick right or slide your finger down through the list. You hear for example, the following:

   • The name of the sender

   • The subject of the email

   • The sending date

   • Attachments (if any)

   • The first few lines of the email message

   • The number of messages in a conversation

2. To open a single email or an email conversation containing several messages, double-tap the screen.

3. To read an email or messages in a conversation, flick right or slide your finger from the top of the screen down the list of emails. You hear the subject, sender name, the message, and how many messages there are in a conversation.

4. If the conversation is long, you may need to open the full message to hear it. After the first message is read, flick right. If you hear "Open full message button," there is more text to the conversation. To open, double-tap the screen.

   To return to the collapsed message view in Outlook for iOS, flick left until you hear "Close button," and then double-tap the screen.

5. To quickly move to the next email, flick left until you hear "Next message button," and then double-tap the screen. To move to the previous email, flick left until you hear "Previous message button," and then double-tap the screen.

6. When you are finished reading the message, to return to the Inbox, flick left until you hear "Back button," and then double-tap the screen.

Reply to an email

Use your VoiceOver to promptly respond to your emails in new Outlook.

1. In an Outlook for iOS email, flick left or right until you hear "Reply options button," and then double-tap the screen. You hear "Reply." Double-tap the screen.

2. You hear "Reply box expanded," and the focus moves to the body of the reply message. To edit the message recipients, flick left until you hear "Reply options," and double-tap the screen, then flick right until you hear "Edit or view recipient," and double-tap the screen. The focus moves to the To field of the reply message. Edit the list of recipients using the on-screen keyboard, then flick right until you hear "Message body."

3. Type your message using the on-screen keyboard.

4. When you are finished composing the message, flick left until you hear "Send button," and then double-tap the screen.

Forward an email

You can easily forward an email using keyboard shortcuts and your VoiceOver.

1. In an Outlook for iOS email, flick right until you hear "Reply options button," and then double-tap the screen. Flick right until you hear "Forward," and double-tap the screen.

2. You hear "To, text field, is editing." The focus is in the To field, and the on-screen keyboard is in the bottom half of the screen. Type the name of each recipient.

3. If you want to include a message, flick right until you hear "Multiline text field," and then double-tap. Type your message.

4. When you are finished composing the message, flick right until you hear "Send button," and then double-tap the screen.

Search for an email

1. In the message list, flick left or right until you hear "Search button," and then double-tap the screen.

2. The focus moves to the Search Mail field. Start typing your search words. The search results list updates as you type.

3. To browse through the search results, flick right. VoiceOver reads the details and the message as you move through the list.

4. When you hear an email you want to open, double-tap the screen.

5. To exit Search, flick left until you hear "Cancel button," and then double-tap the screen.

Use a filter to find an email for Outlook for iOS

1. In the message list, flick left or right until you hear "Filter button," and then double-tap the screen.

2. Flick right until you hear the filtering option you want, and then double-tap the screen.

3. To browse through the emails matching the filter, flick right. VoiceOver reads the details and the message as you move through the list.

4. When you hear an email you want to open, double-tap the screen.

5. To remove the filtering option, in the inbox, flick left or right until you hear "Filter button," and then double-tap the screen.

Open an attachment

VoiceOver announces if a received email in Outlook for iOS has attachments.

1. Open the email with one or more attachments.

2. Flick right until you hear the attachment file type, followed by "Attachment," and the file name and size, and then double-tap the screen. The attachment opens in a supported app.

Add an attachment

You can send files like resumes, photos, or meeting invitations as attachments in Outlook for iOS.

Read an email

By default, the newest emails are listed first.

1. Flick left or right or slide your finger down to listen to TalkBack read the emails. You hear information about each email, including:

   • Sender name

   • Date or time the message was received

   • Subject

   • First few lines of the email contents

2. To open an email, double-tap the screen. TalkBack automatically starts to read the message from the beginning.

   Alternatively, to listen TalkBack read an email message from top to bottom, flick down-and-right. The Global Context Menu opens. Flick right until you hear "Read from top," and then double-tap the screen.

   To quickly skim through the message, slide your finger down from the top of the screen.

   To scroll down the message, flick up with two fingers. To scroll up, flick down with two fingers.

3. When you've finished reading the message, to return to the inbox, flick left or right until you hear "Close button," and then double-tap the screen.

Reply to an email

1. With the email open, flick right until you hear "Reply options," double-tap the screen and do one of the following:

   • To reply to just the original sender, flick left or right until you hear "Message actions button," and then double-tap the screen. Flick right until you hear "Reply."

   • If the message has multiple recipients and you want to reply to all, flick left or right until you hear "Reply all button," and then double-tap the screen.

2. A new email opens with the same subject and is set to reply to the sender or everyone included in the original email. Filck right to until you hear "Edit box." Double-tap the screen to activate the on-screen keyboard and type your message.

3. When you've finished composing the message, flick left until you hear "Send button," and then double-tap the screen. You hear "Sent, Outlook, keyboard hidden."

Forward an email

You can easily forward an email using TalkBack.

1. With the email message open, flick right until you hear "Reply options," and then double-tap the screen.

2. Flick right until you hear "Forward," and double-tap the screen. A new email opens with the same subject.

3. Flick right until you hear "Message actions button," and double tap the screen. Flick right until you hear "Forward button," and double tap the screen.

4. Type the name of each recipient. The recipients are added automatically as you complete typing the email address or select it from the matching options available. You can add multiple recipients in the To field.

5. To type a message, flick right until you hear "Double-tap to edit," and then double-tap the screen. Type your message.

6. When you've finished composing the message, flick left until you hear "Send button," and then double-tap the screen.

Search for an email

1. In the message list, flick right until you hear "Search button," and then double-tap the screen. The Search window opens.

2. Flick left until you hear "Search email, events, people, files," and double-tap the screen. Start typing your search words. The search results list updates as you type.

3. To browse through the search results, flick right or left. When you hear an email you want to open, double-tap the screen.

4. To leave the list of search results, flick left until you hear "Close button," and then double-tap the screen to return to the Search window.

Use a filter to find an email

1. In the message list, flick left or right until you hear "Filter button," and then double-tap the screen.

2. Flick right until you hear the filtering option you want, and then double-tap the screen.

3. To browse through the emails matching the filter, flick right. TalkBack reads the message details as you move through the list.

4. When you hear the filter you want to select, double-tap the screen.

5. To remove the filtering option, and review all emails in the message list, flick left or right until you hear "Clear messages filter button," and then double-tap the screen.

Open an attachment

TalkBack announces if a received email has attachments.

1. Open the email with one or more attachments.

2. Flick left until you hear the file type, name, and size, and then double-tap the screen. If you hear "Open with," flick right until you hear the option you want, and then double-tap the screen to select.

3. To open the attachment in the selected app, double-tap the screen.

Add an attachment

You can send files like resumes, photos, or meeting invitations as attachments.

Read an email

Navigate to an email in the message list in Mail,and hear your screen reader read the email and its details.

1. In the Mail main view, press Ctrl+F6 or Shift+Ctrl+F6 until you hear "Message list, region landmark," and press the Tab key until you hear "Message list," 

2. Press the Down or Up arrow key until you find the email you want, and then press Enter to open the message in the content pane.

3. To read through the whole email, press the SR key+ R. To stop reading, press Ctrl. To close the email and return to the message list, press Esc.

Reply to an email

Use your screen reader to promptly respond to your emails in Outlook on the web.

1. In an email or when on an email on the message list, press Ctrl+R. If you want to reply to all, press Ctrl+Shift+R.

2. Type your reply. Press Ctrl+Enter to send the email.

Forward an email

You can easily forward an email using keyboard shortcuts and your screen reader.

1. In an email or when on an email on the message list, press Ctrl+Shift+F. 

2. Type the name or email address of the recipient. When you start writing, Outlook on the web offers you matching suggestions.

3. To browse the suggestions, press the Down arrow key. If you find the right persons among the suggestions, press Enter to add them to the To field.

4. Press the Tab key until you hear "Message body, editing," and then type your message.

5. To send the email, press Ctrl+Enter.

Search for an email

Use search to find specific emails in no time.

1. In the Mail main view, press Alt+Q.

2. Type your search words, and then press Enter. The focus moves to a list of search results. You hear "Message list," followed by the number of found items.

   Tip: You can search by email subject, sender, or date.

3. To navigate between search results, press the Up or Down arrow key. You hear the results as you move in the list.

4. To clear the search words and return to the Mail main view, press Shift+Ctrl+F6 until you hear "Banner, Search landmark," press the Tab key until you hear "Exit search," and press Enter.

   Tip: You can also use the Microsoft Edge search to find specific text in an open email. In any view in Mail, press F3. You hear "Find in page," followed by the title of the open page. Type your search words and press Enter.

Filter your emails

To list your emails in a more purposeful way, you can filter or sort them, for example, by date, mentions, or sender.

1. In the message list, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Filter button." Press Spacebar to open the filter menu.

2. To move in the menu, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the option you want to select. To expand menu options, press Spacebar. To select an option, press Spacebar.

3. To remove a filter, in the message list, press Shift+Tab until you hear the current filter. Press Spacebar to remove the filter.

Download an attachment

When your screen reader reads an email in the message list and in the reading pane, you hear an announcement if the email contains attachments.

1. In the reading pane, on the email, press the Tab key until you hear the attachment name.

2. Press the Tab key until you hear "Download, button." Press Enter.

3. When your screen reader announces a new notification, press Alt+N to move the focus there. Then press the Tab key or Shift+Tab to browse the options, and press Enter to make a selection.

Add an attachment

You can send files like resumes, newsletters, or cute kitty cat pics as copies or as OneDrive files.