This document describes accessibility features in Android Studio 2.2 and higher.
Screen readers are currently only supported for Android Studio on Windows.
A variety of screen readers are available for Windows, but the compatibility with Android Studio varies:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsAccessBridge-32.DLL
to work with Android Studio.
If NVDA cannot locate this file, the NVDA Event Log window displays the
message, "Java Access Bridge not available".To set up a screen reader with Android Studio on a Windows machine, use the following steps:
Ensure you have installed the proper Java version for your screen reader, as follows:
To turn on the Java Access Bridge, open the command prompt and type
"[JRE_HOME]in\jabswitch -enable
", where [JRE_HOME]
is the directory of
the JRE on your machine.
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsAccessBridge-32.DLL
is present and has a version number of 7.x.x.x or higher. The file's
description should read "Java(TM) Platform SE 7".[JRE_HOME]\lib\extccess-bridge-64.jar
and
[JRE_HOME]\jre\lib\ext\jaccess.jar
files (where
[JRE_HOME]
is the home directory of the JRE on your machine)
are the same as the other files in their directories. If those files' last
mofified dates differ from those of the other files in their respective
directories, they may have been overwritten by the Windows Eyes installer;
in this case, you must re-install the JDK/JRE to ensure that you're running
the correct versions of these files.
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsAccessBridge-64.DLL
is present and has a version number of 7.x.x.x or higher. The file's
description should read "Java(TM) Platform SE 7".[JRE_HOME]\lib\extccess-bridge-64.jar
and
[JRE_HOME]\jre\lib\ext\jaccess.jar
files (where
[JRE_HOME]
is the home directory of the JRE on your machine)
are the same as the other files in their directories. If those files' last
mofified dates differ from those of the other files in their respective
directories, they may have been overwritten by the Windows Eyes installer;
in this case, you must re-install the JDK/JRE to ensure that you're running
the correct versions of these files.
You can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate through all controls in Android Studio.
Note: Some Android Studio elements are keyboard-accessible only when using the object navigation (or similar) feature of your screen reader. For help with object navigation or equivalent, consult your screen reader documentation, such as the NVDA user guide.
This section includes the most useful keyboard shortcuts for navigating around Android Studio. For a complete guide to the default Android Studio keyboard shortcuts, read Keyboard Shortcuts.
To open the main menu and other top-level menus, use these shortcuts:
To navigate between files and tool windows, use these shortcuts:
The navigation bar lets you move between files in a project using the following shortcuts:
By default, the Android Studio editor folds part of the text into expandable
regions. For example, the "import" list at the beginning of a Java source file
is folded into a single line containing the text "import …
".
When using a screen reader, code folding can make navigation difficult. To modify code folding options, click File > Settings > Editor > General > Code Folding (on a Mac, File > Properties > Editor > General > Code Folding).
By default, Android Studio automatically inserts closing curly braces, quotes, or parentheses.
When using a screen reader, automatic insertion may not be useful. To modify automatic insertion options, click File > Settings > Editor > General > Smart Keys (on a Mac, File > Properties > Editor > General > Smart Keys).
By default, Android Studio automatically shows the code completion popup when certain keystrokes are typed, and if it finds only a single match, auto-inserts that match. This behavior can create a confusing experience with screen readers.
To modify autopopup and auto-insertion options for code completion, click File > Settings > Editor > General > Code Completion (on a Mac, File > Properties > Editor > General > Code Completion).
Use your keyboard to view and navigate through errors, warnings, and code inspections.
When you click Build > Make Project, all warnings and errors appear in the Messages window. The Messages window is accessible as of Android Studio 2.2. (View bug history.)
To review errors in the Messages window, use these shortcuts:
Alternatively, you can use the text editor to view and navigate through all errors. To use the editor to review errors, press Control+Alt+ Up/Down (on Mac, Command+Option+Up/Down).
To review errors in a single file, use these shortcuts:
To navigate to all code inspections—not just errors—click File > Settings > Editor > General (on a Mac, File > Preferences > Editor > General), and then uncheck 'Next error' action goes to high priority problems only.
By default, Android Studio uses the space character for indentation. Screen reader users may prefer tab indentation because the verbalization is more concise.
To change to tab indentation, click File > Settings > Editor > Code Style > Java > Tabs and Indents (on a Mac, File > Preferences > Editor > Code Style > Java > Tabs and Indents) and then check the Use tab character checkbox.
As of Android Studio 2.2, Layout Editor is not fully accessible. (View bug history.) A temporary workaround is to open layout files in text mode by default. (View bug history.)
To open layout files in text view mode by default, click File > Settings > Editor > Layout Editor (on a Mac, File > Preferences > Editor > Layout Editor) and check the Prefer XML Editor checkbox.