Hi everyone,
I’m having an issue with Google Docs. Regardless of whether I’m using Safari or Google Chrome, whenever I try to navigate by character and word using the command+arrows keys, VoiceOver announces “zero with space” before saying the character or word. This is incredibly distracting, and I’m looking for any workarounds.
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I have a similar issue. When I select a word using Shift+Option+Right arrow, VoiceOver announces space, then the word being selected. It always does this, even when the selection doesn't include a space. The workaround for this is to be aware of what you're selecting.
But hearing space every time you select a word is unusual. You can try restarting VoiceOver. Also, if you're editing a MS Word .docx file, you might try converting it to a native Google docs file. I don't know whether this will help or not but it's something easy to try.
One fairly serious issue is the length of time VoiceOver pauses when reading numbered bullet list items. If it's reading 3.1.5, coffee, for example, you'll hear: three, long pause, one, long pause, five, extra long pause, coffee. This drives me crazy. Restarting VoiceOver helps with this, but the issue returns quickly. Feels to me like it has something to do with the length of the document, but I haven't verified this.
Sometimes, I hear Google Docs read the same text twice, once with VoiceOver, and once again with the system voice. Again, toggle VO to workaround.
So Weird...
Every time I navigate by character, VoiceOver says the annoying phrase “zero width space” before each character. It’s unusable this way—I can’t believe this still isn’t fixed. What makes it worse is how unpredictable it is. Sometimes, when it happens in Chrome, switching to Firefox helps. Other times, the only fix is using a Windows VM with NVDA. It’s extremely annoying! People might say, “Oh, just use Pages or MS Word,” but what if I’m working with others on a Google Doc and VoiceOver won’t stop distracting me from my actual work? This is bad!
Have to Agree about Google Docs
I've used a few of Google's work products on the Mac, and for whatever reason they just don't work properly even when Chromevox was available on Mac OS. Perhaps it's just the proprietary nature of these things mixing with one another? I haven't done much word-processing on here as of late, but Pages and TextEdit seem to be where it's at for me. MarsEdit was pretty good as well.