Adding Monitor Cells In Excel using JAWS

Monitor Cells in Excel

Ten monitor cells can be set per worksheet. These cells are retained as you move in and out of the worksheet. You can use keystrokes or Quick Settings to set and read monitor cells. You can also create monitor cells for individual cells or a range of cells in a worksheet.

Setting Monitor Cells

Do the following to assign a keystroke to a cell.

  1. Move to the cell in the worksheet that you want to assign a monitor keystroke to. Note that when assigning a monitor keystroke to a range of cells, always select the cell range first before assigning the keystroke.
  2. Use INSERT+SHIFT+1 through INSERT+SHIFT+0 to set the monitor cell for the selected worksheet cell. For example, if focus is in cell A1, you can make it monitor cell 1 by pressing INSERT+SHIFT+1. Likewise, you can make it monitor cell 2 by pressing INSERT+SHIFT+2, and so on.

Note: If a monitor cell was previously set and you then try to set that cell again, JAWS announces that you are about to overwrite the existing monitor cell. You can cancel or continue and overwrite the monitor cell.

Do the following to assign a monitor cell using Quick Settings.

  1. Move to the cell in the worksheet that you want to assign as a monitor cell. Note that when assigning a monitor keystroke to a range of cells, always select the cell range first before assigning the keystroke.
  2. Press INSERT+V to open the Quick Settings dialog box. Focus is in the Search edit box.
  3. Type “monitor” without the quotes. Results are filtered in the Quick Settings tree view.
  4. Press DOWN ARROW to move to the Monitoring Cells group in the Workbook, Worksheet, and Region Settings group.
  5. Press DOWN ARROW again to step through the 10 different monitor cells labeled Monitor Cell 1 to Monitor Cell 10.
  6. Select the monitor cell option that you want to assign to the current cell, and then press SPACEBAR. Note that monitor cell values are Unassigned; or the coordinates for an individual cell (for example, Assigned to A1); or the cell range (for example, Assigned to B1:B7) at the current cursor location.
  7. Press TAB to move to the OK button and then press SPACEBAR to save the change and exit Quick Settings.

Note: If a monitor cell was previously set and you then try to set that cell again, JAWS announces that the monitor cell is already assigned to a cell, and will be reassigned to a new cell.

Reading Monitor Cells

To read monitor cells use ALT+SHIFT+1 through ALT+SHIFT+0.

When reading monitor cells, JAWS also reads the cell’s coordinates, and, by default, the title of the cell. If you do not want the cell title announced, do the following.

  1. Press INSERT+V to open the Quick Settings dialog box. Focus is in the Search edit box.
  2. Type “monitor cell titles read” without the quotes. Results are filtered in the Quick Settings tree view.
  3. Press DOWN ARROW to move to the Monitor Cell Titles Read option in the tree view.
  4. Press SPACEBAR to clear the check box.
  5. Press TAB to move to the OK button and then press SPACEBAR to save the change and exit Quick Settings.

Displaying Monitor Cells

To display a list of monitored cells, press CTRL+SHIFT+M. The coordinates and contents of each defined monitor cell are listed in a dialog box. If the monitor cell is a range, then the coordinates of the range display. You can choose to move to the monitor cell from this dialog box.

Clearing Monitor Cells

Do the following to clear a single monitor cell using Quick Settings.

  1. Press INSERT+V to open the Quick Settings dialog box. Focus is in the Search edit box.
  2. Type “monitor” without the quotes. Results are filtered in the Quick Settings tree view.
  3. Press DOWN ARROW to move to the Monitoring Cells group in the Workbook, Worksheet, and Region Settings group.
  4. Press DOWN ARROW again until you reach the monitor cell that you want to clear. Monitor cells are labeled as Monitor Cell 1 through Monitor Cell 10.
  5. Press SPACEBAR to change the setting to Unassigned.
  6. Press TAB to move to the OK button and then press SPACEBAR to save the change and exit Quick Settings.

Do the following to clear all monitor cells using Quick Settings.

  1. Press INSERT+V to open the Quick Settings dialog box. Focus is in the Search edit box.
  2. Type “monitor cells clear” without the quotes. Results are filtered in the Quick Settings tree view.
  3. Press DOWN ARROW to move to the Monitoring Cells Clear option.
  4. Press SPACEBAR to clear all monitor cells.
  5. Press TAB to move to the OK button and then press SPACEBAR to save the change and exit Quick Settings.

Return to Previous Cell from Monitor Cell

After you use CTRL+SHIFT+M to move to a monitor cell, you can now easily move back to your position immediately before you moved to the monitor cell with CTRL+SHIFT+GRÀVE.