Calendar’s latest shortcuts are here to help visually impaired people
Android phones are accessible to people across a wide price range, from budget handsets going for a few hundred dollars to flagships for more than a thousand. Thanks to Google’s efforts, Android is also evolving into a more accessible platform for people with disabilities. The company’s newest effort extends beyond the OS and into its web services. Google Calendar is getting keyboard shortcuts that verbally announce specific details for events.
In a Workspace Update, Google explains that people using screen readers on their computer running Microsoft Windows, Chrome OS, and macOS will benefit from the new Announce Shortcuts. These allow you to access important event details by hitting Alt + number on Windows, Alt + Shift + number on Chrome OS, and Option + number on Mac to get the following details:
- Title
- Date and time
- Invitees
- Room or location
- Description
- Attachments
- Notifications
Google Calendar already supports a slew of accessibility commands for people using a screen reader. These new keyboard shortcuts make it easier to get specific information about an event on your calendar. To see the full list of supported shortcuts, hit Cmd + / on Mac and Ctrl + / on Windows and Chrome OS. Many of them are also useful time savers, regardless of accessibility.
Google recommends using Chrome with JAWS or NVDA screen readers to access Calendar on Windows. However, we could get the new keyboard shortcuts to work using Microsoft’s built-in screen reader utility as well.
The feature should be visible on the Calendar webpage by September end. Google isn’t restricting access to Announce Shortcuts to paid tiers — all Workspace customers and personal Google account holders will have access.
Google has long worked on making its products and services as accessible as possible. We can consider Android 13 Google’s most accessible OS to date, given that it natively supports braille displays, screen magnification, real-time text (RTT), and audio descriptions for all apps. Calendar’s new capabilities on the web then are just another step to make the Google services a bit more inclusive.
