AI Instructions for NVDA

[Ed Marquette]

Listers:

Having forgotten the command to invoke NVDA's Screen Curtain, I tried what I have found to be quite useful. I asked Gemini at Gemini.Google.com, "How do I invoke the Screen Curtain in NVDA?" 

Gemini is AI and can make mistakes; however, I find it is mostly accurate.

Alas! I think it was off this time.

Gemini advised that the screen curtain function could be triggered in either of two ways. One way was to trigger the NVDA menu with NVDA Key +N. Then, Gemini appeared to follow the correct steps.

The second approach was described as invoking NVDA's "Layered Mode" with NVDA Key + Escape.

JAWS, as I recall, has a "Layered Mode," which I believe is triggered with JAWS Key + Space Bar.

I do not believe NVDA has a "Layered Mode." Does that sound right?

Regardless, I invoked the Screen Curtain with Control + NVDA Key + Escape. That worked. I had only partially forgotten the command. 

As far as I could tell, the NVDA Key + Escape did nothing.

Notwithstanding what I believe was an error (as described above), Gemini often is easier to use than is the NVDA Manual. That's not a criticism of the manual; it does what it needs to do quite nicely.

 

[Gene Asner]

Most of the time, when I ask any AI bot how to do something related to
computer technology, it is either wrong or misleading. I may try it to
see what it says and if I save time once in awhile.

You can conveniently find commands in different ways. Here is one.
Open the user guide. NVDA n, h, enter.
Type a word that is likely to move you to where you want to be, using
screen-reader search, as you would search a web page, because that's
what it is, a web page opened in the default browser.
In this case, searching for the word curtain takes you, the first
search, to a link about the screen curtain in the table of contents.
Follow it and look for the command.I skimmed the information and found
the command, NVDA+control+escape.

There is a quick commands reference in the help submenu as well if you
want to use that. It should be faster, but I have almost never looked
at it.

Gene

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[Mister Kayne]

Hi Ed,

 

If you ever need to revisit or change the input gesture for the Screen Curtain, you can do so through the NVDA settings using these steps:

1. Open the NVDA menu (NVDA + N).

2. Go to Preferences right arrow to open menu  and then Input gestures (or simply press N once the menu is open).

3. Once the Input Gestures dialog is open, press V to jump to the Vision category.

4. Use the Right Arrow to expand the tree view for Vision.

5. Use the Down Arrow to find "Toggles the state of the screen curtain" at level 1.

6. Expand this option to see the assigned gesture.

If you need to change it, you can Tab to remove the current gesture and add a new one, then Tab to "OK" or "Apply." Otherwise, you can simply press Escape to close the dialog once you have the information.

For what it's worth, I have used NVDA + X to toggle this setting.

 

Warm regards,

 

Mister Kayne
Author: The Somebody, Nobody, Anybody & Everybody Blog!

Mail: writ...@mister-kayne.com

Sent from Outlook® for Windows 11

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***
Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code of Conduct.
NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide by the rules set out in this document while participating in this group.
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
 

You can contact the group owners and moderators via nvda-user...@nvaccess.org.
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[Richard Wells]

 NVDA+CONTROL+ESCAPE will toggle the screen curtain.

On 4/12/2026 9:25 AM, Ed Marquette wrote: