Universal Design SymbolUsing ZoomText Xtra! with shortcut keys


Orientation to the ZoomText Xtra! control panel

When you start ZoomText Xtra!, its control panel (called the "user interface") appears on the screen. This control panel consists of a small window that contains all the controls for operating ZoomText. The window is divided into three sections, which are described below.

Parts of the control panel (user interface) window

The menu bar

The basic controls

The toolbar Tabs

Parts of the control panel (User Interface) window:

The window is divided into three sections:

  1. The menu bar is at the top.
  2. The basic controls are at the left, beneath the menu bar. They allow four functions:
  3. Thetoolbar tabs are at the right side of the window. With them, you can choose the level of ZoomText to use, as well as choose the tools for controlling various operations within that level.

The menu bar:

The menu bar contains six menus:

  1. File - use this menu to open, save, and close documents.
  2. Xtra - this menu is used to choose the level of ZoomText Xtra! at which you wish to operate.
  3. Window - use this menu to choose the appearance of the magnified screen.
  4. Tools - use this menu to choose the tools you wish to use to control ZoomText Xtra!.
  5. Options - with this menu you can control elements such as the on-screen display.
  6. Help - use this menu to obtain help in using ZoomText Xtra!.

The basic controls:

The basic controls consist of:

  1. The ZoomText on/off button - activates or deactivates ZoomText.
  2. Magnification box - sets the magnification level of the primary zoom window from 1x to 16x.
  3. Zoom Window box - selects the primary zoom window type:
  4. Help tool - displays help information about the clicked-on item.

The Toolbar Tabs:

ZoomText Xtra! has two levels: Level 1 and Level 2. The features associated with each level are grouped on a toolbar for that level.

  1. Level 1=screen magnification
  2. Level 2=screen magnification plus screen reading

Three steps to access a level:

  1. Press ALT+X; the Xtra menu will appear.
  2. Press ENTER until the desired level is highlighted.
  3. Press ENTER to select that level. The toolbar for that level will appear.

Contents of the toolbar for Level 1:

Row 1, left to right:
  1. Scroll tool - scrolls the contents of a zoom window
  2. Zoom-In tool - zooms in on a selected screen location
  3. Zoom-Out tool - zooms out on a selected screen location
  4. DocReader button - launches DocReader to read text from the last active application
  5. DocReader tool - selects the application to be read by DocReader
Row 2 - left to right:
  1. Color filter button - enables or disables the filtering of screen colors
  2. Cursor Enhancements button - enables or disables visual enhancements to cursors and carets
  3. Mouse Routing button - enables or disables mouse routing
  4. Set Target tool - creates or edits on-screen targets
  5. Hit Target tool - scrolls a zoom window to a target location
Row 3 - left to right:
  1. Window tool - sizes or moves a zoom window
  2. Locator button - enables or disables the locator
  3. Secondaries button - enables or disables all selected secondary zoom windows
  4. Edge-Smoothing button - changes the type of edge-smoothing
  5. Smoothing Colors tool - selects custom edge-smoothing colors

Contents of the toolbar for Level 2:

Row 1, left to right:
  1. Speech button - enables or disables all speech output
  2. GUI Reading button - enables or disables GUI reading
  3. Caret Reading button - enables or disables caret reading
  4. Typing Echo button - enables or disables typing echo
  5. Speak-It tool - speaks single words or blocks of text
Row 2 - left to right:

For more information on ZoomText levels, please see "Introduction to the ZoomText Xtra! levels".


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