Transcript: QuickMail tour, with JAWS

Times are positions in QuickMail-audio-demo-JAWS-v1.mp3; a demo's time is where its audio starts, after the chime.

Demo lines are what JAWS said in each recording, as far as it could be heard: checked with speech recognition and worded the way JAWS's own Speech History logged it. '...' marks speech cut off by the next key press. JAWS also says some keys as they are pressed (Control 1, F6, Alt Down Arrow); those are included.

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Welcome (0:00)

Michael: Welcome to a guided tour of QuickMail. I'm Michael.

Maya: And I'm Maya. QuickMail is a free email program for Windows, and it was built screen reader first. Over the next twenty minutes or so, we are going to show you what that means, not just tell you.

Michael: Here's how this works. Every demo you'll hear is the real program, running on a Windows test machine, with JAWS reading it. JAWS is the screen reader from Freedom Scientific, and it's using its standard voice, Eloquence. We changed a few settings so the demos aren't too wordy: typing is spoken as words instead of letters, and the tutor and access key messages are turned off. You'll also hear JAWS say some of the keys as they're pressed. We're AI voices, but JAWS isn't. A script pressed the keys, and we recorded exactly what JAWS said. Afterwards we added a soft click so you can hear each key press, evened out the volume, and shortened long pauses. JAWS's words weren't changed.

Maya: One more thing about that test machine. It has two email accounts set up, a work account and a personal account, but their mail servers don't exist. So everything you hear is QuickMail working offline, from the mail it keeps on your own computer. That turns out to be a good place to start.

Starting QuickMail, offline (1:19)

Michael: Let's start QuickMail and just listen.

[Demo, 1:23, JAWS] QuickMail. All Mail - QuickMail. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Unread. Sam Patel. Re: Budget review for next quarter. Updated numbers are in. Travel came in under. 10:19 PM. Work -- Inbox. Row 1 of 11. Connecting to 2 accounts. No accounts could be connected. Offline. Showing cached messages.

Maya: So, a few things happened there. QuickMail opened straight onto All Inboxes, and JAWS read the first message: unread, from Sam Patel, the subject, a preview of the first line, the time, which account and folder it came from, and where it sits in the list, one of eleven.

Michael: Then it tried to connect to both accounts. When it couldn't, it said so once, and then told us it was offline and showing cached messages. It waits a few seconds before saying offline, so a quick blip in your Wi-Fi never interrupts you. You keep reading and writing, and anything you send waits in the Outbox until you're back.

Maya: And notice what it didn't do. No error dialogs, nothing to dismiss. It just told us where things stood.

Getting around: F6 and the command palette (2:31)

Michael: QuickMail has one layout, and you reach it the same way every time. Control 1 goes to the accounts list. Control 2 goes to the folders. Control 3 goes to the messages. F6 moves to the next pane, and Control 9 reads the status bar. Here are all of those, one after another.

[Demo, 2:52, JAWS] Control 1. Email accounts list box. Control 2. Folder list. All Mail open. All Inboxes. 2 of 9. Control 3. Messages table. Unread. Sam Patel. Re: Budget review for next quarter. Updated numbers are in. Travel came in under. 10:19 PM. Work... F6. Status bar: No accounts could be connected. No acc... F6. Main toolbar, tool bar. New Message button. Control 9. Status bar: No accounts could be connected. No accounts could be connected. Never synced. Offline. No accounts could be connect...

Maya: If people remember one key from this whole tour, we want it to be F6. Whatever you're doing, F6 and shift F6 walk you around the window, and you'll always know where you are.

Michael: And if they remember two keys, the second one is control shift P. That's the command palette. Every command in QuickMail is in it, with its shortcut, and you find things by typing any part of the name, or even just the initials.

Maya: Watch this. We'll press control shift P, and type G T F, the initials of Go to Folder. Then Enter, and in the folder picker we'll type inbox and press Enter again.

[Demo, 4:06, JAWS] Control Shift P. Command Palette dialog. Filter commands edit. Go to Folder. 1 of 6. G T F. Enter. Not selected. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Not selected. Messages... Inbox. Enter. Not selected. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Not selected. Messages table. Unread. Sam Patel. Re: Budget review for next quarter. Updated numbers are in. Travel came in...

Michael: G T F found Go to Folder as the top match. Then the picker took us to the work inbox, and JAWS read the first message there. There's no need to memorize a menu. If you can describe what you want, the palette will find it.

Maya: Other windows have their own palette on the same key, too. In the compose window, control shift P lists everything you can do while writing. Same key, same idea.

Message List Fields: choose what each message says (4:59)

Michael: Now the feature that I think surprises people most. You get to decide what each message says when you arrow onto it.

Maya: This is Message List Fields, on the View menu. We'll open it from the palette. First, listen to one message the way it reads by default. Then we'll go down the list of fields to Preview and press space to turn it off. Then we'll go up to Subject and press alt up arrow, so the subject is spoken before the sender. Then Escape, and back to the messages.

[Demo, 5:28, JAWS] Unread. Attachments. Mia Rivera. Photos from the lake. The kids loved the canoe. Photos attached. 9:55 PM. Personal -- Inbox. Row 2 of 11. Control Shift P. Command Palette dialog. Mess... Message List Fields. Message list fields... Enter. Not selected. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Not selected. Messages table. Unread... Replied checked. Forwarded checked. Attachments checked. From checked. Subject checked. Preview checked. Space. Not checked. Subject checked. Alt Up Arrow. Moved up. Position 6 of 14. Escape. Not selected. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Not selected. Messages table. Unread. Re: Budget review for next quarter. Sam Patel. 10:19 PM. Work -- Inbox. Row 1 of 11. Unread. Attachments. Photos from the lake. Mia Rivera. 9:55 PM. Personal -- Inbox. Row 2 of 11.

Michael: Did you catch that? Before, the row was long: unread, attachments, Mia Rivera, Photos from the lake, the whole first line, the time, and the folder. Afterwards, Sam's message read: unread, Re: Budget review for next quarter, Sam Patel, and the time. Subject first, and no preview.

Maya: And the dialog has a spoken preview box, so you can check what a row will sound like before you close it. Unread is only spoken when a message is unread. Read is never spoken at all, because that's the normal case and you don't need to hear it fifty times.

Four ways to view a folder, and conversation fields (7:00)

Michael: Next, four ways to look at a folder. Control shift V opens the view menu: Messages, Conversations, From, and To. Each folder remembers its own view, so your inbox can stay in conversations while your receipts stay a plain list.

Maya: We'll switch to Conversations, open up the budget conversation with the right arrow, and go down through it. Then we'll switch to the From view, which groups mail by who sent it.

[Demo, 7:27, JAWS] Messages checked. Conversations. Leaving menus. Messages tree view. Re: Budget review for next quarter. 3 messages. Sam Patel. Has unread. Updated numbers are in. Travel... Re: Budget review for next quarter. 3 messages... Level 1. Unread. Sam Patel. Re: Budget review for next quarter. Updated numbers are in. Travel came in under. 10:19 PM. Unread. Priya Shah. Re: Budget review for next quarter. Can we keep the training line? I think it pays for itself. 8:13 PM. Conversations checked. From. Leaving menus. Messages tree view. Ava Chen. 2 messages. Has unread. The new noodle place opened on Main Street. 9:43 PM. Closed. 1 of 9. Level 0. Ben Ortiz. 1 message. Flagged. Please review the attached invoice before Friday. 5:43 PM. Closed. 2 of 9.

Michael: So the conversation is one item: Re: Budget review for next quarter, three messages, Sam Patel, has unread. Right arrow opened it, and each reply is underneath. In the From view, everything from Ava Chen is together, two messages, and Ben Ortiz's invoice shows up as flagged.

Maya: Oh, wait. Michael, you heard that conversation say three messages, and has unread?

Michael: I did.

Maya: Remember Message List Fields, a few minutes ago? It isn't only for messages. Conversations have their own set of fields, and one of them isn't turned on yet. It's called unread of total. So instead of has unread, the row tells you exactly how many are unread.

Michael: Show me.

Maya: We're in the conversations view. Open Message List Fields from the palette. Shift tab goes back to the row type, and down arrow changes it from messages to conversation groups. Then tab into the fields, down to unread of total, and space to check it. Alt up arrow moves it up, right after the message count. And since we don't need to hear has unread anymore, we'll arrow down to it and turn it off.

[Demo, 9:31, JAWS] Control Shift P. Command Palette dialog. Mess... Message List Fields. List... Enter. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Messages tree view. Re: Budget review for... Row type combo box. Messages. Conversation groups. Fields list box. Subject checked. Message count checked. Sender checked. Flag checked. Has unread checked. Preview checked. Date checked. Unread count not checked. Unread of total not checked. Space. Has unread is also on, so a row with unread mail says so twice. Turn Has unread off to use this on its own. Checked. Alt Up Arrow, Alt Up Arrow, Alt Up Arrow, Alt Up Arrow, Alt Up Arrow. Moved up. Position 3 of 9. Sender checked. Flag checked. Unread count or Unread of total is also on and already says there is unread mail. Turn this off to hear only the count. Has unread checked. Space. Turn this field on to choose when it is spoken. Not checked. Escape. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Messages tree view. Re: Budget review for next quarter. 3 messages. 2 of 3 unread. Sam Patel. Updated numbers are in. Travel came in under. 10:19 PM. Closed. 1 of 9. Photos from the lake. 1 message. 1 of 1 unread. Mia Rivera. The kids loved the canoe. Photos attached. 9:55 PM. Closed.

Michael: Two of three unread. That's so much better. And did you catch that QuickMail noticed what we were doing? When we turned on unread of total, it said: has unread is also on, so a row with unread mail says so twice. Turn has unread off to use this on its own.

Maya: And the photos from the lake, a conversation of one, now says one of one unread. Every view gets this treatment. Messages, conversations, and the sender and recipient groups each have their own fields, so each one can say exactly what you want it to.

Reading mail (11:19)

Maya: Moving quickly through mail. Alt down arrow goes to the next unread message, even across collapsed conversations. Enter opens the message in the reading pane, and then you read it the way you read anything else. With JAWS, insert down arrow reads the whole thing, or you can arrow through it line by line. Escape takes you back to the list, right where you were.

[Demo, 11:42, JAWS] Alt Down Arrow. Unread. Attachments. Mia Rivera. Photos from the lake. The kids loved the canoe. Photos attached. 9... Alt Down Arrow. Unread. Ava Chen. Lunch on Thursday? The new noodle place opened on Main Street. 9:43 PM. Work... Enter. Not selected. Lunch on Thursday? - QuickMail. Not selected. Messages table. Ava Chen. Lunch on Thursday? Lunch on Thursday? The new noodle place opened on Main Street. Thursday at noon? Ava. Ava. Escape. Lunch on Thursday? - QuickMail. Lunch on Thursday? - QuickMail. Not selected. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Ava Chen. Lunch on Thursday? The new noodle place...

Michael: Two presses of alt down arrow, past the photos from the lake, and onto Ava's lunch invitation. Enter opened it, and JAWS read the window title and the message again. Then insert down arrow read the message: the new noodle place opened on Main Street, Thursday at noon, Ava. Escape, and we were back on Ava's message in the list.

Maya: One more thing about reading. QuickMail doesn't load pictures from the internet unless you ask it to, so senders can't tell when you've opened their message. And if a message is noisy or looks suspicious, control shift H shows it as plain text.

Search (12:57)

Michael: Search. Control shift S puts you in the search box, or you can press slash in the message list. As you type, the list narrows, and QuickMail tells you how many messages match.

Maya: We're going to type a search that combines three things: from colon Sam, the word budget, and is colon unread. So: unread mail from Sam about the budget.

[Demo, 13:20, JAWS] Control Shift S. Search box. Type to filter messages. Search messages edit. Search the messages... [the counts, cut short as the typing goes on:] 11... 2... 1 message found. 1 message. Unread. Not selected. All Inboxes, Search: from:sam budget is:unread - QuickMail. Not selected. Messages table. Unread. Sam Pa... Escape.

Michael: Did you hear the count change as we typed? Eleven messages, then two, then one. One message. And it searches message bodies and attachment names too, not just subjects. If you'd rather not learn that syntax, control slash opens Advanced Search, which is an ordinary form, and it can search every folder at once, or the server.

Writing, and two ways to check spelling (14:09)

Maya: Writing. Control N opens a new message. We'll type the first few letters of Ava's name and pick her from the suggestions. Tab moves through the address fields to the subject, and alt Y jumps to the message body. Control Enter sends.

Michael: And remember, this machine is offline. So listen for what happens to the message.

[Demo, 14:31, JAWS] Control N. New Message - Plain Text - QuickMail. To: edit. 6 suggestions... 1... Ava. Address suggestions list box. Ava Chen... Enter. New Message - Plain Text - QuickMail. To: edit. Cc. Bcc. Subject edit. Lunch on Thursday. Alt Y. Lunch on Thursday - Plain Text... Noon works for me. See you there! Control Enter. Sending. Message queued. It will be sent when you're online. Control 2. Folder list. All Mail. Level 1. Outbox, 1 waiting. 9 of 9.

Maya: As we typed A V A, the suggestions went from six to one: Ava Chen. Down arrow and Enter added her. Then the subject, then the body. When we pressed control Enter, the window closed, and when we went to the folder list and typed the letter O, we landed on the Outbox: one waiting. It'll go out by itself the moment the connection comes back.

Michael: The compose window has three modes: plain text, Markdown, and HTML, on control shift 1, 2 and 3. In HTML mode you get real formatting from the keyboard, like control B for bold, and control T tells you what formatting is at the cursor. Drafts save themselves as you write.

Maya: And there are two ways to check spelling, because people work in two different ways. Some of us like to fix words as we go, and some of us like to write first and check at the end.

Michael: For this one we wrote a short message with two mistakes in it: thanks for the receipt, spelled R E C I E P T, and I will send the report tomorrow, spelled with one R. First, the fix-as-you-go way. Control home goes to the start, and control F7 jumps to the next misspelling. It tells you the word and the first suggestion, and alt 1 takes that suggestion. Then the check-at-the-end way: F7 opens the full spelling dialog.

[Demo, 16:39, JAWS] Top of file. Thanks for the reciept. I will send the report tomorow. Control F7. Misspelling: reciept. 1: receipt. Alt 1. Replaced with receipt. F7. Spelling. Not in dictionary: tomorow. Suggestions list box. Tomorrow. 1 of 1. Alt C. Checking subject. Spelling check complete. 1 word changed. Spelling dialog. The spelling check is complete. 1 word changed. OK button.

Maya: Control F7 said: misspelling, R E C I E P T, one, receipt. That one is the number of the suggestion, so alt 1 took it, and QuickMail said replaced with receipt. Then F7 opened the spelling window with focus right on the suggestions, and said what was not in the dictionary. Alt C changed it, and the check was complete. One word changed.

Michael: In that dialog, alt I ignores a word, alt A adds it to your dictionary, and alt R reads the word in its sentence, so you can tell which word it means. And if you'd like to hear about misspellings as you type, there's a setting for that too. It's off by default, because not everybody wants it.

Staying organized: watched conversations and the calendar (17:51)

Maya: Staying organized. Control shift W watches a conversation. From then on, every reply, in any folder, collects in Watched Conversations, even replies that haven't arrived yet.

[Demo, 18:05, JAWS] Unread... unread... unread. Priya Shah. Re: Budget review for next quarter. Can we keep the training line? I think it pays for itself. 8:13 PM. Control Shift W. Watching conversation: Budget review for next quarter.

Michael: Watching conversation: Budget review for next quarter. K flags a message, and rules, on control shift L, file your mail automatically. On Microsoft 365, those can be the same server rules Outlook uses.

Maya: And there's a full calendar on control shift C, with agenda, day, week and month views. When it opens, focus lands right on the first event. We'll press W for the week view, and arrow down through the events.

[Demo, 18:51, JAWS] Control Shift C. Calendar. 3 upcoming events. Use Up and Down arrows to browse. Press Enter to open. Press N for a new appointment, E to edit, Delete to remove. Press A for agenda, D for day, W for week; Control plus Left or Right to move between days or weeks. Press Escape to return to the folder list. Not selected... Week of October 18 to October 24. 3 events. Calendar events table. Team... Project Falcon planning session, Sat, Oct 24, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, Pending, Room 4, Dana Okafor... Dentist, Sat, Oct 24, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM, Main Street Dental, Local. Row 3 of 3.

Michael: Three events this week: the team stand-up, the Project Falcon planning session, still pending because it's a meeting invitation we haven't answered yet, and a dentist appointment. Invitations have accept, tentative and decline. And date and time fields are ordinary edit fields. You type a date, or change it with the arrow keys. There's no date picker to fight with.

Context menus, the archive folder and the startup folder (19:57)

Maya: Now, a habit that pays off everywhere in QuickMail. Shift F10, or the applications key if your keyboard has one, opens the context menu for whatever you're on. A message, a folder, an account, an attachment. If you're ever wondering what you can do with something, that's where to look.

Michael: Here's the menu for a message. We'll open it with shift F10 and arrow down through it.

[Demo, 20:21, JAWS] Shift F10. Reply, Ctrl+R. 1 of 11. Reply All, Ctrl+Shift+R... Forward, Ctrl+Shift+F... Move to Folder. 4 of 11. Copy to Folder. 5 of 11. Save As, F12. 6... Print, Ctrl+P. 7... Delete, Delete. 8 of 11. Move to Archive, Ctrl+Shift+M. 9 of 11. Leaving menus. Not selected. Messages table. Unread. Sam Pa...

Maya: Reply, reply all, forward, move to folder, copy to folder, save as, print, delete, and move to archive. JAWS read each item's shortcut key, too, like control R for reply. Move to archive has its own shortcut, control shift M, and it's one I use all day. One keystroke, and the message is filed out of your inbox.

Michael: We didn't press it here, and that's the one honest limit of this offline machine. Moving mail between folders happens on your mail server, so it needs a connection. Sending can wait in the Outbox. Moving can't.

Maya: But where does archive put things? QuickMail finds your provider's archive folder on its own. If you'd rather it used a different one, there's a folder menu for that. This work account has a folder called Old Mail. Let's go to it in the folder list, press shift F10, and choose set as archive folder.

[Demo, 21:37, JAWS] Old Mail. Shift F10. New Folder. 1 of 12. Move... Copy... Set as Archive Folder. 4 of 12. Enter. Leaving menus. Folder list. All Mail open. All Inboxes. 2 of 9.

Michael: QuickMail did announce it: Old Mail set as the archive folder for this account. But JAWS talked over it as the menu closed, so all we heard was leaving menus. Either way, it's set. From now on, control shift M on any work message files it in Old Mail. And if you change your mind, the same menu has use automatic archive folder.

Maya: Remember how QuickMail opened on All Inboxes when we started it? That's a choice too. Same menu, on the work inbox this time: set as startup folder.

[Demo, 22:25, JAWS] Inbox, 4 unread. Shift F10. New Folder. 1 of 12. Move... Copy... Set as Archive... Set as Startup Folder. 6 of 12. Enter. Leaving menus. Folder list. All Mail open. All Inboxes. 2 of 9.

Michael: Same thing there. QuickMail said, QuickMail will open in inbox, and JAWS cut it off when the menu closed. That's the kind of thing that, in a lot of programs, is buried three tabs deep in an options dialog. Here it's right on the folder, where you'd think to look.

Properties with Alt+Enter (23:00)

Maya: One more key that works on almost everything: alt Enter. It shows the properties of whatever you're on. We'll press it on a message, then on a folder, and then on an account, and arrow down through each one.

[Demo, 23:14, JAWS] Alt Enter. Message Properties dialog. Press Enter or Ctrl+C to copy the selected row. Headers. Row 1 of 16. From: Sam Patel. Row 2 of 16. To: Jordan Lee <jordan@contoso.example>... Cc: (none). Row 4... Escape. Not selected. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Control 2. Folder list. All Mail... Alt Enter. Folder Properties dialog. Press Enter or Ctrl+C to copy the selected row. Folder. Row 1 of 9. Name: All Inboxes. Row 2 of 9. Full path:. Row 3 of 9. Escape. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Folder list. Control 1. Email accounts list box. Alt Enter. Account Properties dialog. Press Enter or Ctrl+C to copy the selected row. Identity. Row 1 of 20. Display name: Work. Row 2 of 20. Email address: jordan@contoso.example. Incoming (IMAP). Row 4 of 20. Escape. All Inboxes - QuickMail. Email accounts list box.

Michael: For the message: the headers, who it's from, who it's to, the CC. For the folder: its name and its full path. For the account: its display name, its email address, and its incoming server. Each one is a simple list you arrow through, and each opened with a hint: press Enter or control C to copy the selected row.

Maya: And every properties window has a copy all button. If you ever need to tell somebody exactly what you're seeing, like when you're reporting a problem, copy all puts the whole thing on the clipboard.

You're in control: settings and shortcuts (24:46)

Maya: The last part of this tour is about control. Everything QuickMail says on its own, it says because you let it. In settings, there are separate switches for instructional hints, for background status like syncing, and for the results of what you do, like search counts. Or turn them all off at once.

Michael: And QuickMail tries hard not to repeat what your screen reader already says. When you check a checkbox, your screen reader tells you it's checked, so QuickMail stays quiet. There are no scripts to install, and it works with whichever screen reader you use.

Maya: Every keyboard shortcut can be changed, too. You press the keys you want, and if they're already taken, QuickMail tells you which command has them.

Michael: It updates itself. Help, Report a Bug, sends a report without needing a GitHub account. And F1 opens the user guide.

Summing up, and where to get QuickMail (25:38)

Maya: So, to sum up. F6 to move around. Control shift P to find anything. Decide what each message and each conversation says with Message List Fields. Four ways to look at a folder. Shift F10 for a menu on anything, and alt Enter for its properties. Search that understands what you mean, and two ways to check your spelling. And it keeps working when the internet doesn't.

Michael: QuickMail is free. QuickMail download links can be found under the QuickMail heading of Kelly Ford's project page, at the idea place dot net, slash projects. That's the idea place, all one word, dot net, slash projects.

Maya: Thanks for listening. I'm Maya.

Michael: And I'm Michael. Happy emailing.