Using Windows Quick Assist with a Screen Reader

When you want to assist someone else with a computer problem on Windows, there are a range of connection options. Some, such as an actual phone call, are easy to establish but difficult to use for this sort of a situation. Others, like Quick Assist, offer the best of all worlds in most cases where establishing the connection is easy and the access you have on the remote computer works quite well. However, Quick Assist does not currently support redirection of audio as far as I know, so if you are using a screen reader, it can obviously be difficult to use.

In the screen reader case, especially if the individual giving the assistance is using a screen reader, there’s not a great way to easily know what’s happening on the remote computer. That said, combining a couple pieces of technology, something I’m sure is no surprise to pretty much anyone who uses a screen reader, can be one potential work around if you want to use this connection option.

The Scenario

You, the screen reading user, want to aid someone remotely. That person may or may not be a screen reading user. In the old school phone call method, even if you use newer voice-over-IP technology, such as Skype, Teams, Zoom, or the never-ending products that seem to appear, you obviously have no direct control over the remote computer. Asking the individual you are trying to assist to type commands and such and read the output only goes so far.

The Quick Assist Solution

Establishing a Quick Assist connection is straight forward. Both individuals launch the Quick Assist app, which comes as a part of pretty much all Windows 10 installations. The person helping requests a six-digit code that they share with the person receiving help. The person providing help also indicates how much control they want to request. For our example this would be full control. The person receiving help will enter the six-digit code provided and approve the full control request. The pin requests, pin entry, control request and control approval all appear as web content so work quite well with screen readers.

The Wrinkle

As mentioned before, Quick Assist does not support audio redirection. To work around that situation, again you can combine a bit of technology.

1. On either the computer providing help or the computer receiving help, create a meeting or other connection with your program of choice that allows for screen sharing. You will want to be sure to use a program that supports sharing of system audio as well. As I’m sure many blog readers know, I am a Microsoft employee, although this is my personal blog, so tend to use Microsoft Teams but Zoom and other programs will work equally well here.
2. Both individuals involved in the assistance should then join the meeting or other connection.
3. The person wanting help next starts a screen share from within the call or meeting. It is key to include the system audio. This will create the environment, where the person offering the assistance who is for our scenario a screen reading user, is going to hear the remote audio.
4. Now establish the Quick Assist connection, including the person to provide assistance requesting full control and the person wanting assistance granting such control.

The Additional Wrinkles

Any time you are establishing a remote connection between two computers, the issue of how and when keyboard commands, touch gestures or mouse clicks go to the remote or local computer requires attention. In my trials of Quick Assist thus far, when you first establish the full connection, keyboard commands for me stayed with the local computer. Using various screen reader commands and techniques, I had to find part of the Quick Assist window on my computer and activate that area. The area was labeled something like Remote Input. I was able to get to this area with the JAWS cursor, NVDA object navigation or Narrator previous and next commands in those programs. Activating the input area with the appropriate command in the screen readers allowed sending keyboard commands to the remote computer. At that point I could use all the standard commands on the remote computer, such as ctrl+win+enter to launch Narrator. Again, our scenario is that a screen reading user is providing help and the person receiving help is not and likely doesn’t even have anything beyond Narrator installed.

One other item of note once you are using the remote computer. So far in my use of Quick Assist, I could not find a way to get keyboard commands to go back to the local computer without having the person receiving assistance end the connection. I did try some of the standard commands I use when working with a standard remote desktop connection and they did not seem to work. This may be a knowledge gap on my part or a limitation of Quick Assist. As I learn more I’ll update with additional details.

Using The Remote Computer

The process of creating this connection sounds more complicated than it is once you do it a couple of times. In my experience, getting the remote computer audio from the screen sharing in Teams or another app, and using Quick Assist to control the remote computer worked well. There was a slight, very slight, lag from the time I used my keyboard commands until I heard the result but it was far better than trying to ask the other person to type a range of commands. I found the environment quite usable to help solve problems.

Alternatives and More

This is not the only solution to this problem of course. If both parties in the connection are using the same screen reader, solutions such as JAWS tandem or equivalents where they exist, are better alternatives. Also, you could opt to forgo the screen sharing part of this process for the audio and just listen to the audio from the remote computer over the voice connection you are using. Likely there are other options I’ve not thought of too but I offer this as one more possible option when you want to help others out of a computer jam remotely, especially when you are using a screen reader and the person needing help is not.