Microsoft has announced a series of improvements to its native 'Voice Access' speech recognition and Narrator screen reader features as part of the upcoming Windows 11 preview builds 23H2 and 22H2.
Revealed in a new company. blog postInvaluable for people with disabilities, the 'Voice Access' feature now supports additional languages, custom voice shortcuts and additional screens, making switching easier than ever.
Narrator now allows you to preview voices, while Microsoft says it has improved its detection of text and handwriting in images.
Microsoft Copilot and the rest as a force for inclusive good
In a more complete summary of the update from Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and head of consumer marketing at Microsoft, support for the rapid release of these accessibility tools through Copilot is recommended. IT teams who want to enable new features for their organization are recommended to enable optional updates via policy.
Being able to quickly launch live captions, Narrator, Voice Access, and a host of other accessibility tools that have been built into Windows since the dawn of recorded time via Copilot sounds pretty convenient and, dare I say, inclusive .
Custom voice shortcuts benefit everyone in the business of getting things done, because they can reduce precise tasks, such as copying and pasting text, to a phrase, but that's also a lifesaver for many who struggle with speech.
Navigating multiple screens has always been a minefield for users with low vision, and moving files, apps, and windows has always been a nightmare for users with low dexterity, to the point that I find it baffling that enabling voice commands on all screens were not. previously implemented. However, it is already there and will help.
That's not all Microsoft revealed today: it also revealed that Windows Autopatch is becoming the “unifying” update management solution for businesses, and users can also use their Android phone's camera as a webcam now, a feature that was so long overdue that everyone who suddenly needed a webcam for remote work when Covid-19 just came out and bought one.
So instead, it's these quality of life improvements that caught my attention. Windows auto-fitting windows for custom per-app presets isn't exciting either, on paper, but as one of those low-skilled users now who finds this built-in feature to be the bane of his existence, I think it's good.
