Hi guys!
Just a quick question. On iOS we can react to mesages with thumbs up or laughter etc., either from the actions rotor menu or with a double tap and hold on the message.
How can this be done with VoiceOVer on Mac? I've read somewhere that the sighted method is to mouse click and hold on the message bouble, but I haven't managed to find a VO equivalent to this.
Have anyone figured this one out? Or is this a thing that can't be done with VO? If that is the case, maybe that's something we should let [email protected] know.
Not a huge deal, but as probably many of you have experienced, when there's something that at first glans doesn't have an obvious solution, the urge to find one just gets even bigger! ;)
Thanks in advance :)
By Cliff, 4 June, 2018
Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
Comments
I don't think that's possible
I would think that reacting to messages ont he Mac would be a big thing. I think the messages app needs an overhaul anyway. I wish there weren't so many old messages on my Mac that are not on the phone. although it did come in handy when I lost a number, I found it on the Mac. I'm one of if I don't want it on the phone, I don't want it on the mac unless I say so. Hope someone else has a better answer.
Haven't Seen This Option Either
I haven't seen this option either on the Mac, and I haven't checked out Messages on the iPhone much. But about a week or so ago when I was messaging my neighbor across the hall, I was asked if I wanted to have both my devices sink in Messages. I said yes, and I must admit it's pretty cool having the same message go to my iPhone and Mac at once. Oddly enough though, a former neighbor and staff member here messaged me back on Friday. I sent her something letting her know I now had an iPhone, and she sent me back a "thumb's-up" message. I don't think it contained anything else, because VoiceOver just announced "thumb's up."
Tapback
After some more googling, I've found out that this feature is called tapback on both iOS and Mac OS, but I still can't find any valid way of doing this with VoiceOver on Mac. This article describes how the feature works for sighted Mac users: I would really like to be able to do this as a blind person using Mac too. Any idees would be highly appreciated!
Less than ideal…
I can pull this off, but the method for doing so is a little less obvious and much less guaranteed to work.
For someone who doesn't use Voiceover, the options for tapping back appear above the message they "long clicked". As such, Voiceover users at this time can route the mouse to the actual Voiceover curser (VO+command+f5), followed by a long click. at this point you can either click the hardware mouse or instead use the mouse down function( within Voiceover (VO+shift+command+space), and yes you would have to release the mouse.
Here's to hoping we can soon use the actions menu on the message instead of this clunky way.
@Paul
Thank's, Paul! I tried something like that approach earlier, but I couldn't get it to work. Guess I will have to give it another try! :)
But this is anyway not a very good solution, and I would guess that this is a not so obvious way of doing it for new Mac and VoiceOver users either.
I'm really hoping that Apple will come up with a better way in future updates, perhaps an action menu item as you suggest. :)
But thanks for looking into it! :)
Take care