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JAWS Scripts For Skype: 4.x | 3.5 through 3.8 | 3.1 and 3.2 | 3.0
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Go to: Sarah's Skype page | Hrvoje Katić's page (for the SkypeWatch installer) | Skype.com

JAWS Scripts For Skype 4.x

Revision 41d

This is the third full public release of scripts for Skype 4.1. This release is for Skype 4.1.0.136 and newer, not older Skype versions like 4.0, or 3.8, or even older Skype 4.1 betas before 4.1.0.136. It is expected to work with Skype 4.x versions beyond 4.1, though of course this is not tested yet since they don't yet exist. A JAWSKey+Ctrl+V should tell you your current Skype version number.

Updates and New Features

• Chats are now more universally called "conversations," since that's what Skype 4.1 itself calls them.
• Script commands that list open conversations now include descriptive information for calls and multiperson conversations. This includes the Command C L and Command C Ctrl+L commands.
  • Voice calls will say "voice call."
  • Calls in which you are actively sending video will say "video call."
  • Conversations that contain more than one person besides yourself, whether or not they contain a call, will say "multiperson."
  • If your mic is muted in a call, JAWS will say "muted."
  • A call that is held will say "held locally" or "held remotely" depending on who held the call.
• A few focus switching problems should be fixed, such as Ctrl+8 not always going to the History list but sticking in the Conversation list instead.
• Ctrl+Shift+D should be more reliable at moving focus to the DialPad, even in an incoming call.
• The installer should now work on 64-bit Windows versions.
• The scripts should again compile on JAWS version 9 and older. (I personally compiled this version under JAWS 6.20 once as a test before making a release.)
• At long last, all strings that should be localized by language translators should be in jsm and jsd files. Most if not all jsm constants should either be self-explanatory or described in a comment above them. This has been a long time coming, as there were many text strings embedded in the code that had to be extracted into jsm files. For details on the translation process, refer to the new "Translating the Scripts Into Another Language" section in the online JAWS Scripts For Skype 4.1 User's Guide.

Download: Revision 41d executable installer | Revision 41d source and JAWS 7-10 binaries

Revision 41c

This is the second full public release of scripts for Skype 4.1. This release is for Skype 4.1.0.136 and newer, not older Skype versions like 4.0, or 3.8, or even older Skype 4.1 betas before 4.1.0.136. It is expected to work with Skype 4.x versions beyond 4.1, though of course this is not tested yet since they don't yet exist. A JAWSKey+Ctrl+V should tell you your current Skype version number.

Updates and New Features

• The script installer is now a Unicode installer, and it may work on 64-bit Windows though I currently have no way to test this. The installer will not run on Windows 9x, Millennium, or NT anymore. I welcome input on the SkypeEnglish list from people who had problems with the Skype script installer in the past, as to whether this update helps.
• All Profile fields should speak their names correctly, including the names of the containing group boxes for each field, so you can tell which fields are public, shared only with contacts, or private to you.
• As you arrow through the Options tree, JAWS will now say the name of the current option group before the name of the current page. Many blind people may not have known that options were divided into groups because focus is never allowed onto a group header in that tree. This will help explain, for example, why there are two "Sounds" pages; they are in different groups.
• The Options treeView now looks better in Braille and includes page group names in front of actual page names just as with speech.
• Arrowing up and down through possible accounts in the login screen's edit combo box should now speak properly.
• Small typo fixed in the announcement that comes up if Skype forgets that a screen reader is running.
• Turning off Recognize Chat in Verbosity Options now actually works. This was a long-standing bug, though no one seemed to have run into it.
• The Skype Command key system should no longer interfere with the new JAWS 11 layered key sequences that start with JAWSKey+Space.
• There is now protection from a number of potential messes that could be caused by changing the Skype command key to a keystroke that didn't work so well:
  • Keys with attached scripts are no longer allowed because this caused troublesome conflicts in many cases.
  • Enter, Tab, Space, and Esc are not allowed whether they are attached to scripts or not.
• When you Alt+Tab into Skype and you are using Default view, focus is no longer forced off of non-chat-related fields onto the chat input box. This allows people to leave focus on the Contact or Conversations lists if they prefer. If focus was on another part of the chat window, focus will still be moved to the input box however, just as it is in Compact view.
• Focus moves to the Conversations list if it lands on the main top-level window, as it does when Ctrl+F4 is used to close a conversation in Default view. Also, the list of available conversations in Default view no longer goes empty when a conversation is closed with Ctrl+F4. These changes make Ctrl+F4 work much better as a way to close conversations in Default view.
• Scanning for conversations on Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+Shift+Tab, etc., may be a bit faster now.
• Typing indicator messages now speak in the JAWS message voice and show up in Braille. They are also more reliably detected, so for example, a birthday reminder does not cause a typing message when no one is actually typing, and the typing announcements and sounds don't stop working when the final line of a conversation scrolls off screen.
• Many functions and possibly some scripts now show their documentation more accurately in the JAWS Script Manager.
• A few minor problems are fixed with SkypeWatch's ability to keep its default_fs.jsb file up to date when the user does a JAWS update or repair. default_fs.jsd, the default help file for scripters, is also maintained automatically now.

Download: Revision 41c executable installer | Revision 41c source and JAWS 7-10 binaries

Revision 41b

This is the first full public release of scripts for Skype 4.1. Skype posted the first Skype 4.1 version on June 30, 2009.

Very important note: This script set is for the public Skype 4.1 releases only. Do not use this version with any older Skypes, not even 4.1 beta versions. The specific Skype version numbers for which these scripts are valid are 4.1.0.136 and 4.1.0.166. A JAWSKey+Ctrl+V should tell you the version number, as will the Help/About box, though you'll have to pick the version number out of a lot of speech if you use that method, because the JAWS cursor will not find the text of that box in Skype 4.1.

There is also one word of warning below that I recommend everyone read before downloading and installing these scripts.

Updates and New Features

SkypeWatch works again as it did in Skype 3.8! Use the JAWS Verbosity Options "SkypeWatch Messages Enabled/Disabled" to turn on/off the whole feature, and use the Skype Options > Notification Settings checkboxes to pick which things will be reported. Every one of them should now work. The installation procedure for SkypeWatch, sorry to say, has not improved though.

Alt+numbers/arrows in a conversation will tell you when a message is new, not delivered, or edited.

F2 will work in the Contacts list to rename a contact instead of trying to toggle chat message time announcement.

Pressing Alt+Shift+F4 twice quickly will close Skype immediately, ending any active file transfers, calls, etc., without asking for further confirmation. This is to work around the Skype 4.1 public release's problem with letting us use the system tray icon and its context menu.

If you have unloaded and reloaded JAWS or loaded and unloaded another screen reader and managed to confuse Skype into thinking there is no screen reader running, the scripts will now detect this and tell you about it after trying to fix the problem behind the scenes. This alert will come in the form of a fairly conspicuous and unusual BEEP sound, followed by about a second or two's pause, followed by the display of a virtual buffer describing the problem and what to do about it, including a link to a lot more info on the issue.

Announcement of new conversation after Ctrl+Tab is more reliable. Sometimes it was silent before. It may now speak twice when it was silent before, but I figure this is better than silence.

JAWS is better able to recognize conversation windows right after a switch from Compact to Default view. This applies to Ctrl+Tab and other conversation-switching and listing commands.

Ctrl+Shift+L does what Command C Ctrl+L does, brings up a conversation list. This is for people that have a lot of conversations open at once.

There is now support for the Skype Extras Manager in the scripts. Once in the Skype Extras Manager, type JAWSKey+H for a summary of how to use it with JAWS and the scripts. The way to enter the Skype Extras Manager is

1. Choose Extras from the Tools menu in the main Skype window. This is a submenu.
2. Press Enter on "Get Extras" or "Organize Your Extras" in that submenu. This should land in a list of categories, from which you can arrow to a category and Tab to explore its contents.

A Word of Warning

This script set uses a feature that helps JAWS read the About box by virtualizing it. The feature is present in JAWS 7.0 through 10.0, but there is some question as to whether it will remain present in future. The feature has the unusual side effect of making all of your installed JAWS versions virtualize the About box if you have done it once in any one JAWS version on that computer. This shouldn't hurt anything and will probably help instead, but it is unusual enough to deserve mention. This feature will not work in, and will have no effect on, JAWS versions older than 7.0.

Known Issues

Fields in the Options dialog may not be named as well now. Skype actually included a lot more field names, but apparently something changed right before this Skype release in how group boxes are named, so that JAWS is not speaking the names even when they are there. I have to research this issue further, but again, I think this is an incompatibility between Skype 4.1 and the current scripts, not between Skype and JAWS itself. To get an idea what JAWS should say when things are working right, try JAWSKey+Tab on fields in the Options pages.

Download: Revision 41b executable installer | Revision 41b source and JAWS 7-10 binaries

Revision 41a

This is an update to the scripts for Skype 4.x, following from version 40c. This is the first script set written against Skype 4.1 though - Skype 4.1.0.130, a public beta released by Skype on May 27, 2009. These scripts will probably also work with Skype 4.0 versions, though this has not been well tested.

Note: A JAWS restart is recommended after installing these scripts, because the names of a number of global variables have changed, and the old ones can only be cleared out of memory by a JAWS restart..

User Visible Changes

A double JAWSKey+F1, the standard command for accessing JAWS script help documents, will take you to an online documentation page describing how to use Skype 4.1 with the scripts. This feature is long overdue, and though I'm sure the online documentation is in need of updating, it is at least a central starting point, better than having to fish for info among all the release notes for the various Skype script releases.

F2, typed from within a conversation, will turn on and off JAWS' announcement of timestamps with text messages, if you have enabled the display of timestamps in Skype itself. This is similar to how F2 works in AIM. The virtual display of text messages will also be affected.

Alt+Numpad5 will now say the position of the current message in addition to its contents.

Users that sometimes heard nothing when backspacing in a text message input box should now hear characters as usual. This script update fixes a few possible causes of that problem.

JAWS 9 no longer beeps on arrows, SayLine, etc., in the History list. The History list is also more appropriately named (perhaps not in Braille though).

JAWS auto-announces questions like the one about holding the current call to make a new one. Also, Ctrl+Shift+E deals with that window instead of the Accounts panel when it applies. Controls in such a box can now be reached with the Tab key, as Skype itself made this possible.

Double Ctrl+numbers no longer switch to the JAWS cursor and restrict it. A double Ctrl+6 focuses the profile area, and it also works in more windows.

If you leave the new Chrome menus in effect in Skype, the scripts will try to make them speak. Turning these off is still recommended though.

If you open the Help/About box and try to move to another window or application without first closing it, the scripts will close it for you to keep it from interfering with other windows and applications.

Any Braille display users who sometimes heard "Unknown function call to JCPBrailleHelper" should no longer hear that message.

Users of JAWSKey+V may have noticed that the clipboard could get overwritten with a funny-looking string of verbosity option info in certain situations. This is now fixed.

The script installer includes some attempts to fix a problem wherein some users are told they have no valid JAWS language folder.

Internal Changes

The following are internal changes, visible mostly to coders and curious souls who look at the code:

This script version officially ends my use of jsl files in public projects, which means fewer files in the script set. Any jsl files from previous scripts will not be deleted when you install this update, however.

The names of most functions and global variables used in the Skype scripts have been changed to make them unique enough not to collide with other scripts that one might have running alongside the Skype scripts. This was not a frequent problem but did happen to some people.

A number of functions from Skype 3 scripts no longer used in Skype 4 have been removed.

Known Issues In This Release

These are the known issues with this release, latest-found first:

06/05/2009: Under certain conditions, Skype can fail to realize that a screen reader is running. The result is severe disfunction with JAWS and the Skype scripts, such as inability to read the contact list, reading an entire list when you press an arrow key, Alt+numbers and Alt+arrows not working in chats, etc. Causes of this problem include

• Unloading and reloading JAWS while Skype is running. This does not always cause the problem, but it can.
• Switching JAWS versions while Skype is running.
• Loading and unloading Microsoft Narrator or another screen reader while Skype is running.

This issue is fully documented, along with ways of working around it, on a separate Screen Reader Not Detected page. In short though, Skype must be restarted, and if you used another screen reader, you should close all screen readers including Narrator, then restart JAWS, then restart Skype. Future Skype releases are expected to avoid this situation in most cases, although part of the cause of this problem is based in Windows itself.

05/28/2009: The spoken and Brailled item count and position for the Tools/Options page tree are wrong. Should do the following:

• Use the number of arrowable (i.e., level 1) nodes as a count.
• Use the position within that node list as position.
• Include the name of the parent of the current node as part of its name.

05/27/2009: The online documentation page should list PageUp and PageDown as keys that move among groups in the Tools/Options page tree.

05/28/2009: The script installer says the scripts are for Skype 4.0. Fixed for next release; now says 4.1.

05/28/2009: The "SkypeWatch Messages Enabled/Disabled" option in Verbosity Options is missing. Fixed for next release.

05/27/2009: JAWS repeats labels on several controls in the Tools/Options pages. Fixed for next release: Skype itself now labels many of those, so the script code to label them became redundant. The next script release will probably therefore be intended for Skype 4.1 only, not 4.0.

Download: Revision 41a executable installer | Revision 41a source and JAWS 7-10 binaries

Revision 40c

This is a minor update to the scripts for Skype 4.0 that makes SkypeWatch report incoming calls as in Skype 3. The rest of SkypeWatch remains inactive because there is insufficient information to implement everything in Skype 4.

The read-last-notification command, Alt+Shift+F9, will again work to repeat the caller's name. The Skype Command system will also let you examine previous incoming calls, as in Skype 3.

Note that SkypeWatch is not enabled by default; it must be activated as described on the Script Installation Instructions page on this site. Once done though, the activation should not be needed again for that JAWS version.

As part of this update, I am also making JAWS do a couple little things to ease interpretation of who is calling:

• If a conference is calling, JAWS will say "conference" as part of the caller's ID. You will also hear the list of participants, or some of them at least. If Skype includes an elipsis in the name, indicating that there are more participants than shown, JAWS will say "elipsis" so that people (like me) with punctuation turned off will still hear that there are more people in the conference.
• For SkypeIn calls from US phone numbers, JAWS will say the number like "+1 888-555-1212," not "+18885551212." This is not perfect but should be better anyway. I don't know how to help out with numbers from other countries because I don't know a consistent international way to split numbers into the right digit groups. I tried various things, including reading them as all single digits, but I didn't find a way to do that without either messing up the announcement of times or making Braille messages look really strange.

Download: Revision 40c executable installer | Revision 40c source and JAWS 7-10 binaries

Revision 40b

This is a minor update containing a number of small improvements. This page documents the updates in both revision 653a (for Skype 3.x) and revision 40b (for Skype 4.0).

Updates In Both 3.x and 4.x Scripts

• Skype.jdf, the smilie dictionary, is included with the scripts now. This is the same skype.jdf that is separately available on my web site.
• New Ctrl+Shift+M command for bringing up a list of emoticons for selection.
• Better detection of when to update default_fs.jsb for SkypeWatch. This should keep SkypeWatch users from experiencing random issues after a JAWS in-place update. (SkypeWatch still only works with Skype 3.x though.)
• Several updates to the code used to name fields.
• Hopefully a fix to the problem some Vista users were having with the installer, where it refused to complete the installation for no obvious reason. Note that if you get an error during installation now, you may see a "trace" with a lot of strange info as part of the error box. This info would help me figure out the problem if you run into one. I don't expect many people to have problems with the installer though.

ChangesIn Skype 3.x Scripts Only

• New skypeupdate.jsm file for translatable messages that might speak during a default_fs.jsb update.

Changes in the Skype 4.0 update only

• Command c m is the Command key equivalent of the new Ctrl+Shift+M command.
• Better handling of the Call Phones edit box.
• A number of situations where JAWS announced the wrong contact list entry, conversation list entry, etc., should now be fixed. Examples: The first contact reported after switching focus into the list, the conversation reported as focused after the Delete key is used to delete one, and occasionally the contact or conversation reported when an arrow key causes the list to scroll.
• Cleanup of JAWSKey+H help text.
• The scripts should now compile under JAWS 6.20, which was not true in at least one earlier release.

A couple of warnings:

• If you currently use Ctrl+Shift+M to mute your mic, it will probably help to change that to a new hotkey. I discovered that Ctrl+Shift+M was a popular mute choice after I did all this. I decided to leave Ctrl+Shift+M as the emoticon list command because it's the same in MSN already.
• If you have created your own skype.jdf dictionary file, it will be replaced by this script update, so you might want to back yours up first. To date though, I know of nobody that has done this, except for those who copied the MSN dictionary over to use with Skype. The new skype.jdf file in these scripts will do all that the MSN file did and more, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks to Maya from Russia, Gordan Radic, and others who helped me with this update by creating the Skype emoticon dictionary, the emoticon list for the Ctrl+Shift+M command, and some code from which I drew to create the actual Ctrl+Shift+M command.

Download: Revision 40b executable installer | Revision 40b source and JAWS 7-10 binaries

Revision 40a

This is a minor update for Skype 4.0 containing a number of small improvements as follows:

• Arrows and SayLine again say the contact's actual Skype ID after other information, as was true in Skype 3.x. This also works in the Conversation list.
• F2 in the Contact list again no longer reads an incorrect field name.
• Profile > About me is named,
• Quick Filter is now named Search contacts, groups and conversations, as on screen.
• A lot of Profile buttons have been added to the Insert+F8 list because they are not in tab order. Warning: The "Change your Mood" button will open a page for setting a video for your mood, not just something to change mood text.
• SayLine works better on the Options treeView when it receives focus.
• The Skype update checkboxes in the Advanced Options page are properly named.
• The checkboxes in Options > Hotkeys are now named correctly. Braille is also better for hotkey checkboxes in JAWS 7.10 and later. Previously, Braille could be wrong on the first and last entries. It may still be wrong when you Tab into the list. If so, just arrow up/down once to fix.
• The "All other contacts" item at the end of the Contact list, when groups are in effect, now speaks when arrowed to.
• The installer should now properly sort JAWS version numbers even when one or more end in ".0."

Download: Revision 40a executable installer | Revision 40a source and JAWS 7-10 binaries

Revision 4b3b

This is a fairly significant update to the scripts for Skype 4 beta 3. This is also the first set of scripts intended for use with the official Skype 4.0 release. This script version should only be used with Skype 4 beta 3 and the Skype 4.0 release.

Included features and fixes:

• Ctrl+Shift+D will toggle the DialPad on and off in an active call with a telephone. For those who prefer the Skype Command key system, Command m d will also do this. This is an experimental feature and may not work in all situations.
• Mood text should be easier to edit, meaning JAWS should now more correctly see the edit box's contents as you type.
• SayLine in Contacts and Conversation lists will say "selected" but will not say "not selected" now, to be consistent with other navigation commands.
• Arrows and SayLine in the conversation list will report conversations with new content by saying "new:" first and will include any conversation content shown on screen in the item announcement. The "new" flag is cleared for a conversation when Skype knows that you have read the line. The easiest way to make this happen is probably with Alt+End, a new command presented below.
• Delete now deletes the focused entry, not the selected entry, in the Contact and Conversation lists.
• Ctrl+8, the command to switch to the History List when the scripts are running, should work much more reliably now as you arrow through it:
  • No more need to RouteJAWSToPC to click "Show History" first.
  • No more reading the wrong line when the list scrolls.
  • No more double speech as you scroll down.
  • No more announcement of "not selected" on every line.
• Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab should now work for switching among conversations in Default view as well as Compact view. This is somewhat experimental, and feedback is welcome. The scripts rely on some undocumented Skype 4 behavior to make this work.
• Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab also work now to go to a conversation from the main Skype window.
• For text conversations with one person, JAWS now says the person's online status as part of the window title and text input box name, as was true in Skype 3.x.
• There is a new system for moving through chat messages with a remembered current location for each conversation, making it very easy to make sure not to miss any chat lines:

  Alt with left and right arrows

  Move to the previous and next chat message.

  Alt+Home and Alt+End

  Move to the first or last chat message.

  Alt+NumPad5

  Repeat the current message. Press twice to virtualize the current message and the context around it.

  The Alt+numbers still work as before. This system works in both Default and Compact views, though your place in a conversation may be forgotten in Default view if you don't visit it for a long time.
• Double Ctrl+numbers put the JAWS cursor in their corresponding windows. This simplifies a few tasks as follows:

  To accept an authorization request

  Double Ctrl+6 to restrict the JAWS cursor to the Contact Profile area, then find "Add to Contacts" and click.

  To accept a file transfer, read a voicemail, etc.

  Double Ctrl+5 to lock the JAWS cursor into the text message area, then find the item you want, such as "Save" for file transfers or "Play" for voicemails, and click. If you can't find the item you want, try a single Ctrl+5 and an End with the PC cursor active, to scroll to the end of the message list, before doing the double Ctrl+5.

  To determine conference participants and/or act on them individually

  Double Ctrl+6, then explore with the JAWS cursor and right-click on contact names as you wish.

• JAWSKey+F8 now uses a generic algorithm instead of one tied to specific windows and structures, and thus some new buttons are included and some items have different names. The scripts try to construct an interpretable name when Skype itself does not provide one. These names are still far from easy to understand, but they at least allow access to the unnamed buttons.
• The five rating buttons on the Call Quality Feedback form now have names. This is the form that sometimes pops up after a call to a telephone number.
• Much of the help text has been updated.
• The Pick Contact and Actions feature (Ctrl+Shift+L) is removed. It never worked in Skype 4 and could actually cause bizarre problems, like a surprise unload of Skype 4 and load of Skype 3.

Download: Revision 4b3b executable installer | Revision 4b3b source and JAWS 7-10 binaries

Revision 4b3a

This is a beta release of JAWS scripts for Skype 4.0 Beta3. Unlike previous beta scripts for Skype 4 beta, this release is specifically aimed at Skype 4.0 beta3, not any older Skype 4 beta version.

Table of Contents

• Script Name Scheme Change
• Things That Don't Work Yet
• Configuring Skype For Use With JAWS
• JAWS Script Commands and Features That Work In Skype 4 Beta3
• How To Do Various Things In Skype 4 With the Scripts Running
• New Since 3.x
• Obsolete Script Commands
• Known Issues With Skype 4 and Skype 4 Scripts

Script Name Scheme Change

With this release, the naming scheme for Skype script releases is changing slightly. The previous release was called "4b4," implying that this release would be called "4b5." The "4" and "5" indicated how many beta script versions for Skype 4 had been released. The name of this release is "4b3a": The "4b3" means they're for Skype 4 beta3, and the "a" means this is the first release of scripts for that Skype version. If there is another script release for Skype 4 beta3, it will be called "4b3b."

Things That Don't Work Yet

I'm putting this section near the top of this document so potential users of Skype 4 beta will be aware of these items ahead of time.

The following items appear not to be accessible for screen reader users at this time:

• SkypeWatch. Alert text is not accessible to screen readers yet.
• The dialpad. Users can dial arbitrary numbers by typing /call and a phone number in any conversation window however.

The following items are not yet included in Skype 4, even for sighted users:

• Hotkeys such as Alt+PgUp to answer a call.

Configuring Skype For Use With JAWS

The following steps should be taken before Skype can work effectively with JAWS and these scripts:

1. Change to Classic Windows format: JAWS will not see the menu bar if you use the default "Skype" window format instead of the old "Classic Windows" format. To change this:
   • Type Alt+T for the Tools menu, then O for the Options dialog. You should land on the General Settings page.
   • Tab a few times to find the option that says, "Visual style of the window." If this is set to "Skype," press DownArrow once to change it to "Classic Windows."
   • Save the change by pressing Enter, or if you're not running the scripts yet, Tab to "Save" and press Enter there.
2. Enable accessibility features: Skype provides a couple of options to improve accessibility. To turn these on:
   • Type Alt+T for the Tools menu, then A for the Accessibility menu. You will land on "Extended Keyboard Navigation."
   • If this option or the "Simplified Graphics" option below it is not checked, press Enter on it to check it. This will also close the menus.
   • Repeat the previous two steps until both items are checked, then Esc out of the menus when this is done.
3. Enable Compact view: Skype 3 users may want to turn on the Compact view, which puts chats, now called "conversations", into separate windows so they can be reached via Alt+Tab. These scripts also make Ctrl+Tab work in Compact view. To enable this view:
   • Type Alt+V for the View menu, then UpArrow to find the "Compact View" line. If you instead find "Default View," you are already using Compact view.
   • If you find "Compact view," press Enter to turn the view on. This will probably open a conversation window immediately. If so, you can use Esc to close it and return to the main Skype window.

JAWS Script Commands and Features That Work In Skype 4 Beta3

These commands and Features currently work well enough for use when the scripts are active:

• JAWSKey+T for identifying where you are in Skype. This includes announcement of which main-pane list is active if one is, and also the name of the current conversation if focus is in one.
• Ctrl+Shift+O for listing online contacts, and the various Command O sequences for listing subsets of these.
• Ctrl+Shift+E for reading the Account panel, though this panel no longer contains missed events. Missed events appear in each conversation to which they belong.
• Ctrl+numbers to jump to various parts of the Skype window, though they are not really "tabs" now. The Command T numbers work also. The assignments are as follows:
  • 1 for the contact list.
  • 2 for the conversation list, or Inbox.
  • 3 for the live conversation list (this is where active calls go).
  • 4 for the input box in the current conversation if there is one.
  • 5 for the message list for the current conversation if there is one.
  • 6 for the current conversation's profile area if it is visible. This currently just reads the area without switching focus to it.
  • 8 for the History list.
• Alt+numbers to read chat messages when focus is in a conversation pane. Double Alt+numbers work to virtualize chat messages also.
• Ctrl+Tab from a chat window for cycling among chat windows, if you are using Compact view. In the Default view, chats are now conversations within the main Skype window.
• Typing announcements and sounds and the corresponding commands to control them. Note however that it may occasionally be necessary to scroll to the bottom of the current conversation's message list to keep the typing indicators working.
• JAWSKey+F8 for toolbar items. Mood text can also be changed from here, files can be sent to the current conversation participant, etc. There may be entries in the list like "Item 1 push button - Unnamed"; these will be named more appropriately when Skype itself provides proper names for them.
• Enter for "Save" in Options (this has been a scripted feature, not a native Skype feature, for a long time).
• Ctrl+Shift+C for recompiling the Skype scripts from within Skype.
• Ctrl+Shift+W for going to the Skype scripts home page.

How To Do Various Things In Skype 4 With the Scripts Running

Here are some quick tips on how to do specific things in Skype 4 when the scripts are running:

Open a new conversation (like a chat in Skype 3)

Press the Applications key on a contact entry in the Contact list, then choose Send IM. Ctrl+1 will focus the contact list.

Return to a conversation that's already open

Press Ctrl+2 for the Conversation list, find the conversation you want, press the Applications key, and choose Send IM.

Check the time at a contact's location

Select the contact in the Contact or Conversation list. If using Default view, type Ctrl+6 to read the profile area for the selected contact. If using Compact view, Alt+Tab to the conversation window you just opened when you selected the contact, then use Ctrl+6.

Call someone

From the Contact or Conversation list, arrow to the contact of interest, pop up the Context menu by pressing the Applications key, and select Call. This will put the conversation in the Live Conversations list rather than the Conversation list. By the way, when a call is active, that person's entry in your contact list will be gone; it literally moves from Contacts to the Live Conversations list.

Hang up a call

Use Ctrl+3 to move focus to the Live Conversations list, select the call, and use the Context menu to select End Call. The person's entry will migrate back to the Contacts list after a few seconds.

Play a voicemail

Find its entry in the chat message list for that person, double-press the corresponding Alt+number to virtualize the line, and press Enter on the "Play" link in that view.

Stop a playing voicemail

Same as above, but the link will be called "Stop" when the voicemail is already playing.

Accept an incoming file transfer

Use Ctrl+5 to get to the message list in the conversation of interest. Scroll to the line in that list that names the file being sent. RouteJAWSToPC and go down a line or so to find the "Save as" button. It will not say "button," but left-click it with the JAWS LeftMouseButton command. This procedure should improve when better accessibility is provided for file transfers.

Change your mood text

• Use JAWSKey+F8 and press Enter on the line containing your current mood text, or containing something like "Add a message or video here for your friends to see" if you don't yet have a mood text message.
• If you don't see that, press Enter on the line containing your name, then repeat the above step.
• You should now be in the mood text edit box. Change the text to your liking and press Enter.

The following items in Skype 4 have not yet been evaluated sufficiently to establish a procedure for access:

• The new Directory feature, accessed via JAWSKey+F8.
• The Call Phones feature.
• The new Shop feature.

New Since 3.x

This is a summary of things that will be new to seasoned Skype 3.x users. This is far from a complete list.

• JAWS now says "Signing in" when Skype is signing in.
• JAWSKey+Q correctly says these scripts are for Skype 4, not Skype 3.
• Access to Call Phones, Directory, and Shop panes. Use the View menu to open them. You may have to Shift+Tab past the Quick Filter edit box to find them though.
• The Command system now has a help facility: At any command level, Tab and Shift+Tab will cycle through the command keys available at that level, and JAWSKey+Tab will repeat the last choice.
• The Command key system now includes most commands so they can easily be found.
• SkypeCommandEnter.wav is no longer included as it was never used, and SkypeCommandExit.wav is renamed to mkcsExit.wav.
• Visible contacts are now called Connected contacts.
• Command O V for listing visible contacts is now Command O C.

Obsolete Script Commands

The following features of the JAWS scripts for Skype 3 will not work in Skype 4 and may never be revived, at least in the same form, due either to being obsolete or to there being insufficient means to implement them again. Typing most of these commands will now pass the keystrokes to Skype, as these keystrokes are no longer assigned to JAWS scripts.

• Ctrl+E to check the end time of a call in History.
• Alt+Accent for clicking for previous chat messages. The "Click for previous chat messages" line does not exist in Skype 4.
• Ctrl+Accent for getting information about the active Skype tab. There are no longer Skype tabs per se.
• Ctrl+Shift+I for technical call info. This command was barely working already, but it probably won't work at all now.
• Ctrl+Shift+L for picking a contact and action. The list appears but contains just empty items. This problem may be fixed but has not been addressed yet.
• Ctrl+M for changing mood text. This probably will not come back as it should be provided by Skype itself through menus or other accessible means. JAWSKey+F8 provides a way to do this as described earlier.

Known Issues With Skype 4 and Skype 4 Scripts

This is the master list of known issues to date. At present I am formatting this as a bullet list for easier reading with JAWS, though visually it would look better as a table. When an item says, "Referred to Skype for fixing," that means there is an official bug report for that issue on file at Skype that is already scheduled to be addressed.

• There is no known way, using JAWS, to identify which conversations contain unread material. Workaround: Start at the top of the conversation list and check each entry, and remove old conversations so the list will not grow large. A conversation can be removed via "Remove from Conversations" in the conversation's Context menu.
• The chat participant list is not accessible. Referred to Skype for fixing.
• The global hotkeys, like Alt+PgUp to answer a call, do not work although they can be set and enabled. Referred to Skype for fixing.
• JAWS only says things like "checkbox checked" as the user arrows up and down through the Options > Hotkeys and does not say the name or key assignment for each entry. This is an MSAA issue: The information is there but not quite in the standard place where JAWS and other screen readers would expect it. Workaround: RouteJAWSToPC to see what a line says. Referred to Skype for fixing but could also be scripted.
• Incoming call alerts are not accessible and will not cause SkypeWatch announcements. The alternative Systray Alert style is no longer an option. Referred to Skype for fixing.
• "Not delivered yet" indications for pending chat lines are not announced or accessible. Referred to Skype for fixing; this information needs to be added to MSAA.
• Voicemail entries in conversation windows do not have sufficient MSAA support. Referred to Skype for fixing but already scripted around to some extent.
• JAWSKey+Q does not virtualize the script revision info. This is a scripting issue that started long ago and has not yet been fixed.
• JAWS says "not selected" before each entry in the History list. This is tedious and likely to be fixed in the scripts soon.
• Help text may be out of date in some places.
• There is no complete reference for Skype script commands. This should ultimately be a document loadable via a double JAWSKey+F1, but this has not yet been arranged. Improved via the Command key system help facility.

Download: Revision 4b3a executable installer | Revision 4b3a source and JAWS 7-10 binaries