Hello all, and hopefully to any FS Staff on list. Starting with JAWS 16, JAWS was no longer able to read Hidden Text in Word. I went through the somewhat arduous task of documenting this and opening a ticket with FS Support. The issue was escalated beyond the initial evaluation of the problem, but sadly, JAWS still cannot read hidden text. This is now Version 17.0.1806. I am using Word 2013. This is very easy for you to reproduce. Simply open Word, type some text, and hide it. Under Options, indicate that you want hidden text visible. JAWS will not read it.
I gather this issue is not high on the priority list for FS, as it is not a sexy or much-used feature. But it does impact me and my ability to use, in particular, the Duxbury Word template, which depends heavily on the use of hidden text for braille coding. I realize I could once again open a Support ticket, but I’m not convinced that would make much difference in the outcome. I know companies do communicate with each other. In my humble opinion, it would be easy enough for FS to obtain a copy of the Duxbury Word template, and open a document based on that template. The problems would soon be apparent. Perhaps the problems are with the template, but the template creator says nothing has changed in that regard for years. The change has been something with JAWS starting with V16. I am putting this on a public list in hopes of just that, making my concern and frustration public. I would appreciate it if you would deal with this issue. Jean Menzies For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
