A more efficient way to access email and meeting information with Narrator

Hello, Insiders! We’re Doug Geoffray and Shireen Salma, Product Managers on the Office Accessibility team. Today, we’re thrilled to announce an exciting enhancement to both the classic and new Outlook for Windows, specifically designed for users of Narrator. You can now access key email and meeting details—like sender, recipients, subject line, and attachments—more quickly and easily with straightforward keyboard shortcuts.

Understanding critical information, such as who sent an email, its sending time, or the presence of attachments, is vital for taking action. For those who rely on a screen reader, obtaining this information has often meant cumbersome navigation through several interface elements. This can be time-consuming and disrupt the natural flow of reading.

Thanks to this update, we’ve integrated Narrator scripting into Outlook. This means you can now access important email and meeting information instantly by using rapid keyboard commands.

When Narrator is active, and you open an email in Outlook, you can hear specific email properties by using these shortcut keys:

• Alt + 1 – From
• Alt + 2 – Date
• Alt + 3 – To
• Alt + 4 – Cc
• Alt + 5 – Subject
• Alt + 6 – Bcc
• Alt + 7 – Attachments

Similarly, when using Narrator to access a meeting from your Outlook calendar, you can listen to important meeting details with the following shortcuts:

• Alt + 1 – From
• Alt + 2 – Date
• Alt + 3 – Required attendees
• Alt + 4 – Optional attendees
• Alt + 5 – Subject 
• Alt + 6 – Bcc
• Alt + 7 – Attachments
• Alt + 8 – Meeting time
• Alt + 9 – Meeting location

• These shortcuts help minimise unnecessary navigation, allowing you to quickly retrieve information without diverting your focus from the email body.
• This enhancement is particularly beneficial for those who handle large volumes of email or prefer higher speech rates. Reducing navigation steps can greatly enhance efficiency and lessen cognitive load.

This upgraded Narrator experience for reading emails and meeting details is accessible in the classic Outlook for Windows for Microsoft 365 subscribers using Version 2601 (Build 19725.20126) or later of Office, and Version 1.2026.529.100 of the new Outlook for Windows, along with either Version 2601 (Build 28000.1764), Version 2502 (Build 26200.8116), or Version 2402 (Build 26100.8116) of Windows.

Note that features mentioned in this post roll out gradually, allowing us to monitor quality and performance, so you might not see some preview features immediately. Additionally, features might be paused, adjusted, or removed throughout the process.

We really want to hear about your experience! Try out these new shortcuts with Narrator in Outlook and share your thoughts by selecting Help > Feedback.

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