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"Other" checkboxes keep reading as "Other:4" in JAWS.

508
Registered: Jan 6 2011
Posts: 27
Answered

I'm using X and making a fillable form. One section has multiple checkboxes marked "Other" and in JAWS they are reading it with an extra ":3" or ":4" after announcing "Other."
 
In the Properties box, I've named the first checkbox "Other_1" and the tooltip is "Other."
 
I did the same thing for the second checkbox but in the name field I wrote "Other_2."
 
Can anyone give me some tips on how to set it up so that JAWS reads each of those checkboxes as simply "Other?" Thanks in advance.

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 10.1, Windows
KellyMcC
Acrobat 9ExpertTeam
Registered: Jul 11 2011
Posts: 389
Other would be identified as the parent category, so Other_1, 2, 3, 4 are seen as the children. Jaws is numbering the instances of the children. Have you tried naming the fields with a more unique identifier, such at Other_info, or Other.info and Other_about or Other.about? You may not have the option to have Jaws read them without the number. Have you tried checking their support?
Unfortunately, I don't have Jaws to test the read out loud.

Kelly McCathran
Adobe Community Expert
Certified Technical Trainer+

508
Registered: Jan 6 2011
Posts: 27
Accepted Answer
Thank you, Kelly.

I have actually found out what was causing the discrepancies. In the Check Box Properties there is an Options tab. Within that tab there is a field labeled Export Value. In my Other Check Box there was a 3 and the other one had a 4. Apparently JAWS was also reading this number as part of the Tooltip. Each time I tried to change the number to something else, JAWS would read the new number.

When I tried to simply delete the number, it would always reappear after checking the Properties again. My work-around for this was to simply add a space (_) in the Export Value field and JAWS no longer announced any extraneous characters or digits.

I view this solution as simply a "quick fix" and results may vary. Thanks for the input.
rguy84
Registered: Nov 9 2011
Posts: 4
The tooltip is what JAWS will read when it hits the checkbox, not the name. If you are familar with HTML, treat tooltip in the properties box the same as the label tag in HTML

Ryan B

508
Registered: Jan 6 2011
Posts: 27
Thank you but please read my original post; your response has nothing to do with it because JAWS is reading an extraneous number (in my case, it says ":3" and ":4" after announcing "Other") that is no where to be found in the tooltip. That being said, I have found a solution. Thanks for the input anyway.
rguy84
Registered: Nov 9 2011
Posts: 4
I read the post, no need to be rude. Naming a text box and supplying a tooltip are two different things... From what I could tell, you only named them and didn't give a tool tip. So, I was assuming JAWS would read the name when no tooltip is given.:)

Ryan B

508
Registered: Jan 6 2011
Posts: 27
I apologize for I did not mean to come off as curt.

508 wrote:
In the Properties box, I've named the first checkbox "Other_1" and the tooltip is "Other."