Microsoft Accessibility Feedback
Welcome to Microsoft’s Accessibility Feedback forum. We are very interested in learning more about what products, features, and tools will delight our customers. Please share your ideas with us and remember to vote for ideas posted by others that you also think are great.
If you accidentally came here in need of technical support, please reach out to our Microsoft Disability Answer Desk team
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Recent Skype versions freeze with a screen reader active
In an update of Skype released last year, I believe 8.54, the support for split view for chats was introduced. Ever since this update, the experience for screen reader users was really bad. Note that to reproduce this behaviour, you must have split view disabled.
With any screen reader active, personally tested with Narrator, NVDA and Jaws, pressing enter on a chat will often cause the app to freeze for a large period of time, up to 15 seconds. During this period, no keyboard navigation is possible and the whole app is unresponsive.
The same freeze can be reproduced while…43 votes -
Screen readers often stop interacting with Skype since version 8.63
Since Skype 8.63, there is a screen reader bug present with all screen readers.
If you press alt f4, which will hide the app to the system tray, then restore it back by pressing enter on the Skype icon, the app won't respond to any keyboard command.
Pressing Tab, alt 1, nothing will work.
To get out of this inaccessible state, it is necessary to press alt once to focus the menu bar, then escape to close it. This will restore the keyboard navigation, until you perform the same operation again, that is, hide Skype back to the system tray…20 votes -
1 vote
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Screen readers do not announce notifications in Skype if split view is enabled
If you enable the split view mode in Skype and open any chat, then try to type a message and press enter to send, you will observe this bug:
Normally, the screen reader should say, "Message sent."
However, in split view, the screen reader stays silent.
This applies for any notification. Nothing is announced while inside a chat in split view, including things such as muting the microphone in a call, participants typing, new messages arriving and so on.
Tested with Narrator, NVDA and Jaws.5 votes -
Teams Chat: Right-click option to reply to specific comment within the chat and reply directly
In Microsoft Teams, when using on a mobile phone it is possible to right-swipe on a comment within a chat to embed this comment in your reply, which is very useful. However, on the desktop version, there doesn't appear to be an option to be able to do this, which is frustrating.
7 votes -
Impossible to make the screen automatically turn on in Windows 10 during a Skype call (with automatic call answer)
I faced an issue with the video conference system I set up for my disabled mother.
As she is not able to interact with the computer (she is physically and mentally handicapped), I put a video conference system in her room with Skype on Windows 7 PC. I set up Skype automatic call answer and it works automatically when I call her from a remote station.
Note thaht to make this work the PC is never in sleep mode.
On the other hand, as the PC is in my mother's room, the screen must turn off after a short time…2 votes -
please can you email me (second request, president@isaac-online.org about the possibilty of doing a webinar through our network for peop
We would like to run a webinar with Microsoft on issues with Skype accessability. cc franklin@isaac-online.org. Thanks Meredith Allan ISAAC President
12 votes -
Skype keyboard shortcuts should work globally
Skype keyboard shortcuts should work globally, regardless of what window is active.
When I am playing games I want to be able to toggle mute my microphone.
4 votes -
make the im window in skype smaller
make the im window in skype smaller than it can go now
6 votes -
Teams meeting accessibility by external participants is way too difficult
Why does it have to be so difficult to have Teams meetings with people outside my organization. Either chat doesn’t work or or people cannot join in. I understand there’s probably some super setting hidden somewhere even though our admin already enabled all external users, but the usability is just extraordinaly bad. Please improve.
4 votes -
Improve skype by allowing us to use a logo as a back drop for skype meetings.
Since people are working from home it would look more professional if we can include a backdrop with our logo.
4 votes -
skype
Is it a way that I can change the startard size of the window that is always on top in a video conversation and save it. I always need to adjust it with my mouse and its a bit annyoing. I want to drag it to my own size and save it as standard
3 votes -
WCAG 2.2.2 - Skype does not give the option to pause, stop or hide GIF images
Hello,
One of my coworkers finds it extremely difficult to use Skype due to the nature of the GIF images. They play incessantly and he cannot stop them. There is no mechanism to Pause, Stop or Hide the content. He has resorted to using this method to push the GIF out of the viewport:
[ animated GIF viewport scuttling message ]
[ animated GIF viewport scuttling message ]
[ animated GIF viewport scuttling message ]
[ animated GIF viewport scuttling message ]
[ animated GIF viewport scuttling message ]
[ animated GIF viewport scuttling message ]
[ animated GIF viewport…17 votes -
How do I cancel my subscription?
Do you do voice-activated security passwords / logins ? I’m trying to to cancel my subscription bit having dyslexia / Dyspraxia means remembering & keying in passwords more difficultt .Fo y
3 votes -
Lag in latest update of Skype for desktop, version 8.51
Hello. In the latest version of Skype for desktop, currently 98.51, screen reader users are facing a major productivity issue. When opening a conversation, either from the recent chats list or by just pressing enter on a contact, keyboard navigation becomes completely unresponsive for up to 15 seconds. During this time, You can not do anything in Skype, and if you try to navigate it causes the whole program to freeze and sometimes go into not responding as well. To reproduce the bug, make sure that a screen reader such as Jaws or NVDA is running. Now, press alt plus…
2 votes -
Add hotkeys in Skype 8 and newer Add hotkeys in Skype 8 and newer
Since Microsoft will prevent Skype 7 from accessing the Skype network after the 1st of September 2018, they need to enhance Skype 8's functionality to get at least some of Skype 7's functionality to it. One of those missing and crucial for the visually impaired users functions are the global hotkeys for answering and rejecting a call, and similar ones. |They should be restored to Skype 8 as they are in Skype 7. Otherwise, answering or rejecting a call for visually impaired keyboard users is practically a nightmare at the moment. Since Microsoft will prevent Skype 7 from accessing the…
36 votes -
Screen contents decrease with Cntl-'minus' but cannot be enlarged again. How to reset???
If Cntl-'minus' is enabled, then so should Cntl-'plus' be enabled.
3 votes -
12 votes
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Search Function in GroupMe
It is very frustrating not being able to search GroupMe for specific keywords. Many university group projects communicate via GroupMe and it is useful to be able to reference back to past messages but without a search function this is near impossible. I am considering switching group projects to WhatsApp because they have this function.
3 votes -
Control panel on Skype goes out of sight when 'the size of the text, apps, and other items' is increased through Display Settings
When the size of the text, apps, and other items is increased through Display Settings, Skype gets inconsistently scaled - for instance, at 175% level or more on 24inch monitor (or 150% level or more on 15 inch laptop), control panel at the bottom of the Skype meeting window (with buttons to make calls, share screen, etc) disappears from the view. This forces the users to work in lower zoom levels (125% or less) which may be not be ideal for some users with low vision. The same phenomenon (disappearance of control panel on Skype while in a meeting) observed…
4 votes
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