Using Zoom With Voiceover On A Mac

By Pat Hornell, 6 April, 2020

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hello everybody! Is there a way to mute alerts in Zoom with Voiceover on a Mac, short of turning off Voiceover? I know this can easily be done in Windows using JAWS and the Zoom Pro scripts. Can it be done on a Mac?

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Comments

By Missy Hoppe on Tuesday, April 14, 2020 - 16:14

I have the zoom app on my 2011 macbook pro. My computer cannot be updated past mac OS Sierra, but the zoom app was able to be installed. However, it had a lot of unlabled buttons, and when I tried to use it for a virtual sunday school class, there was no audio. I ended up using the zoom app on my iphone instead. I will follow this topic to see if anyone else has had better luck using the mac version of zoom.

By CuriousNetEntity on Tuesday, April 14, 2020 - 16:14

Sorry, I don't have an answer. I am just writing to say I desperately want a solution. I find it weird that VO even yells these alerts with a different voice when Zoom isn't in focus. I've changed every setting I could think of to try to make it stop, but it just won't. There are reasons why I don't want to use my iPhone instead even though it works better on it. it's ridiculous but I don't know whether to complain to Apple or Zoom about it. I've set all necessary hotkeys to be universal hot keys, and have been just turning VoiceOver off and hoping I don't get any chats or need to interact with my computer during the Zoom meeting.

By Carlos Taylor on Tuesday, April 14, 2020 - 16:14

I'm also curious to know if anyone has an answer for this. I believe this is all a function of Zoom and not VoiceOver since messages are spoken with the Mac System Voice and not spoken by VoiceOver. This is the reason for hearing Zoom messages in a different voice Therefore, Apple doesn't have anything to do with this functionality. It's the way Zoom designed their app.

By Karina Velazquez on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 16:14

Hello, I ended up in this topic, as I was crazy about this issue while attending a work meeting. The weird thing about this issue is that for me, the voice reading the anounsements is not even my preset system voice.
The most frustrating fact is that I can't even mute these announcements with any key and it results in a auditive nightmare.

By Hubert on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 16:14

Hello all,
I have been using Zoom on the mac, and it has been working very well for me. The announcements themselves are announced using the system voice rather than voice over, so to my knowledge there is no way of turning them off. Otherwise though, it's been working extremely well for me.

By Andrea Priola on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 16:14

I think it's not possible to mute alerts while using Zoom, since as someone has written Zoom uses the system voice to speak them, and not VoiceOver. I found it out once when I was teaching one of my friends how to use it; I'm Italian, but I set the system voice in English to use another app, and in facts alerts are spoken in English even though I have VO in Italian of course. Although someone may find it annoying, I think it's very useful they're spoken.

By Hubert on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 16:14

I do personally find the announcements very useful, and certainly would not want them turned off.

By Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 16:14

Hello. Yeah at times they can be annoying... but at least they are there. To the person who was thinking about contacting Zoom or Apple, I would contact Zoom first. I'm curious if there is a way of turning those announcements off as well... I did look in the settings and found nothing.
Thank you so much

By Ekaj on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 16:14

Hello. Perfect timing for this topic. I downloaded the Zoom app to my Mac just prior to moving back in with my parents and 2 sisters for the time being. I listened to all of Jonathan Mosen's helpful audio tutorial, but I don't have the Zoom iOS app and he doesn't use a Mac. My Mac battery is just about on its last legs, but I've been briefly checking out their app and it seems to get along pretty well with VoiceOver. I've been helping a sister out who is also a VO user, so I'm definitely going to keep tabs on this thread. Lol just came up with that one. No answer from me either to your question though. The Zoom website seems very accessible as well, and I'm going to keep checking out their app as time and battery-level permit.

By chris moore on Sunday, March 14, 2021 - 16:14

I noticed some accessibility settings in zoom. Most appear to be checked. Perhaps unchecking them would suppress the audio from bothering everyone in the meeting.
Chris

By Ekaj on Sunday, March 14, 2021 - 16:14

I think I found the correct setting in Zoom, but one could also use a headset. Or at least I'm pretty sure this would work.

By a king in the north on Sunday, March 14, 2021 - 16:14

One workaround is to use the keyboard commander to control VoiceOver volume separately from the system volume. Should be pretty easy.

By kevinchao89 on Sunday, March 14, 2021 - 16:14

All of the Zoom Screen Reader Alerts can be toggle oFF/ON in: Zoom > CMD with comma for Preferences > Accessibility > Screen Reader Alerts table.
e.g. IM Chat Received, checked checkbox, Screen Sharing Started/Stopped by a Participant, checked checkbox, Participant Has Joined/Left Meeting (Host Only), checked checkbox.

By Curtis Chong on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 16:14

If one is using VoiceOver on a Mac with Zoom Cloud Meetings, what are the keyboard commands that would activate audio sharing only in a Zoom meeting, assuming one is the host? In Windows, when ativating screen sharing, you can go to the Advanced Tab and then select Audio sharing. How is this done if ne is using VoiceOver on a Mac?

By Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 16:14

In reply to by Hubert

Hi you can turn them off. Just go to the accessibility settings in the settings by pressing command comma. There has been a post on Applevis about this before.

By Wenwei on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 16:14

Go to settings in the Zoom app > accessibility > screen reader alerts and turn off any announcements you'd like.

Hi. It's the same on the Mac version... just go to the advanced tab like on Windows.

Hi yes it is possible. Just go to the accessibility settings in the preferences and find where it says "screen reader alerts". You will then find a table where you can interact and check / uncheck what you want and don't want to hear.

By Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 16:14

In reply to by Missy Hoppe

Hi. Sorry to hear. I"m using a 2018 Mac mini and not having any issues. Because your Mac stopped being supported it's only able to use the latest version of Zoom for that software on the Mac. Since accessibility wasn't improved until later on, the version you have is older... that explains the unlabeled buttons.

By Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 16:14

In reply to by CuriousNetEntity

Hi yes it is possible. Just go to the accessibility settings in the preferences and find where it says "screen reader alerts". You will then find a table where you can interact and check / uncheck what you want and don't want to hear.

Hi yes it is possible. Just go to the accessibility settings in the preferences and find where it says "screen reader alerts". You will then find a table where you can interact and check / uncheck what you want and don't want to hear.

By Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 16:14

In reply to by Karina Velazquez

Hi yes it is possible. Just go to the accessibility settings in the preferences and find where it says "screen reader alerts". You will then find a table where you can interact and check / uncheck what you want and don't want to hear.

By Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 16:14

In reply to by Hubert

Hi yes it is possible. Just go to the accessibility settings in the preferences and find where it says "screen reader alerts". You will then find a table where you can interact and check / uncheck what you want and don't want to hear.

By Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 16:14

In reply to by Matthew Whitaker

Hi yes it is possible. Just go to the accessibility settings in the preferences and find where it says "screen reader alerts". You will then find a table where you can interact and check / uncheck what you want and don't want to hear.

By PaulMartz on Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 16:14

Hi all. I am receiving alerts that tell me, "<name> has entered / left this channel". I'd love to turn them off. I have gone into Zoom Settings, Accessibility, and found the Screen Reader Alerts table. I have unselected "Participant Has Joined/Left Meeting (Host Only)" and also unchecked "Participant Has Joined/Left Waiting Room (Host Only)". These are the only table entries that might seem to relate to these alerts. Even though they are unselected, I still receive the alerts whenever someone joins or leaves the meeting.

I would also like to turn off the alert for screen sharing. I have unselected "Screen Sharing Started/Stopped by a Participant", but still get several announcements whenever screen sharing starts or stops. Some of these appear to come from VoiceOver, announcing that a window has opened.

Please do not tell me to go to Settings, Accessibility, Screen Reader Alerts, as has been mentioned many, many times in this thread. I have already been there and already unselected the relevant checkboxes. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

By Siobhan on Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 16:14

I was in a meeting today and once recording started, the sound went pretty low no matter how loud I turned up my speakers. I look in settings and it said Mac book pro versus system speakers. I'm guessing if I check system, it might stop the sound from being very low. Note that even after i left frustrated my system sound was quite low. i posted a new topic but no one has commented so thought I'd put it here. Using the latest OS and Zoom client. thanks for any help. earliest and fastest answer please, I rescheduled for Friday.