Alternate functions of Space key on a braille display?

By Lily Rose, 10 September, 2022

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

Hi all!
I am facing some confusion regarding the space key on my braille display.
When I'm in a text field, it works as normal. But it does other things too. In the Podcasts app (this is the only app I've encountered this in), it can be used to start or stop playback. when browsing through search results using the Google Search engine on Chrome or Safari, it activates the "About This Result" window. Sometimes, I can use it to stop voiceOver speech, but then it won't start again and I can't find a pattern to this.
Does anybody know more about these alternate functions?

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Comments

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 - 20:53

I've seen this too! I've always thought that I was alone! Where I've seen it most is in Spotify and Youtube music, and in my podcast client that I use. I've always put it down to one of those hidden gems. Because I get a lot of useou of it. I haven't seen Voiceover speech stopping though with it. Although one thing I'd try is to press space with either dot 1 or 4to move to the next item or previous item. Also, turn speech off and back on using the space with m, or, dots 1, 3, 4.
I hope this helps! I'm just as curious as you are!

By Lily Rose on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 - 20:53

I'll let you know if I find anymore! As for the panning keys, some of mine are pressed in at odd angles because of my braille display is old and I might have pressed them the wrong way a few times, so I try to be careful with them. Usually I use the panning commands with space+Dot 1/4 for when I have to pan through something really fast.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one with this.

By Lily Rose on Friday, October 21, 2022 - 20:53

If I have focus on anything in a webpage labeled as "button" pressing the space key will activate it.