Zoom Follows Keyboard Focus issues in Mojave

By 3AM, 3 October, 2018

Forum
Low Vision Accessibility on Apple Products

Since the Mojave update Zoom follows keyboard focus is not functioning for many instances within Safari and other apps like Mail.

This is EXTREMELY unfortunate! I am writing this post in Notes and then pasting it into Safari because Zoom does not follow keyboard focus in the text entry on this very site.

Anyone else having this major issue? And any solutions? I’ve reached out to Apple Accessibility. But as usual there is NO RESPONSE, and much less ANY ACTION on their part.

Unfortunate INDEED!

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Comments

By RMG on Friday, October 5, 2018 - 10:40

This is a huge problem. I have many emails each day and when the cursor doesn't follow the test, I can't get work done. Can someone help? I don't know why there is such silence.

By dvdmth on Friday, October 5, 2018 - 10:40

My vision has gotten progressively worse over the years, and I am now exclusively a VoiceOver user, so I cannot speak for how the zoom feature works in Mojave. That said, when I had better vision and was using the zoom feature on my Mac, I had to disable the option to have zoom follow the keyboard focus, because it very frequently misbehaved. Even when composing an email or other document, I ended up moving the focus manually as I typed, which was better than the erratic behavior I got from the auto focusing.

Although I do like VoiceOver on the Mac, Apple’s low vision solutions aren’t nearly as good as they should be, at least with my experience. Usable, but primitive in execution. That said, I stopped using the zoom and higher contrast features a few years ago, so I can’t say how the functionality worked in recent versions of the OS.

By RMG on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - 10:40

Any feedback on this issue? This is making it impossible to work. Even writing these comments is hard.

By Al on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 - 10:40

Last time I've used macOS this issue occurred. Do you know if there are progress on this with the last release?

By Daniel Angus MacDonald on Sunday, April 5, 2020 - 10:40

hello

I'd call the Apple Accessibility phoneline if I were you. they are exalent, and bounce from team to team if needed.
regards,
Daniel

By 3AM on Sunday, April 5, 2020 - 10:40

Let me first say, I am thrilled this thread is gaining traction.
BUT... There is no fix in sight.

Not only have I called and talked extensively with Apple, I've actually gone to Apple Park myself to get the most direct access to a possible solution. But it has all been in vain!

I've demonstrated the issue, which they confirm is a huge bug. I get the same answer over and over; "We will let our engineers know of this bug."

Let me say it this way, I am fed up with Apple leaving the low vision community behind. It seems that with every new version/update to MacOS, iOS, iPadOS, and even WatchOS, Apple is less committed to the high level of excellence it was known for.

I will not rant on about Apple. Frankly I'm stuck with Apple until someone creates a better alternative.
The "zoom follow keyboard focus" in many apps in MacOS 10.14 and above is only one of several major unaddressed bugs Apple simply refuses to quickly address.

I only pray for an audience with a capable Apple engineer who can actually make a real difference.

But, let's know hold our breath.

However for now try using alternative applications to get real work done. Chrome and Firefox work.

Please post your suggestions to other apps and solutions you find work for you better.

Thanks.

By Joe on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - 10:40

Why are you stuck with Apple? You can install Bootcamp or sell your Mac for a Windows PC. Applevis is a community and sure you can talk about the issues but until Apple fixes them no one here can fix your productivity issues with the Mac etc.. I go with what gets the job done. Thankfully with VoiceOver it is fine for what I need it for and if it struggles then I boot in to good old Windows.

I have not used Windows in a year or two, but last time I tried, it was very similar to Apple Zoom and very bad performance. Has it improved? I have to believe that if Tim Cook knew this, he would not stand for it. I have spoken to a few Apple execs and gotten nowhere too though. Can someone at Apple help?

Focus tracking works with the windows built-in screen magnifier.

The main difference on Windows is the choice. You can decide to buy another screen magnifier that better suit your needs. I used ZoomText Mac and I was very happy with it but it is no longer sold.

Thank you. I actually worked as a tester on the original screen magnification program for Macs in the mid-80's. That was better than what we have now. I found the ZT to be a huge drain on computer resources and it didn't work with GMAIL. Have you noticed that? I wonder if we could get the Foundation for Fighting Blindness to engage Apple or something like that?

Thanks so much for your reply.

Hello RMG,

I've tried last week to reach the Apple accessibility team.

I've made new test over Safari on macOS 10.15.5 and nowadays focus tracking works al least on Google form field.

The issue remaining to me is focus tracking doesn't work when trying to move inside the page with the tab key (except if VoiceOVer is enabled).

Do you have others issues in mind that I could try to reproduce then send to the team?

Thanks in advance.

By RMG on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - 10:40

Thanks so much for the reply. I only have OS 10.5.4. It says that I am current on version. Where can I get .5? My big issue is with GMAIL in Safari. Also, no tracking in the search bar. I would love your help. Furthermore, there is very little tracking in other applications like PP and Word.

As mentioned, I have spoken to people at Apple and got nowhere. I can't believe that they would want this given how they used to be so concerned about accessibility years ago.

Hello RMG,

I reported to them multiple scenarios where it should be useful to improve focus tracking on Safari.

To obtain the 10.15.5 version you should probably register to the public beta of macOS, see here: https://beta.apple.com/sp/en/betaprogram/

We shouldn't report all issues in the same thread.

Could you please contact me in private to discuss about the others issues you've?

Thanks in advance,
Al.

By Dave on Monday, October 5, 2020 - 10:40

It seems that only some apps on my Mac work with the "follow keyboard focus" and I can't figure out why. It works in Safari but not Chrome or Firefox? It works in TextEdit but not VS Code? Am I missing permissions or something? Surely it can't be a deficiency in all of these apps? Please help!

EDIT: I found the problem was that I use 2 monitors, one dedicated to zoom. Looking at the zoom settings the zoom monitor was also the default monitor (with menubar), after I set that correctly it follows the focus!!!!