Is anyone successfully using VoiceOver Activities on Mac OS?
I tried to add a few activities to set verbosity to low for a few apps, such as Mail, Finder, and Safari. And this does, indeed, change the verbosity as it should.
However, when I am using one of the apps for which I've created such an activity, I have found that VoiceOver lags for a second or two when I switch away from that app. For example, if I am using Safari (with an Activity that sets verbosity low), then press Command+Tab to switch to any other app, I would expect VoiceOver to immediately announce the name of the app I'm switching to. However, there is a one or two second lag before VoiceOver announces the app. If I delete the activitities, then the sluggishness goes away and VoiceOver is once again immediately responsive.
Anyone else seeing this? I'm on a 2019 Mac Mini.
Comments
Eureka! You may have just pinpointed busy busy busy!
Hi Paul,
Bravo! You may have just pinpointed the cause of the app not responding busy busy busy problem. I am going to disable activities on my Monterey 2017 iMac Pro and see if I'm still getting that busy busy busy problem.
Joy!
Bruce
It's looking good
Once I deleted my Safari activity, VoiceOver immediately became snappy fast. So far, so good.
Not perfect
Deleting activities does seem to make apps and VoiceOver snappier, but it hasn't eliminated the "not responding" message from VoiceOver. Still, the "not responding" message does seem to be less often and more brief. I'm going to live without VoiceOver activities for a few days and get a better feel.
Check this specific sluggishness
Hey Bruce. The specific issue I am seeing is this:
1. Set an activity for one app, like Mail, to have verbosity low.
2. Keep your default verbosity at medium.
3. Bring focus to the Mail app.
4. Now press Command+Tab to switch to any other app, and keep holding the Command key until VoiceOver announces the app you're switching to.
With the activity in place, I experience a 1 or 2 second delay while VoiceOver is silent before it finally announces the destination app. Delete the activity, and VoiceOver announces it immediately.
Switching into app, same behavior
Now that I've taken a second look, I see similar behavior when switching from a non-activity app to an app with an activity.
1. With focus on a non-activity app, such as GarageBand, Command+Tab to Mail (from previous post, the app with an activity that sets verbosity to Low).
2. Command+Tab announces the app without sluggishness.
3. But when you release the Command key, there is a 1 or 2 second delay before VoiceOver is usable in the Mail app.
Again, I've got a 2018 Mac Mini. I wonder if the behavior I'm seeing is hardware-specific.
Fixed in Ventura
I'm no longer seeing this in Ventura. Hooray!