no reading of the minus symbol next to numbers in numbers app.

By Adrian Wyka, 26 September, 2023

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hello,

1. I use VoiceOver with Zosia extended synthesizer. But it's the same with Siri's voice..
2. When I run spreadsheets, e.g. in Numbers, VoiceOver does not read At digits (-) (Minus).
3. if I have a formula e.g. 2-4 VO it will read:
- with punctuation all: (dash) in polish (kreska)
- With punctuation some: nothing.
4. In version 12 of MaCOS, when (-) stood on the digits, it correctly read (Minus)
5. 2-4 = -2 (minus)2

Can you confirm this error?
I have already reported it on Mac OS v13, but after today's update to v14 the error has not disappeared.

Options

Comments

By Brian on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 - 05:33

Have you tried to make an activity so that VO will read numbers as "digits" under Verbosity > Text in the VO utility, and assign it to Numbers?

By Adrian Wyka on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 - 05:33

@Brian Yes.
When I change this option, the synthesizer reads one digit at a time, but skips the minus sign.

By Brian on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 - 05:33

Try going to:
1. Verbosity > Text.
2. The first option should be Punctuation, click on the setting ("some" by default), and choose "Customize".
3. Look around in the table(s) and find instances of "dash", "hyphen", "minus", etc and edit replacements as needed.

This "will" be time consuming, but I think it would be worth it.

HTH. 😃

By Adrian Wyka on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 - 05:33

Yes, I was thinking about changing the pronunciation in dictionaries.

However, if you use a dash in the text, VoiceOver also reads it as a minus sign.
😟

By Brian on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 - 05:33

Use the Punctuation method as I mentioned above. You will find there are multiple instances of the "hyphen" symbol. And you can add symbols.
For example, you could do something like:
• The "n-dash" symbol, which is typed by pressing the "hyphen" key while holding Option.
• The ""m-dash" symbol, which is typed by pressing the "hyphen" key while holding Shift + Option.

Anywho, you could always change how VO pronounces those and just use them within Numbers.

HTH. 🤷🏻‍♂️