Braille2000 is very intricate, having lots of different features within it. Without going through each option thoroughly, there is no way to have every option known to you. This is the case in today’s feature that can help every transcriber that utalizes the application, blind or sighted.
I’m talking about the history feature, which I spotted once while looking around the panel menu. The Panel menu has lots of options that are also available in the panel itself, but as blind people, it is advised to turn off the panel within its options. See the braille transcription using braille2000 web site for more info on setting up B2K as a blind person.
The history option that we are speaking of is in the file management section of Braille2000. At the current time of writing, it can be accessed by “pannel” “file management” then history.
Once there, you can see the many files that you’ve saved through your B2K history. Unlike other history options, this one is a very comprehensive history with every save of every file. It does not matter where you saved your file, if something were to happen, this is the place to get it.
While this feature was accessible out of the box, some improvements were made to give access to the full information. In longer filenames, Jaws seemed to cut it off, and this isn’t conducive for a blind speech user. Since I do not have braille access, I am not sure how this worked prior to the build which has a new awesome feature to this search history and is available as of May 13th, 2020.
Prior to the build dated 5/13/20, the search functionality of this very powerful history function was not available. I was asked at one point by Bob to give him a version of a file and he told me how to access it like I did here. Since I’m doing the Braille Transcription Course, he wanted to see one of my earlier assignment 18 files. All Jaws was giving me was assignment 1 although i did do 10 onward. This gave Bob the idea to build out the search feature so you can search your files by filename, earliest date, latest date, and other parameters. The talking edition by default will allow you to hear how many results the search feature reduced your options by as you type. He also added radio buttons to this so a blind user can change the order of the results whether file, date, or other parameters.
Pressing OK from the search dialogue returns you back to the history, and you can then press enter on a file you want to view. For the sighted, you double click and it’ll open that file. The file in question is in read only, but if something were to happen, you just save that version and you’ve got the last working file you were happy with.
We had some very interesting challenges getting this to work, as by default, the edit boxes didn’t seem to read right with Jaws. It always read the next one. This eventually got worked out, so when you enter the search function, you’ll land in the first edit box. While I don’t understand screen reader use as why this was occuring, talking to Bob and understanding how this was working correctly elsewhere gave him the idea on how to fix this one, and the build you get today will have all of this functionality.
When you get in to the history, you can just up and down arrow to see what it has. Jaws will read the file name, the path of where it was saved to, and the date and time of each entry. Added to this release that you will be getting will be the new search facility to search this data, and the ability if needed to maximize the window if you are needing to see more data than you’re able to. It should not be necessary for you to need to maximize the window, but the option is available through alt+space x as you would any other window or the equivalent button found withthe the mouse.
The new search dialogue is a button and it is the first tab when you press your tab key. This button has various elements as discussed earlier in this article. It has name, path, earliest, latest, and past the cancel and ok buttons, you find the order set of radio buttons on how you want to sort your data. The talking edition will allow you to hear as discussed earlier how many search results are there, and it will tell you how many options as you refign your search.. For example, if I searched for my assignment 18 file called assignment18, it’ll find all of the files including DXB’s for my instructor that I’ve ever saved. I can even only get the B2K’s if I want. I think this will benefit the entire Braille2000 community sighted or blind.
How to Update
If you’d like to update so that you can get this new search functionality within your history, its now available! Go to pannel, file management, software update, and get the update dated 5/13 or greater.
Thanks for reading, and make it a great day.