The Emacsvox menu, C-e H, groups settings by task. C-e S opens the current buffer’s focused integration settings, or general buffer settings when no focused menu exists. C-e H . always opens general buffer settings. A directly opened focused menu captures the buffer on entry; q closes it and announces the restored buffer and mode with a close earcon.
The menu captures the source item for contextual actions. In Feedback Details, q returns to the menu with the same item and settings scope; another q closes that menu. Opening Feedback Details directly keeps its usual return destination. A changed or deleted source item must be selected again by reopening the menu. If the source buffer has closed, the menu cannot resume.
Editor and manager h keys open the Transient settings menu with the original source item. Closing that menu returns to the editor without saving or discarding its draft.
The menu continues to refer to the item captured when you opened it, even if you move point in the source buffer. Use C-e H b to return to that position. To work on a different item, close the menu and reopen C-e H from the new item in an ordinary buffer.
The former Aural Home table remains available through M-x emacsvox-aural for existing configurations. Its C-e H h entry has been retired; the workflows below use the settings menus.
Leave an editor using its own q, h or finish action before using menu keys. The same letter can mean something else while the editor still has focus. Returning does not reverse an applied setting, and keeping an unfinished draft does not save it. See Choose what persists before leaving work that you need in a later session.
The settings menus use Transient: while a menu is open, its keys act on that menu. Up/down selects an item; left/right changes sections and selects the destination’s first available item. Section movement stops at the first and last section. Selecting an item speaks it without activating it or changing its value. RET, M-RET or C-j activates that item. A displayed shortcut invokes its action directly, without first moving the selection to it.
An action can open another menu or editor, toggle a switch, or ask for a value. For a numeric control that offers adjustment, Shift-left/right decreases or increases the selected value; RET opens its exact-value prompt. The item’s Help gives its step, range and scope. Plain arrows continue to navigate. Waveform, envelope and other choice lists use up/down to browse and RET to choose; browsing alone does not apply a choice. When a minibuffer prompt asks for text or a number, use its ordinary editing and completion keys. Finish with RET or cancel with C-g to return to the menu.
In Emacsvox’s menus, q or C-g goes back one menu and C-q closes the sequence. A child menu normally returns to the item that opened it. Changes already applied remain in effect; an editor’s Back action states whether it retains or discards an unfinished draft. Other applications using Transient, including Magit, retain their own activation and quit keys. Use C-j to activate a selected Magit item where RET has another meaning.
Menu feedback interrupts previous main-stream speech, including when you toggle scope or change a setting. Item announcements include the key without repeating the word "shortcut" or the section name. Under the default announcement mode, section names are spoken when you enter a section. Left/right selects its first selectable item and normally speaks it with the section name and position.
For menu Help, press ? followed by a choice’s key, or ? ? for help on the current menu. The overview is a read-only snapshot: ordinary text reading works there, but its displayed actions run only after you return to the menu. q in that Help resumes the menu, including its parent menus and selection. Opening C-e H announces a short reminder of Help and the n navigation and speech settings. Moving between items does not repeat that reminder.
If an announcement is unclear, review the selected item’s label, value, description and key without leaving the menu. The review position is separate from menu selection: RET still activates the same item after you read one of its words or characters.
Repeat the complete item and reset its word and character review.
Read the next or previous word. Punctuation stays with its word.
Read the next or previous character, including spaces.
Repeat the current review word or character.
Move before the item’s first word and character, announcing "Start of item".
Move after its last word and character, announcing "End of item".
The first word or character command starts at the item’s beginning. To read backwards from its end, use C-e followed by M-b or C-b. At either end, moving outwards repeats the boundary announcement; reversing direction reads the first or last element again. C-a C-f therefore reads the first character, and C-e C-b reads the last. Word and character review share a position. Selecting another item or changing its displayed value starts a fresh review.
Character review follows your normal capitalisation presentation. If delayed phonetics are enabled in Typing and interaction, pausing after a character also speaks its phonetic description. Further input or speech cancels that pending description. Review interrupts obsolete main speech without changing a setting.
These defaults apply to Transient menus, including Magit, only where the menu has no binding of its own. The menu overview lists the available review keys. While reviewing a menu, C-e means the end of the item: it is not the ordinary Emacsvox speech prefix. Use C-c l, C-c w and C-c c for these menu repeats. After closing the menu, ordinary buffer bindings apply again.
Press C-e H n for Menu navigation, also available at C-e H s n. Choose c for Continuous, which crosses sections and wraps around the whole menu; w to wrap within the current section; or s to stop at section edges with a boundary earcon. Left/right moves between sections in every style. Changes apply immediately to all Transient menus, independently of the current-buffer settings scope. Wrap within section is the default.
In the Presentation section, choose i for Item first or n for Section first. Section first is the default: on changing sections it speaks the section name and position before the item. Item first reverses that order. Movement within a section speaks the item without repeating its section. Previously saved preferences remain in effect.
Choose m for By movement: sections or items. Left/right speaks only the destination section and its position. Up/down speaks only the item, key, and relevant value, even when Continuous navigation crosses a section boundary. Section-change and wrapping earcons remain the same. This option applies to all three navigation styles and all Transient menus, including Magit; it does not change the navigation style.
Section arrows still select the first item. In Emacsvox menus, RET therefore activates that item even though its name has not been spoken, and the next Down advances to the second item. Press C-c l to hear that first item without moving, then decide whether to activate it. Magit’s existing activation bindings remain unchanged.
Press v to toggle Detailed descriptions. When enabled, menu items retain their labels and values and add a short command explanation. This applies globally, including Magit; commands without documentation keep their labels, and Transient’s native infix controls keep their usual descriptions. Detailed descriptions are on by default. Value adjustments still give brief feedback. Press S to save the navigation style, presentation order, and descriptions preference through Customize.