Next: , Previous: , Up: Learn the audio desktop   [Contents][Index]

4.5 Lesson 4: navigate the document’s structure

The practice text is also an Org document. Changing its major mode gives Emacs commands that understand headings, lists, links, and tables. The text remains yours; a folded section is hidden, not deleted.

  1. Return to the practice buffer and run M-x org-mode RET. Press M-<, then C-u C-u C-u TAB to show the whole document, including any folded sections. Each C-u is a separate prefix keystroke. C-e m now identifies Org rather than Text mode.
  2. From the first heading, press C-c C-n to reach Packing list. This moves to a heading, skipping intervening body text. C-c C-p returns to the previous visible heading. Go forward to Packing list again.
  3. Press TAB on that heading to fold its body. C-c C-n reaches Journey plan. Return with C-c C-p and press TAB to expose the list again. Read down into it to confirm that the items are still present.
  4. Show all content again with C-u C-u C-u TAB, then search from the beginning for Return to the packing list. Finish with RET and press C-b once to leave point inside the link text. C-c C-o follows this internal link to the heading; no website or external file is opened.

Heading speech and collapse cues depend on your presentation settings. What matters is the location and visibility you can inspect. Do not require one exact spoken phrase or one physical voice to recognise a heading.

4.5.1 Read the table without editing it

Show the whole document again, then search from the beginning for Monday and finish with RET. You are in the first data row’s Day cell.

  1. Press C-e C-t C-r to enter table reading without moving. Emacsvox announces the table dimensions and the current cell.
  2. Press TAB to reach the Task cell, Read. RET reads that cell again. In this reader these keys do not align the table or insert a row.
  3. Press Down. You remain in the Task column and hear the complete Tuesday row. Press c to read the column, or r to repeat the current row. . reports coordinates; headers and data rows are distinguished.
  4. Press q to leave table reading, then C-e l to inspect the text line. The table reader closes, not the practice buffer. Ordinary Org editing keys are restored.

Outside table reading, Org’s TAB is an editing/navigation command that can align a table and create rows. A key’s meaning belongs to the active mode or reader, not to its letter alone. Do not evaluate the source block at the end of the document: it is present so you can also inspect literal code.

4.5.2 Try it

4A. Enter table reading at Monday again. Reach Tuesday’s Status cell and read it without typing into the table. Then leave reading mode.

4B. Fold Packing list, read another section, and bring the list back. Explain why text undo is not needed to recover the hidden items.

See Answers for lesson 4. Browsing Structure documents the complete shared table reader; Org heading motion and Org visibility cycling explain the underlying document commands.

Next: Lesson 5: change speech in one buffer, Previous: Lesson 3: get Help and return to your work, Up: Learn the audio desktop   [Contents][Index]