Emacs can explain the key you are about to use, the modes active in a buffer, and the commands and settings available in your session. This live help reflects installed packages and personal customisations. Use it to understand an unfamiliar command or resolve a difference between a manual and your running Emacs.
Most Emacs help commands begin with C-h. Press C-h C-h for
help-for-help when you need to discover what can follow that prefix.
Settings menus also have their own contextual Help, described below.
Begin in the buffer whose commands or settings you want to inspect. Help can select a different buffer, so return to your working buffer before asking about another local binding or value. Choose according to what you know:
describe-key and explains the command
currently bound to that key.
describe-function. Enter a command or function name to
read its documentation.
describe-variable. Enter an option name to inspect its
current value and documentation.
where-is and reports the keys that invoke a command.
For example, C-h k C-e l explains the current-line speaking key without running that command. If you know its command name but not its key, use C-h w and enter the name instead.
Start with C-h m after opening Dired, EWW, mail, a terminal, or another
application. This runs describe-mode and explains the major mode, active
minor modes, and their local commands. Use C-h b (describe-bindings)
when you need the effective key bindings after package maps and personal
customisations have been applied.
For Emacsvox settings that apply to the current task, press C-e S. It opens the integration’s focused menu when one is available, otherwise general buffer settings. C-e H . always opens general buffer settings. The menu captures the buffer on entry, so its controls continue to refer to that task while you navigate its menus and editors.
Ordinary Emacs Help writes its explanation in *Help*. Some commands, such
as C-h m, can display that buffer without selecting it. Spoken descriptions
such as key, function and variable Help use emacsvox-speak-help, also bound
to C-e h. This helper selects Help, removes other windows in the frame,
and reads a windowful starting at Help’s current point. It does not kill the
buffers those windows displayed, and it does not necessarily read all of Help.
After requesting Help, press C-e m to check the selected buffer. If it is
*Help*, read there directly. Otherwise, use C-x b and choose *Help*
by name, or select its existing window deliberately. Do not automatically
press C-x o: Help may already be selected, or there may now be only one
window. C-e C-w describes the arrangement when needed.
Once in Help, use line or paragraph reading for a local check. C-e h repeats a windowful from the current Help position; M-< first returns to its beginning. For longer reading and its effect on point, see Reading and navigating. Press q while in Help to leave its view. Then check the selected buffer and use C-x b to return to your document before editing or requesting buffer-specific Help again. To restore a reference window, follow Keep a reference and a draft in separate windows.
Help reached through an Emacsvox settings menu has the menu-return behaviour explained above. Use its q to return to the originating menu item, not the ordinary document-return procedure. Dedicated editors likewise keep their own Help and return commands.
C-h t opens the interactive Emacs tutorial. Emacsvox speaks its text and
your navigation as you work through it. For a separate key-learning exercise,
C-h C-l runs emacsvox-learn-emacs: it speaks the function of each key
you press. Leave that loop with C-g.
Press C-e H i to read the offline Emacsvox manual from the settings menu. It opens at the top in Info, plays the opening cue, and reads the first screen or the whole node according to your Info speech setting. Info’s navigation and index lookup remain available. Press q to return to the menu with Read the manual selected and the same source buffer and settings scope. C-e C-i opens the manual directly.
C-h i opens Info’s general manual reader. Press d for the Info directory,
then m and enter Emacsvox to choose this manual.
Using this manual provides an exercise in index lookup, following a link,
and returning to your work. Find a task starts from an everyday goal, and
Terms used in this manual explains the names used in the procedures. The
Info manual covers the reader’s complete navigation and search commands.
In an Aural interface, C-c C-i opens the relevant manual topic and q in Info returns to that interface. In the interface’s own Help, i opens the same topic.
Use C-h C-e (emacsvox-describe-emacsvox) for the Emacsvox overview.
C-e N (emacsvox-view-emacsvox-news) opens project news, and C-e T
(emacsvox-view-emacsvox-tips) opens productivity tips.
For unexpected feedback, leave point on the item and press C-e E to explain its voices, sounds, and other presentation actions. C-e H x opens Feedback Details through the settings menu. Its report distinguishes retained output from a simulation; see Understand Why Something Sounded That Way.
C-e H D opens diagnostics. Use d there for Aural Doctor, s for spatial capabilities, or m and n for retained main and notification diagnostics. These inspection routes do not imply that speech has been repaired. Run a repair or restart only when you deliberately choose that action. If there is no speech at all, begin with Recovering From No Speech rather than presentation settings.
The generated Emacsvox Keymaps in the Emacsvox Reference Manual records default bindings. Return to C-h k, C-h m, and C-h b when a package or personal configuration changes those defaults.