JAWS For Windows Scripts for Sticky Keys


StickyShift

These scripts are free, for unlimited use.

This is a set of jaws scripts that you can connect either to a particular application, or to your default scritps so they can be available globally. This is similar to the windows sticky key functionality. If allows you to press the shift key by itself, in order that the next key be the fhifted version of itself. And yet, navigation keys should not be affected. And pressing two modifiers at once does not cancel the mode.

For example, to type the lower case x, just type the x key by itself. But, to type a capital x, first press and release the shift key, you will hear a small beep. Then, type the letter x, and it will be taken to be the upper case version.

If you should bump the shift key, and hear the high beep, but dont' want to be in caps mode, press it again. This time you will hear a lower beep, and caps will be turned off again. So, pressing shift repeatedly will turn it on, and off. If you keep doing that, you will activate the windows sticky key thing. so, don't do that. Or, follow the windows advice as to how to turn off that windows hotkey.

This feature is controlled using the jawsKey+2 hot key that normally controls key echo. So, pressJawsKey plus the number 2 to rotate through the choices. The sticky shift will be available if key echo of some kind is turned on.

Provision is also made for special cases such as pressing shift before the slash for a question mark, or the apostrophe for a quote. You can also shift the numbers row keys to get those special symbols.

Download

Download the following .zip file, and then read the instructions below. Installation is a manual process.
Here is the download link: Download

Installation

First, before installing this, turn off all standard JAWS key echo.

To install this, Place all of the files in this .zip archive into the user settings area of jaws. You can get to that through the jaws item in the Windows start menu, JAWS Utilities, and drilldown to find a thing called Explore My Settings. The path to that folder is usually something like:
C:\Users\userNaem\AppData\Roaming\Freedom Scientific\JAWS\2023\Settings\enu

Unzip these files into that folder.

If you have a file called default.jss, open it with the JAWS script manager, and add the statement:
Use "StickyShift.jsb"
among the other use statements in that file. Then press control+s to recompile.

If you do not have that file in your user-speicific area, then use the script manager to create a new source file. and fill it with the following:


Use "default.jsb"

Use "StickyShift.jsb"

Function placeholder()

EndFunction

Go to the file menu, and do Save As. Call this file default. However, if you get asked if you want to overwrite, say no, and escape out of there. The script manager has been known to lose track of where it is storing things, and you do not want to overwrite your existing default file. This should be a copy of it, in your user settings area, and not your shared settings.

Finally, it comes down to addingt all the key assignments to the default.jkm file. That is just a special kind of text file. It lists hot keys, and the scripts they are connected to.

Usually, At the top of that file is a line that says:
[common keys]
However, depending on the history of your jkm file, that line might be anywyere, so just search for it.

make a blank line after that, and then paste in the entire contents of file StickyShiftKeys.txt That file contains a couple commented lines, starting with semicolon, that can guide you if you ever decide to remove these keys. There is one such line at the start of those assignments, and one at the bottom.

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