Accessibility: Keyboard issue with Word opening Zotero's Add/Edit Citation dialog

Mark W
This is an accessibility issue
Windows 11
Microsoft Word
Zotero: 6.0.26

Persona:
A user with arthritis is unable to use a mouse. The user relies on using the keyboard to navigate.

Summary:
In Microsoft Word, after opening the Add/Edit Citation dialog, the keyboard focus is not put into the dialog box so the user can navigate it via keyboard keys.

User task description:
The user is using Microsoft Word which has Zotero integrated in it. They have added an in-text citation in their report. They would like to edit the citation. They position the keyboard focus in the citation structure. Then press Alt + Y1, to move the keyboard focus to the Zotero tab in the MS Word upper ribbon. Then they press Y1 to move to the edit option and open Zotero's Add/Edit Citation dialog. Although the dialog appears on the screen, the keyboard focus is not placed on a control type in it, as is expected. The keyboard focus remains on the text area in the Word document.
  • adamsmith
    Is this with the classic dialog or with the (red frame) quick citation one?
    I'm on the beta (but I don't think this has changed) and am not seeing that: cursor is always in the quick citation bar after I use add/edit citation via keyboard, both for editing and for adding a new citation.

    As a sidenote, you can assign a dedicated keyboard shortcut to add/edit citation directly which will make this a lot more convenient to use: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage#keyboard_commands
  • Mark W
    It's the classic dialog.


    Thanks for the idea about dedicated keyboard shortcut. That should save some time when folks have lots of edits to to. I've tried the shortcut instructions on the page provided. The blog post that is linked to on the page is quite old, March 2012. I couldn't get it to work.

    But here's a draft of a version for Microsoft Word version 16 on Windows that I did get working. It's only listing keyboard commands and no explanation.

    In Microsoft Word, I started in the document
    Alt + f , then t, c for customize ribbon
    Then tab
    Then alt t to open Customize Keyboard
    alt c for categories
    m until macros
    tab to Macros list box
    down to ZoteroAddEditCitation
    tab out of the list box.
    Explore the remaining control types with tab.
    Notice the Save Changes in, combo box. The shortcut key can be saved in the actual file or a template associated with the file.
    When ready, alt + n to Press new shortcut key, edit combo
    Tab to Assign button. Enter
    Then tab to the close button.

  • adamsmith
    I can replicate that for _editing_ citations using the Classic dialog.
    That's a bug, but the classic dialog doesn't get a ton of attention, so I wouldn't rely on it getting fixed (though it might). Note that you can still get to the dialog using alt+tab.

    The Quick Format option is designed for keyboard use, though, so would in most scenarios be a good bit faster.
  • Mark W
    edited October 6, 2023
    In the past, I've chosen to avoid the Quick Format option (the red dialog) as it has had more accessibility problems when using it with JAWS. Has it been given attention in the last year or so?
  • adamsmith
    No, screenreader accessibility is still an issue (as in: completely broken), but it doesn't sound like that's a problem in the access scenario described above.
  • Mark W
    The original post here is just a persona-based scenario to demonstrate the problem. The same problem will exists for persona who uses screen reader as they also rely on keyboard-based navigation.


  • Mark W
    The original problem I reported on October 6, 2023 happens with Zotero 7.0.3. I am using the Quick Format citation version, not the classic view. However, it only happens the first time I add a citation.
  • abaevbog
    Windows might not always let the Quick Format window be pulled to the foreground.

    If that happens, you can select Quick Format window via keyboard by holding Alt and pressing Tab a few times. When the Quick Format window is switched to, you should be able to immediately type to use the dialog without having to use the mouse.

    Or are you saying that you select the Quick Format window, try to type but nothing happens?
  • Mark W
    Yes, the work around is to press Alt + tab until finding the Quick format citation window. However, that's still a problem. If someone is using the screen reader and cannot see the screen, they may not even realize there's a new window to be looked for.

    Since it seems to happen only the first time adding a citation, it makes me think the problem is solvable.
  • dstillman
    We've made changes in Zotero 7.0.7 that should increase the likelihood of the citation dialog receiving focus on the first citation.
  • Mark W
    Thank you.
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