Ableton/Live/UG/41 Accessibility and Keyboard Nav
- Screen readers, keyboard navigation and other accessibility features in Live 12.
- Accessibility and keyboard navigation options live in Ableton/Settings and in the Options and Navigate menus, alongside keyboard shortcuts for common commands.
- With Use Tab Key to Move Focus on, from the Navigate menu or the Display & Input Settings:
Tab / Shift+Tab — next or previous control.Option+Tab / Option+Shift+Tab (Mac), Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab (Win) — next or previous control in the same row of the Session or Arrangement mixer.
- With it off,
Tab switches between Session and Arrangement View as in earlier versions. - Wrap Tab Navigation —
Tab on an area's last control returns to the first, and Shift+Tab on the first goes to the last. - Move Clips with Arrow Keys — on by default; left and right arrows move selected clips or the time selection in the Arrangement. With it off, left collapses the time selection to its start and right to its end.
Cmd+, (Mac) / Ctrl+, (Win) opens the Settings.Tab and Shift+Tab move between options whether or not Use Tab Key to Move Focus is on. Up and down arrows change a focused option's value or state; Enter flips a toggle.Option+Tab / Option+Shift+Tab (Mac), Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab (Win), or the arrows on a focused Settings Page Chooser switch tabs. Shift+Tab from a tab's first control returns to the chooser.Esc closes the Settings. A new interface language takes effect after restarting Live.
- The Options menu has an Accessibility submenu with screen reader announcements such as Speak Menu Commands, Speak Minimum and Maximum Slider Values, and Speak Time in Seconds.
- Open it with
VO+M then O under VoiceOver (Mac), or Alt+O (Win).
- Most controls have descriptive text shown in the Info View. Screen readers can announce it: on macOS turn on help text in VoiceOver Utility's verbosity settings or press
VO+Shift+H; on Windows turn on Speak Help Text in the screen reader.
- Open the Settings with
Cmd+, (Mac) / Ctrl+, (Win), arrow to the Audio page, and Tab through its options. - On macOS Live's inputs and outputs can use any CoreAudio device, and the Driver Type menu offers other drivers. On Windows choose a driver such as ASIO4ALL and manage devices in that driver's own program.
- Live detects connected MIDI devices, and many need no setup. Some controllers include control surface scripts; their screen reader support depends on the maker.
- The MIDI section of the Link, Tempo & MIDI page has six Control Surface menus plus input and output ports for each, all reachable from the keyboard. Ableton/Live/UG/34 MIDI and Key Remote covers MIDI setup in full.
- Most menus, views and controls can be reached from the keyboard. The
Tab-based shortcuts here need Use Tab Key to Move Focus turned on. - The Navigate menu reaches every main view, and most entries have a shortcut. Open it with
VO+M then N under VoiceOver (Mac), or Alt+N (Win). 41.4.1.1 Control Bar — Option+0 (Mac) / Alt+0 (Win)
- The Ableton/Live/UI/Control Bar groups project settings, transport, tools and status views.
Tab through the groups with Speak Help Text on to hear what each does. Focus returns to the last control used.
41.4.1.2 Session View — Option+1 (Mac) / Alt+1 (Win)
- Track title bars — left and right arrows move between them; right-click for track commands.
- Clip slots — tracks run top to bottom, scenes left to right.
Cmd+Shift+M (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+M (Win) inserts an empty MIDI clip; Enter launches the selected clip, following the Ableton/Live/UI/Control Bar/Menu/Quantization setting. Return tracks show slots that cannot hold clips. - Scenes — up and down arrows move between Main track scene numbers;
Enter launches a scene. - Mixer — choose which mixer sections show from View → Mixer Controls or the menu by the Mixer view control at the bottom right. Crossfader, track options and performance impact are hidden by default.
Tab / Shift+Tab move from slots to the mixer and through a track's mixer controls. Next Neighbor and Previous Neighbor, Option+Tab / Option+Shift+Tab (Mac), move to the same control on another track. Esc returns to the track's title bar.
41.4.1.3 Arrangement View — Option+2 (Mac) / Alt+2 (Win)
- In Ableton/Live/UI/Arrangement View:
- Tracks — up and down arrows move between tracks;
Option+Tab (Mac) moves between track mixers, and Tab / Shift+Tab through a mixer's controls. - Timeline — left and right arrows step by the grid;
+ and - widen or narrow the grid; Option plus left or right (Mac) jumps to the previous or next clip edge or locator. - Locators — arrow to a spot,
Tab to Ableton/Live/UI/Arrangement View/Button/Set Locator and press Enter; Tab / Shift+Tab move between locators; Delete removes one. - Content —
Shift plus arrows selects; arrows move the selection; Cmd+X, Cmd+C, Cmd+V, Cmd+D and Delete cut, copy, paste, duplicate and delete (Ctrl on Windows). - Clip edges — put the insert marker on an edge, press
Enter, adjust with the arrows, then Enter to confirm or Esc to cancel. - Export — select a region and press
Cmd+R (Mac) / Ctrl+R (Win); the Main track renders by default. - Audio clip fades cannot yet be edited with a screen reader.
41.4.1.4 Clip View — Option+3 (Mac) / Alt+3 (Win)
- Open a clip with a double-click or
Cmd+Option+3 (Mac) / Ctrl+Alt+3 (Win). Clip View has clip panels and an editor; Option+Shift+P (Mac) / Alt+Shift+P (Win) focuses the panels and Option+3 focuses the editor. - MIDI Note Editor — turn on Options → MIDI Note Editor Preview to hear notes as you edit.
Shift plus left or right selects time; Enter selects the notes in it; Option plus left or right (Mac) moves to the previous or next note boundary. - Moving between notes —
Option plus up or down (Mac) jumps to the previous or next note; Option plus left or right jumps to the previous or next note of the same pitch; add Shift to extend the selection. - Editing notes — up and down transpose;
Shift plus up or down transposes by octave; Shift plus left or right changes length by the grid; left and right move by the grid; Cmd plus up or down changes velocity; Cmd+Option plus up or down changes probability (Mac). - Audio clips —
Option plus left or right moves the insert marker; Shift plus arrows selects time; left and right move a selected Warp Marker; Cmd+I inserts a Warp Marker; Cmd+Shift+I inserts a transient (Mac; Ctrl on Windows). - MPE editing is not yet supported with screen readers.
41.4.1.5 Device View — Option+4 (Mac) / Alt+4 (Win)
- Shows a track's device chain. MIDI tracks hold MIDI effects, instruments and audio effects; audio, group, return and Main tracks hold audio effects.
- Each device reads as a group to screen readers. Left and right arrows move between devices,
Tab / Shift+Tab through a device's controls, and the usual cut, copy, paste, duplicate and Delete shortcuts work on devices. - Complex devices are not yet fully optimized for screen readers.
41.4.1.6 Browser — Option+5 (Mac) / Alt+5 (Win)
- The Ableton/Browser has a search bar, filters, a sidebar and a content pane.
Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Win) focuses search from anywhere and selects the All label. Tab moves from search to the filter toggle, the Filter View menu and the sidebar, then to filters or the content pane; down arrow jumps from search to results.- In the sidebar, up and down move between labels and left and right move between sidebar and content. In the content pane,
Shift plus up or down multi-selects, and right and left expand and collapse folders. - Turn on Options → Browser File Preview to hear previews; with it off, right arrow still plays the selected item's preview.
- Filtering and tagging are not yet supported with screen readers.
41.4.1.7 Groove Pool — Option+6 (Mac) / Alt+6 (Win)
- Grooves change the timing and feel of clips. In the Groove Pool,
Tab / Shift+Tab move between groove parameters and up and down arrows change values.
41.4.1.8 Learn View — Option+7 (Mac) / Alt+7 (Win)
- Short lessons on different parts of Live.
- Breakpoints in automation and modulation envelopes can be added, edited and deleted from the keyboard, with screen reader feedback. This works in Arrangement automation lanes and in a clip's Envelope Editor.
- Left and right arrows move the insert marker along the envelope, showing the value at each point.
Enter creates a breakpoint at the insert marker; press Enter again to place it, or move it with the arrows first.Option plus left or right (Mac) / Alt plus left or right (Win) jumps to the previous or next breakpoint. The focused breakpoint takes the same color as a mouse hover.
Enter selects the breakpoint at the insert marker; Option-click (Mac) / Alt-click (Win) moves the marker to a breakpoint and selects it; Tab / Shift+Tab select the next or previous one. A selected breakpoint pulses.- After undoing a breakpoint move with
Cmd+Z (Mac) / Ctrl+Z (Win), the restored breakpoint briefly takes the hover color, which helps when breakpoints line up vertically. - Type a number or use up and down to change the value;
Enter confirms and deselects, Esc cancels. Delete removes the breakpoint.
Option plus up or down (Mac) / Alt plus up or down (Win) cycles through a track's automation envelopes in the Arrangement.- Add
Shift to cycle through every device parameter, automated or not.
