Kurzweil 1000
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
Some features of Kurzweil 1000:................................................................ 1
Kurzweil 1000 and JAWS, the screen reading software ............................. 2
Kurzweil 1000 Basics..................................................................................... 3
Using the Menus ............................................................................................ 4
Using the Keypad .......................................................................................... 5
Lookup Tools for Words ............................................................................... 11
Document Overview Tools ........................................................................... 12
Reading Tables ........................................................................................... 13
Image Display .............................................................................................. 15
Scanning ..................................................................................................... 18
Introduction
Kurzweil 1000 is a reading tool that makes printed material accessible to
people who are blind or have limited vision. It converts the printed word into
speech.
Some features of Kurzweil 1000:
You can:
 Scan any written material and Kurzweil 1000 will read it aloud.
 Open and read almost any file on you computer that contains text.
 Download and read electronic material and books directly from the
World Wide Web.
From within Kurzweil 1000 you can:
 Chose from several reading voices.
 Set the reading speed.
 Have access to an online dictionary.
Important
You can even create and edit documents using the word processing features
of Kurzweil 1000.
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Kurzweil 1000 and JAWS, the screen reading
software
Kurzweil 1000 is not a screen reader like JAWS. It does not read the
contents of other applications on your computer. It also will not help you make
sense of the graphics, nor will it replace a full word processor.
To prevent speech conflict, you can do one of the
following:
 If JAWS is active on your machine, then put it into sleep mode.
 Disable the Kurzweil 1000 speech engine and use JAWS with Kurzweil
1000.
If you prefer using the screen reader, then remember to disable the
Kurzweil 1000 keypad assignments too, as they will not necessarily be
the same as the screen reader’s.
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Kurzweil 1000 Basics
There are two ways of using Kurzweil 1000:
Menus
Keypad
The Menus:
All of the Kurzweil 1000 features can be accessed through the menu system,
which provides auditory feedback. Many, but not all, menu features are
available through the keypad.
The Keypad:
You can operate Kurzweil 1000 through the numeric keypad on the rightmost side of the standard Windows keyboard that you are using at the
moment.
The following terms are used when referring to the keypad keys in this
userguide:
 Press means hit the key once, then release it.
 Tap means to press and release a key repeatedly. This is generally
used when cycling through a list of selectable items.
 Hold Down means to press and continue holding down a key. In some
cases, you must hold down one key as you press a second key.
 You must always release a key after pressing it unless this guide
specifies that you must hold it down.
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Using the Menus
When you start Kurzweil 1000, the menus appear at the top of the screen.
 To access the menu bar, press the ALT or F10 key.
 To close the current sub menu and go to the previous menu, press the
ESCAPE key.
 To leave the menu system from any level within it, press the ALT or
F10 key.
Dialog boxes: Some menu items open dialog boxes.
 To move forward through the options in a dialog box, press the TAB
key.
 To move backward through the options in a dialog box, press
SHIFT+Tab key combination.
 To get Help about the specific option at your cursor position, press the
F1 key.
 To accept changes you’ve made and close the dialog box, press the
ENTER key.
 To cancel changes and close the dialog box, press the ESCAPE key.
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Using the Keypad
Keypad Layers
The Kurzweil 1000 keypad has three main layers:
 Reading
 File Management
 Settings
To switch between layers:
 Hold down the Shift Key (the horizontal key in the lower-left corner of
the keypad).
 Press the Accept key (the small key in the upper-right corner of the
keypad) until you hear the name of the layer you want.
Note: Always hold down the Shift key when cycling through the layers.
Each layer has a sublayer, or Shifted layer, that has additional functions.
 To access a keypad sublayer function, hold down the Shift key and
press the required function’s key on the keypad.
For example, on the Reading layer, to access Thesaurus hold down
the Shift key and press the * key (the top third key) on the keypad.
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Layer 1: The Reading Keypad
The Reading keypad is the default layer when you start up Kurzweil 1000.
This keypad is used for:
 Scannig
 Reading
 Moving around in the document
 Changing the reading speed or volume
 Accessing the dictionary and thesaurus
This keypad has two configurations:
 Kurzweil 1000 and
 a Screen Reader compatible one
Layer 2: The File Management Keypad
Use this keypad to:
 Create and delete folders
 Move between folders
 Open, close and delete document files
 Save files in different formats
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Layer 3: The Settings Keypad
The Settings keypad lets you customise the Kurzweil 1000 environment.
Use this keypad to:
 Change the reading voice or documents
 Change the systems voice that reads prompts and messages
 Change some scanning options
 Basic Reading Functions
This section provides instructions for some basic reading functions.
For each section there are several instruction options listed, including menu,
keypad and shortcut options. Choose any one of the listed options to
perform the task.
Starting and Stopping Reading
To start reading at the cursor position:
1. Open the Read menu and choose Start Reading.
2. Press ALT+R, then letter S.
3. Press F5.
To stop reading, press any key on the keyboard.
Changing the Reading Speed
1. Open the Read menu and choose Increase Reading Speed or
Decrease Reading Speed.
2. Press ALT+R, then letter N to increase speed.
Press ALT+R, then letter E to decrease speed.
3. Press F12 to increase speed.
Press F11 to decrease speed.
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All the options listed above change the speed of both the reading and system
voiced. Use the Settings dialog box to specify speeds for each voice
separately.
Reading Selected Text
1. First select the text you want.
2. Open Read menu and choose Say Selection.
3. Press ALT+R, then letter Y.
4. Press CONTROL+Y
Hearing and Inserting the Time and Date
To hear the current time and date:
1. Open the Tools menu and choose What Time Is It.
2. Press CONTROL+T
To insert the time and date:
1. Listen to it and then press CONTROL+C to copy it
2. Then press CONTROL+V to paste it.
Reading by Unit
You can read text by unit, which is selected by you (see selecting a Reading
Unit).
To read the next unit:
1. Open the Read menu and choose Forward by Unit.
2. Press ALT+R, then letter F
3. Press F8
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To read the previous unit:
1. Open the Read menu and choose Rewind by Unit.
2. Press ALT+R, then letter R
3. Press F6
When reading continuously, you can:
1. Skip forward by one unit by tapping the right SHIFT key
2. Skip backward by one unit by tapping the left SHIFT key
To read the current unit:
1. Open the Read menu and choose Read Current Unit
2. Press ALT+R, then letter C
3. Press F7
Selecting a Reading Unit
You can choose the type of unit from Line, Sentence or Paragraph.
1. Open the Settings menu and choose Reading. The Reading dialog
box opens with your cursor in the Reading unit list. You will hear the
current unit setting.
2. Use Up/Down arrows to select the unit you want.
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Going to a specific Page
Follow one of the following instruction to open the Go to Page dialog box,
and then enter the page number.
 Open the Read menu and choose Go to Page
 Press ALT+R, then letter G
 CONTROL G
Determining Your Place in a Document
To find out the current line number, the page number and the document
name:
 Press SHIFT+F1 on the keyboard.
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Lookup Tools for Words
You can look up a word using the dictionary or thesaurus, or hear a word
spelled out aloud.
To look up a word in the dictionary:
1. Open the Tools menu and choose Define a Word
2. Press ALT+O, then letter D
3. CONTROL+D
To look up a word in the thesaurus:
1. Open the Tools menu and choose Use the Thesaurus
2. Press ALT+O, then letter U
3. SHIFT+F7
Note: Both the dictionary and the thesaurus can also be accessed from the
Read menu and the Reading keypad.
In all cases the same Lookup dialog box opens.
Use the TAB key to cycle through each component. You can also use the
following keys for the buttons in the dialog box:
 Next button, press ALT+N
 Previous button, press ALT+P
 Replace button, press ALT+R
 Done button, press ALT+D to close the dialog box
To spell a word,
1. Find the word that you want to spell
2. Open the Read menu, and choose Spell
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3. ALT+R, then letter L
Document Overview Tools
Listed here are two of the tools that help you get more from reading
documents
Browsing in a Document
Browsing lets you hear the first sentence of every paragraph.
1. Open the Read menu and choose Start Browsing
2. Press ALT+R, then letter W
3. To Start or Stop: SHIFT F5
To resume normal reading:
 Open Read menu and choose Start Reading
 F5
Summarising a Document
1. Open the File menu and choose Summarize
2. Press ALT+F, then letter M
If you have bookmarks in the current document, you can summarise the
document based on those bookmarks. You can enter one or more key words
(separated by spaces) that specify possible main topics. If you do not enter
any words and just press ENTER or click on OK, the system will summarise
the document automatically.
When the summary is completed, a new document opens containing the
summary text (about 10 percent of the size of the original document).
The name of the summary file will be:
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doc_name Summary.txt, where doc_name is the name of the document
that was summarised. This file can be resaved with another name (by
opening the File menu and choosing Save As).
Reading Tables
Kurzweil 1000 can recognise and read tables, although it assumes that the
tables have a certain format. Specifically it assumes that tables have column
and row headings, and so the very first cell (row 1 colum1) is empty.
Important: Table Recognition is available only when the FineReader
Engine is chosen as the engine in the Recognition Settings tab. In addition,
Table Indentification must be enabled in the Reading Settings tab.
EXAMPLE
The table below shows monthly sales of books and cards at a bookshop.
It has Books and Cards as column headings and January, February and
March as row headings.
This table would be read as:
10 January Books, 50 cards, February Books 14, Cards 35, March Books
20, Cards 44.
Books
Cards
January
10
50
February
14
35
March
20
44
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Reading Individual Cells
When speech is stopped and the cursor is positioned in a table, then:
 To hear the current cell, Press F7 or shortcut key CONTROL+Y.
 To hear the cell contents preceded by its row and column headings,
press SHFT F7.
 To move to the next cell in a row and read it, press F8 or shortcut key
TAB.
 To move to the previous cell in the row and read it, press F6 or shortcut
key SHIFT+TAB.
 To move up or down a column and read it, use the ARROW keys.
 To read the table continuously by row, press F5.
 To read the table continuously by column, left to right, press SIHFT F5.
If you have a table with a different format (for example, a table with column
headings but no row headings) read each cell individually using the TAB,
SHIFT+TAB, and the ARROW keys.
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Image Display
It is often useful to refer to the image of the original scanned page, especially
when inspecting diagrams, charts, equations and pictures or diagnosing
recognition problems.
When recognition is done, the image used for recognition can be kept in the
KESI file. To use this feature, you must enable the retention of images in the
General Settings tab before doing recognition.
Important: Images can be kept only in KESI files. If you save your files in
any other format, they will no longer contain images.
To see the image of the current page, use the Show Images menu item in
the Tools menu or use the shortcut key CONTROL+W. This opens a full page
dialog, showing the image of the page.
The keystrokes you can use are listed on the next page.
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You can then use the following keystrokes:
Keystroke
Meaning
F1
Help
F5
Stop or Start Reading
F6
Go Back One Reading Unit
F7
Go to Start of Current Reading Unit
F8
Go Forward One Reading Unit
Control + I
Invert colors
Control + Up Arrow
Zoom In
Control + Plus Sign
Zoom In
Control + Down
Zoom Out
Control + Minus Sign
Zoom Out
Control + L
Spell the Current Word
Control + Shift + L
Spell the Current Word Mnemonically
Escape
Return to the editor
Left and Right Arrows Move by word
Up and Down Arrows
Move to nearest word of previous or next line
Home
Move to first word on a line
End
Move to the last word on a line
Control Home
Move to the first word on a page
Control End
Move to the last word on a page
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Moving the Image Without Moving the Text Cursor
You may need to do this, especially when much of the page contains a
picture and no text. At a high magnification level you may need to scroll the
image around, without moving the text cursor.
Press the Scroll Lock key, and then use the mouse of press the Home, End,
Control Home, Control End and the Arrow keys. To return to the editor press
the Escape key.
The state of the colour inversion, as well as the magnification level, will be
kept from one use of show images to another, and can be saved in a settings
file. When you return to the editor, your cursor will be positioned on the same
word that was highlighted in this dialog.
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Scanning
You can scan any printed document into Kurzweil 1000.
You can access scanning commands using menus and shortcut keys, or by
using the keypad. The keypad has basic scanning operations and these can
be accessed from any layer.
Reading and Scanning Separate Documents
Kurzweil 1000 allows you to read or edit one document while scanning into
another document.
You can have any number of documents open, but only one at a time is
available for reading. This is the active document.
Adding a new scanned page when several documents are open:
 When you scan a page, it gets added to the end of an open document.
You can decide which open document it will be.
 If the page being scanned is the very first page that you are scanning
since you started Kurzweil 1000 , the program adds the page to the end
of the active document.
 If you have already scanned into a document since you started Kurzweil
1000 and are now reading another document, as long as that first
document is still open, the scanned page will be added to the end of
that document and not to the active document.
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Changing Your Scanning Document
There are two ways to change your scanning document:
 You can save and close the present scanning document. Then make
the desired document your active document, and start scanning.
 Use the Insert Scan or the Rescan Page command. These commands
are always relative to the current page number of the active document,
thus they cause the active document to become the scanning
document.
Note: The active document and the scanning document can be the same.
Starting Scanning
 Open the Scan menu and choose Start New Scan
Or
 Press ALT+S, then letter S
Shortcut key: F9
Cancelling a Scan in Progress
 Open the Scan menu and choose Cancel Scan
Or
 Press ALT+S, then letter S
Shortcut key: F9
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Rescanning a Page
The newly scanned page replaces the current page. If you do not wish to
replace the current page just cancel the scan before it is complete.
 Open the Scan menu and choose Rescan Page
Or
 ALT+S, then letter R
Inserting a Scanned Page in a Document
The new scanned page is inserted before the current page of your document.
If you do not wish to insert the page just cancel the scan before it is complete.
 Open the Scan menu and choose Insert Page
Or
 Press ALT+S, then letter I.
Rerecognising
You can use this feature only if there is an image associated with the page.
You must enable the Keep Images option in the general settings tab page.
Kurzweil 1000 has two different scanning engines, and a number of settings
that affect the quality of the recognised text. You may want to change a
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recognition setting and rerecognise a page. This way you don’t have to find
the appropriate page in the original document.
To Rerecognise a Page:
 Open the Scan menu and choose Re-recognise Page
Or
 ALT+S, then letter C
Re-recognising an Entire Document:
 Open the Scan menu and choose Re-recognise All Pages
Or
 ALT+S, then letter A
Scanning Repeatedly
Use this feature if you want to scan more than one page at a time. The
scanner repeatedly scans the platen, waiting a certain number of seconds
between each scan.
You can scan and recognise or you can scan to an image file. Scanning to an
image file is a faster input method.
You can only enable repeated scanning mode, and set up the scan delay,
using the menu system.
 Open the Scan menu and choose Scan Repeatedly
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Or
 ALT+S, then letter P
Shortcut key: CONTROL+F9
Speeding up the Scanning Process
If you can consistently scan a book using the same position and orientation
for every page, these steps will help you scan it as quickly as possible:
1. Open the Settings menu and chose Scanning. If you are not sure of
the page orientation, change the Page Orientation to Set Once Per
Document.
This allows for faster scanning than automatic page orientation.
2. Open the Settings menu and chose Scanner Margins. Enable Auto
Size.
3. If you want to read while scanning then: Open the Settings menu and
chose Display. Disable Tracking.
4. If you are happy with a default or manually selected brightness value:
Open the Settings menu and chose Scanning. Disable Thresholding.
5. Try using the RTK as the recognition engine. It is considerably faster
than FineEngine. But be sure that you are satisfied with the
recognition results by doing some sample tests.
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