This article refers to books that are presented as VitalSource textbooks. If you are not sure whether the book you are reading is of this type, look at the address bar. If any part of it includes “VitalSource,” it is VitalSource text.
If you are using Sapling Learning (High School), you will open the eBook from your course page. The first time you open your course book, you will be prompted to sign up (at no cost) for this book. Here is an article with more instructions: Sapling Learning > Access the new eBook.
If you are using LaunchPad, you will need to follow the instructions in the LaunchPad help article > Download an eBook to read offline to access the VitalSource eBook.
If you are using Achieve, you will need to follow the instructions in the Achieve > Download an eBook to read offline help article to access the VitalSource eBook.
VitalSource eBooks can also be purchased from the Student Store (for higher education) or the BFW Store (for high school). If you purchased a standalone eBook from the Student Store or the BFW Store, you will receive email instructions on how to access your eBook.
A few words about the book page layout: The section of the book you’re currently reading takes up most of the screen and usually scrolls well off the screen. There are “Previous” and “Next” buttons positioned before and after the body of the current section, making it easy to find the edges of the text.
VoiceOver only: You'll need to interact with the book region, and that region will contain a frame that you'll need to interact with. So when you first open the book in any session, you'll need to navigate to the book content region, interact with it (by pressing Control+Option+Shift+Down Arrow), then move to the book frame and interact with that.
Above the main text section are many reading aids. Some of these open in “panels” and expose much more information. You can expand them and leave them expanded for quick reference as you read, or you can collapse them to reduce the amount of material on the page at one time. Examples of items that can be expanded and left open as you read include the table of contents, the list of bookmarks you’ve created, and the list of notes and highlights you’ve created.
To expand or collapse any of these features, press Space on the corresponding button. Your screen reader will announce whether you are expanding or collapsing the panel.
There are many, many features in a VitalSource text, but a few are outlined below.
Index
The table of contents is available from a button near the top of the page. Press Control+Home for NVDA and JAWS to get to the top, then “b” for the button to jump there, or Command+Up Arrow with VoiceOver. Press Space on the Table of Contents button to expand it. You can leave the table of contents expanded and jump from there to the body of the chapter you’re currently reading, or you can collapse the table of contents pane to reduce the amount of text on the screen. Once the table of contents is expanded, press h to jump to the heading of the listing itself, or just press the down arrow.
Within the table of contents pane, each chapter is a link. Pressing space on that link will expand it to show subtopics, if there are any. One of the links you’ll find after expanding a chapter is “Jump to Chapter.” Press Space to jump to the first page of that chapter.
Notes and highlights
The Notebook pane is similar to the Table of Contents pane in that it can be expanded and then made available while you're reading. Press Space on its button near the top of the page to expand the pane and see how many notes and highlights you currently have.
How do I create a highlight in the book I'm reading when using VoiceOver, NVDA, or JAWS?
You can create highlights in your text. These can be useful for studying later. In your book, the highlight “colors” will be labeled with terms like “Important” or “Confusing,” rather than the actual color displayed.
Here are the steps for one way to create a highlight in the eTextbook you are reading.
Navigate to the page with the text you want to highlight.
Identify a link or button in the area you want to highlight. Terms that have definitions associated with them are ideal, but links to Flashcards, tables, etc. will also work well.
Expand the highlight pane with Space/Enter.
Press Enter or Space on the highlight type.
Notice that Quick Highlight has been enabled. This message appears just after the last highlight color in the list and is also at the bottom of the page.
Turn off NVDA Browse mode (or turn on Focus mode) with Insert+Space. Turn off JAWS Browse mode (or turn on Forms mode) with Insert+Z. Skip this step for VoiceOver.
Tab to the item you identified as being close to the text you want to highlight.
With browse mode still disabled (focus mode enabled), select the text with Shift+Arrows. The screen reader will not read the selected text.
Press Tab. Your screen reader will announce the number of highlights, and that number will have increased by one (or possibly more).
Return to browse mode by pressing Insert+Space for NVDA or Insert+Z for JAWS. Skip this step for VoiceOver.
Disable Quick Highlight.
If you don't have Quick Highlight turned on, but you exit browse mode and select text in the book region, a list of items may appear at the bottom of the page. This will include highlights, quotes, etc. Choose what you want or cancel.
How do I delete a highlight or note in JAWS and NVDA?
Expand the Notebook panel by pressing Space or Enter.
Each note and highlight will start with a number and then the details of that item. You can sort your notes and highlights using the Filter option. This can be very useful if you have a lot of highlights.
Locate the one you want to delete.
Within the collection of details about that highlighted item, just before the “color” of that highlight, there will be a button that NVDA reports as Unlabeled 2 Collapsed.
Press space on that button. Below the expanded button will be:
See in book
Delete highlight
Press Space or Enter on the Delete button. The highlight will disappear from the list and the new number of highlights will be announced by your screen reader.
How do I delete a highlight or note in VoiceOver?
Expand the Notebook panel.
Each note and highlight will start with a number and then the details of that item. You can sort your notes and highlights using the Filter option. This can be very useful if you have a lot of highlights.
Locate the one you want to delete.
Within the collection of details about that highlighted item, just before the “color” of that highlight, there will be a button that Voiceover reports as Collapsed (or Expanded, if you select it).
Select this button. Below the expanded button will be:
See in book
Delete highlight
Select the Delete button. The highlight will disappear from the list, and the new number of highlights will be announced by VoiceOver.
How do I add a note to the book I'm reading?
There are two ways to add a note. (Notes are associated with highlights.)
You can add a note to an existing highlight. To do this, expand the Notebook pane. Scroll down through the list of highlights you created earlier until you find the one you want. Right after the highlight text will be an “Add Note” button, or if you’ve already added a note to the highlight, “Edit Note.” Select this button with Space or Enter, type your note, and then select the Send button to save your note.
If you're creating a new note where you haven't yet added a highlight, follow these steps:
In the section of the book where you want to make a note, identify an item that you can tab to. Figures, definitions, and so on are good choices. These will be identified in the text as buttons or links.
Turn off browse mode (turn on focus mode) by pressing Insert+Space for NVDA and Insert+Z for JAWS. Skip this step for VoiceOver.
Tab to the item in the text you identified above.
Use Shift+Right+Arrow to select some text. The screen reader will not read the text as you scroll.
With the text still selected, return to browse mode.
Go to the bottom of the page and then use the up arrow to find the highlights and notes menu that appeared when you selected the text.
Select Add Note and type your note in the edit field.
Select the button for the type of highlighting you want to associate with your note by pressing Space or Enter on it.
You can return to the Notebook panel to check that the number of highlights has increased and that your new note is there.
How do I go to a page with a note?
Within the Notebook pane, scroll down the list of highlights to find the one you want to jump to. Below your chosen highlight, you’ll find an unlabeled button that can be collapsed and expanded. Expand it and select the “Show in Book” button.
How can I tell if a page has one of my notes?
If the current page has one of your notes, there will be an icon at the top of the book content region. Your screen reader will identify it as “notes_icon”.
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