Use a screen reader to work with the Goals view in Project

This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Microsoft 365 screen reader support content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.

Use the Goals view in Project for the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to create goals for your project and connect the goals to tasks. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge and JAWS and NVDA in Chrome, but it might work with other screen readers and web browsers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
When you use Project for the web, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because Project for the web runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not Project for the web.

In this topic

Open the Goals view
Add goals to your project
Connect tasks to goals
- Connect an existing task to a goal
- Create a new task in the Goals view to add it to your goal

Open the Goals view

To open the Goals view in any existing project, press the Tab key until you hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Grid tab item."
Press the Down, Right, Up, or Left arrow key until you hear "Goals, tab item," and then press Enter. You hear: "Goals view."

Add goals to your project

Define project goals to make sure you’re tackling the right set of work and the work is aligned across the team.

The goals you create are listed in a grid view in the Goals view, and the tasks that you connect to a goal are listed under each goal.

Add a goal with Narrator

In the Goals view, press the Tab key until you hear "Goals view, add goal, button," and then press Enter.
You hear: "Goal name." Type the name for your goal.
If you want to add an end date for the goal, press the SR key+Right arrow key once. You hear: "Date, the goal is set to end, end date." Press Enter to open the date picker, use the arrow keys to go to the date you want, and then press Enter to select.
If you want to change the status of the goal, press the SR key+Right arrow key until you hear "Update a project goal status," switch off the scan mode, and then press Enter. Use the Down and Up arrow keys to select the status you want, and then press Enter.
To save the new goal and close it, switch on the scan mode, and then press Enter. The focus is on the Add goal button. If you want to add a new goal, repeat steps 2-5.

Add a goal with JAWS

Turn on the virtual PC cursor.
In the Goals view, press F until you hear "Add goal, button," and then press Enter.
You hear: "Goal name." Type the name for your goal.
Press the Tab key once. The new goal is saved as the first item on the Goals view.
If you want to add an end date for the new goal, press F or Shift+F until you hear the name of the goal you just created, press F until you hear "End date, edit, combo," and then press Enter. To open the date picker, press Enter again. Use the arrow keys to go to the date you want, and then press Enter to select.
If you want to change the status of the goal, press F or Shift+F until you hear the name of the goal you just created, press F until you hear "Update a project goal status," and then press Enter. Press Enter again to open the dropdown menu, use the Down and Up arrow keys to select the status you want, and then press Enter.
If you want to add a new goal, repeat steps 2-6.

Add a goal with NVDA

In the Goals view, press the Tab key until you hear "Goals view, add goal, button," and then press Enter.
You hear: "Goal name." Type the name for your goal.
If you want to add an end date for the goal, switch to browse mode, and then press F. You hear: "End date, combo box." Switch back to focus mode, and then press Enter to open the date picker. Use the arrow keys to go to the date you want, and then press Enter to select.
If you want to change the status of the goal, switch to browse mode, and then press F. You hear: "Update a project goal status." Switch back to focus mode, and then press Enter. Use the Down and Up arrow keys to select the status you want, and then press Enter.
To save the new goal and close it, switch to browse mode, and then press Enter. The focus is on the Add goal button. If you want to add a new goal, repeat steps 2-5.

Connect tasks to goals

Connect tasks to your goals to prioritize work and stay focused. There are two ways to connect tasks to your goals in the Goals view. You can either connect existing tasks that you have created in other views to your goals, or you can create a new task in the Goals view. When you create tasks in the Goals view, the tasks are automatically connected to the goal you have selected.

Connect an existing task to a goal

In the Goals view, do one of the following:
- With Narrator, press the SR key+Right or Left arrow key until you hear the goal you want, and then press the SR key+Right arrow key until you hear: "Connect tasks."
- With JAWS, turn on the virtual PC cursor, and then press F until you hear the goal you want. Keep pressing F until you hear "Connect tasks," and then press Enter.
- With NVDA, press the Tab key until you hear "Goals view region," and then press F until you hear the goal you want. Then keep pressing F until you hear "Connect tasks," and then press Enter.
  
  : If you have already previously connected tasks to the goal, instead of "Connect tasks," you hear the number of connected tasks, for example, “Three tasks.”
Do one of the following:
- To search for a task by name, press the Tab key once. You hear: "Search for tasks." Type a word included in the task name. The search results are displayed as you type. Press the Tab key until you hear the task you want, followed by the task information and then "Checkbox status, unchecked." Press Spacebar to select the task.
- To browse the available tasks, press the Tab key until you hear the task you want, followed by the task information and then "Checkbox status, unchecked." Press Spacebar to select the task.
To connect the selected task to the goal, do one of the following:
- With Narrator, press the SR key+End. You hear: "Exit table, cancel, button." Press Shift+Tab. You hear: "Save, button." Press Enter.
- With JAWS or NVDA, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Save, button," and then press Enter.

Create a new task in the Goals view to add it to your goal

Create a new task in the Goals view with Narrator

In the Goals view, press the SR key+Right or Left arrow key until you hear the goal you want, press the SR key+Right arrow key until you hear "Add new task," and then press Enter.
You hear: "Add new task, name." Turn off the scan mode. Type the task name, and then press Enter.
The focus moves to a new row, and you can start typing a new task name. If you do not want to add another new task, press Shift+Tab to move the focus away from the field.
By default, the priority for a new task is Medium. If you want to change the priority for the task, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Priority," and then press Enter. Press the Down or Up arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter to select.
If you want to assign the task to someone, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Assigned to," and then press Enter. You hear: "Enter text to search." Start typing the name of the person you want to assign the task to. The search results are updated as you type. Use the Down and Up arrow keys to browse the results, and then press Enter to select.

Create a new task in the Goals view with JAWS

Turn on the virtual PC cursor.
In the Goals view, press F until you hear the goal you want. Then keep pressing F until you hear "Add new task, button," and then press Enter.
You hear: "Add new task, name." Type the task name, and then press Enter.
The focus moves to a new row, and you can start typing a new task name. If you do not want to add another new task, press Shift+Tab to move the focus away from the field.
By default, the priority for a new task is Medium. If you want to change the priority for the task, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Priority," and then press Enter. Press the Down or Up arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter to select.
If you want to assign the task to someone, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Assigned to," and then press Enter. You hear: "Enter text to search." Start typing the name of the person you want to assign the task to. The search results are updated as you type. Use the Down and Up arrow keys to browse the results, and then press Enter to select.

Create a new task in the Goals view with NVDA

In the Goals view, press the Tab key until you hear "Goals view region," and then press F until you hear the goal you want. Keep pressing F until you hear "Add new task," and then press Enter.
You hear: "Add new task, name." Type the task name.
If you want to assign the task to someone, press the Tab key once. You hear: "Add new task, assigned to." If the mode did not automatically switch to focus mode, switch to focus mode, and then press Enter. You hear: "Enter text to search." Start typing the name of the person you want to assign the task to. The search results are updated as you type. Use the Down and Up arrow keys to browse the results, and then press Enter to select.
By default, the priority for a new task is Medium. If you want to change the priority for the task, press the Tab key until you hear "Priority," and then press Enter. If the mode did not automatically switch to focus mode, switch to focus mode, and then press Enter. Press the Down or Up arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter to select.

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.