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Use a screen reader to work with the People 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 People view in Project for the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to quickly check team members' workloads and recognize potential reassignment opportunities. 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. You'll learn how to use the different view options, filter columns, and assign or reassign tasks to effectively manage your team or project.

Notes: 

  • 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 and learn the layout of the People view

Learn how to navigate to and open the People view, how the view is arranged, and how to move within the view.

Open the People view 

  1. To open the People view in any existing project, press the Tab key until you hear the currently selected tab, for example, "Grid tab item."

  2. Press the Down, Right, Up, or Left arrow key until you hear "People, tab item," and then press Enter. You hear: "People view."

Learn the layout of the People view

Each project team member with at least one task assigned to them is represented with a People card, a summary card, which shows the status of their assigned tasks. Below each card is a task column containing additional information about the person's tasks. The task columns are ordered from left-to-right as follows: The first contains unassigned tasks. Next is your task column (the current user) followed by all other team members in the alphabetical order of first names.

The default People card summarizes the current count of Incomplete and Late tasks. You can also show completed tasks on a card. For instructions on how to change what is shown in the People card, refer to Use the View Options menu to modify the People view.

  • To browse the People cards, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab. The assignees are announced as "Assigned to," followed by the name of the assignee.

  • To navigate within a People card, press Enter or Ctrl+Enter when the focus is on a card you want to review, and then press the Tab key or Shift+Tab to browse the contents of the card. To exit the People card, press Esc.

Use the View Options menu to modify the People view 

In the View Options menu, you can choose and change which items are displayed in the People view and in People cards. You can, for example, choose to show workloads by hours or number of tasks or use the Compact mode to hide task details. You can also choose to hide or show completed tasks.

Note: Changes you make in the View Options menu are not saved, they apply only in the active session. When you exit or refresh the view, all default settings are restored. 

  1. In the People view, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "View options," and then press Enter.

  2. Do one or more of the following:

    • To show workloads by hours, press the Tab key until you hear "Number of tasks, radio button," press the Up arrow key until you hear "Hours, radio button," and then press Spacebar to select.

    • To show workloads by the number of tasks, press the Tab key until you hear "Hours, radio button," press the Down arrow key until you hear "Number of tasks, radio button," and then press Spacebar to select.

    • To turn the Compact mode on or off, press the Tab key until you hear "Compact mode, switch," followed by "On" or "Off," which is the current status of the mode. Then press Spacebar to change the mode.

    • To hide completed tasks, press the Tab key until you hear "Hide completed tasks on People summary cards, switch, off," and then press Spacebar to select. To show completed tasks, press the Tab key until you hear "Hide completed tasks on People summary cards, switch, on," and then press Spacebar.

Filter task column contents 

If you want to review a team member's tasks in more detail, you can filter the tasks displayed under the People card to show only incomplete or late tasks, for example.

Note: Task filtering only applies in the active session. When you exit or refresh the view, all default settings are restored.

  1. In the People view, press the Tab key until you hear "Assigned to," followed by the name of the team member whose tasks you want to filter. Press Enter or Ctrl+Enter to select.

  2. To inspect incomplete or late tasks, press the Down, Right, Up, or Left arrow key until you hear "Incomplete" or "Late," and then press Enter.

  3. To exit the People card of the team member, press Esc.

Subgroup tasks in columns

You can subgroup tasks vertically to gain better understanding of each person’s tasks. By default, tasks are grouped by buckets. For more info on the available grouping options, refer to the section "Subgrouping tasks in columns" in People view in Project.

  1. In the People view, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear either "View options" or "Project name and views, more actions."

  2. Press the Down, Right, Up, or Left arrow key until you hear "Menu item, collapsed, three or three, has pop-up, group by," followed by the current filtering option, for example "Group by bucket." Then press Enter to select.

  3. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the grouping option you want, and then press Enter.

Add and assign a task to a team member

  1. In the People view, press the Tab key until you hear "Assigned to," followed by the name of the team member to whom you want to add and assign a task. Press Enter or Ctrl+Enter to select.

  2. Press the Tab key until you hear "Add task card," and then press Enter. You hear: "Enter a task name."

  3. Type a descriptive name for the task.

  4. Press the Tab key once. You hear the name of the currently selected bucket. To change the bucket, press Spacebar, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the bucket you want, and then press Spacebar.

  5. Press the Tab key once. You hear: "Set finish date." Press Spacebar. Use the Tab key and the arrow keys to navigate to the date you want, and then press Spacebar.

  6. The task is automatically assigned to the person whose task column you're editing. If you want to assign the task to additional people, press the Tab key until you hear "Add resource," and then press Spacebar. Start typing the name of the additional assignee. The search results are updated as you type. To browse the results, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the person you want to assign the task to, and then press Spacebar. To exit the search text field, press the Tab key until you hear "Clear button," and then press Spacebar.

  7. To add the task to the assignees' task columns, press the Tab key until you hear "Add task," and then press Spacebar.

Reassign a task

To balance workloads, you can reassign tasks to other team members in the People view.

  1. In the People view, press the Tab key until you hear "Assigned to," followed by the name of the team member whose task you want to reassign to another team member. Press Enter or Ctrl+Enter to select.

  2. Press the Tab key until you hear the title of the task you want to reassign, and then press Enter.

  3. Press the Tab key until you hear "Add resource," and then press Enter.

  4. Start typing the name of the person you want to reassign the task to. The search results are updated as you type. To browse the results, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the right person, and then press Enter.

  5. To remove the task from the original assignee's task column, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the right person, and then press Delete.

  6. To exit the search text field, press Esc.

  7. To exit the task details view, press Esc.

See also 

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

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

People view in Project

Keyboard shortcuts for Project

Basic tasks using a screen reader with Project

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Project

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.

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