As input help works now, when pressing for example shift plus slash in the english keyboard layout, NVDA reports shift+slash instead of question. I think NVDA instead should report the actual character if the key combination has no named script attached to it. In this way, the user can check what character they will type when pressing different key combinations.

Duplicate of #6621

I also think NVDA should have a quick way to report to the user if the gesture has a named script attached to it, for example replacing the plus sign between keys with space if the gesture isn't asosiated with a script. In this way, when learning NVDA commands, the user can quickly check if a gesture has an asosiated script, and if not, move quickly to the next key combination

I do not understand this part. Can you be more specific?

In JAWS, input help works like this.

• If the key combination would have resulted in a typed character if input help had been off, the character is reported.
• If not, and the key combination isn't a script, the modifiers is reported before the main key name with a space between all the key names, for example control alt right arrow.
• If the key combination is a script, it is reported in the same way as in NVDA.

In this way, the user can identify quickly if a key combination has a script or not when learning the keyboard, for example if pressing NVDA+v, NVDA would have reported v. They then could have moved to the next key combination much more quickly then if they had to wait on NVDA reporting NVDA+v only to find out that it didn't have any script asosiated with it.

@Emil-18 I was trying to see if we can just close this issue as duplicate of #6621, or if there is something more to discuss here.

• If the key combination would have resulted in a typed character if input help had been off, the character is reported.

This is discussed in #6621. Please discuss it there.

• If not, and the key combination isn't a script, the modifiers is reported before the main key name with a space between all the key names, for example control alt right arrow.

control+alt+rightArrow is a table navigation command, so it does not seem adapted for this example.

In input help mode, control+alt+R is reported:

• "control+alt+R" by NVDA
• "control alt R" by Jaws
  Is it something important for you to have the "+" omitted when reporting keyboard gestures?

Note that in this case, Jaws also reports "control alt R" for JawsKey+control+alt+R, probably because the JawsKey is never passed to the system.

• If the key combination is a script, it is reported in the same way as in NVDA.

So no problem here, I guess.

@CyrilleB79 I find it useful when it doesn't say plus between key names when the key combination isn't a script, because then I know immediately that it doesn't have a script asosiated with it.

Could you rewrite the issue to only talk about your second problem, not the duplicate?

@Emil-18, thanks for having rewritten the issue.

Could you please also change the title to something more specific? Thanks.

Actually there is the alternative to replace as many key combinations as possible with their result in windows.
e.g. when I press minus, NVDA reports "dash" in input help mode. This could apply e.g. also for all keystrokes that have an unicode symbols associated to them (e.g. shift+slash is question mark. NVDA reports "slash" in input mode, but "shift+slash" instead of "question mark".
Therefore I would prefer a fix ofr #13219. This would make lots of keystroke reportings in input help mode much shorter.