JAWS Scripts For Skype - Script Installation Instructions

This page describes how to install the Skype scripts, including the SkypeWatch feature. These instructions are written for the scripts for Skype 3.x and 4.x but should also apply to the scripts for older Skype versions.

Basic Script Installation

If you downloaded the executable installer for the scripts, run it and follow directions. The scripts will be installed and compiled automatically.

If you downloaded the Zip instead, unpack the scripts into the appropriate JAWS settings\enu directory. This can be automated with the JUnpack utility, but manual installation is not difficult either. For JAWS versions 6.0 and up, this directory is most easily found by going to the Start menu, then All Programs, then the appropriate JAWS version, then Explore JAWS, and finally Explore My Settings. Be sure to use "My Settings," not "Shared Settings." JAWS versions older than 6.0 are no longer supported. The installed files should include compiled .jsb files already, so the scripts should not need to be recompiled manually. If you wish to recompile manually, type Ctrl+Shift+C from within Skype after installing.

If you do not need the SkypeWatch features, you can stop here. Everything below concerns how to handle SkypeWatch. Note that parts of SkypeWatch will not work with Skype 4.0 or 4.1 beta versions but will work again starting in the June 30 public Skype 4.1 release, Skype 4.1.0.136.

SkypeWatch Installation The Easy Way

Hrvoje Katić has written and maintains a SkypeWatch installation utility at his web site that may prove useful in setting up SkypeWatch, as it can automate the admittedly involved procedures given in the next section. The above link goes to Hrvoje's information page about this utility, from which you can also download or run it. This utility is developed independently of the Skype scripts, and all responsibility for the utility and its operation rests with its author. The above link to this utility is provided here for convenience.

Setting Up SkypeWatch

Because these scripts are meant to modify JAWS' default behavior, they must be installed such that they take effect ahead of the normal default JAWS scripts in default.jsb. The procedures outlined below will accomplish this.

Note that the recommended procedure was changed on June 2, 2007. If you installed SkypeWatch before that date, it may be necessary to follow the appropriate procedure below to get SkypeWatch working.

The procedures below will look complicated to a lot of people, but they really amount to

The complexity below is simply to spell out a set of steps that should work reliably for people with varying degrees of experience managing files and folders in Windows.

Warning: The below procedures should work if followed correctly, but if not followed correctly, they can destabilize JAWS and result in a very difficult situation to escape without sight. If you use these instructions, you do so at your own risk. Rather than bore the gentle reader with a raft of legalese, I'll just do this: On loading and using Skype itself, you agreed to a license that includes disclaimers of liability. By using the below instructions, you agree to hold me liable for absolutely nothing and to regard the disclaimers of liability in the Skype license agreement as applicable to these instructions as well in the event any legalese must be used to disambiguate my meaning of "nothing."

SkypeWatch Installation For JAWS 6.0 and Later

The below procedure should only be necessary once. No further attention to SkypeWatch will be required after a JAWS repair, unless you have modified the original JAWS default.jss for some other reason. A shorter procedure, described in the "SkypeWatch Maintenance For JAWS 6.0 and Later" section of this document, can be used to maintain SkypeWatch after a JAWS update or upgrade.

Important: Be sure to follow the below procedure carefully. Failure to follow the procedure correctly can result in an unusable JAWS installation. The point at which this becomes possible will be clearly indicated in the procedure.

To install the SkypeWatch system under JAWS 6.0 or later:

  1. If you already installed SkypeWatch by adding a line to the original JAWS default.jss from Freedom Scientific (this was the procedure before June 2, 2007), reverse this as follows before proceeding:
    1. Type JAWSKey+0 from within any application to open the JAWS Script Manager.
    2. Type Ctrl+Shift+D to open default.jss.
    3. Find and remove the line that says
      use "skypewatch.jsb"
      Make sure to avoid removing anything besides this line.
    4. Type Ctrl+S to recompile default.jss, then Alt+F4 to close the Script Manager. SkypeWatch will be unloaded at this point.
  2. Open the JAWS user folder by going to the Start menu, then All Programs, then your JAWS version, then Explore JAWS, and then Explore My Settings. Leave this folder open as you go to the next step. We will refer to this folder window as the User folder from now on.
  3. Check for a default.jss file in the folder just opened. If you find it, and it is small, meaning less than 50 K in size, open it by typing JAWSKey+0 to open the Script Manager, then Ctrl+Shift+D to open the custom default.jss file, then skip to step 11. If you find it but it is a big file, meaning over 200 K in size, delete it and continue with the next step. This situation occurs when the JAWS original default.jss gets modified but saved in the user folder, which became JAWS' default behavior at some point. If you do not find default.jss in the User folder, continue to the next step.
  4. Open the JAWS shared folder by going to the Start menu, then All Programs, then your JAWS version, then Explore JAWS, and then Explore Shared Settings. Leave this folder open as you go to the next step. We will refer to this folder window as the Shared folder from now on.
  5. Copy default.jsb to default_fs.jsb in the Shared folder just opened. You can do this as follows:
    1. Find default.jsb in the file list. Be careful that the file you find is default.jsb, ending with B as in Bravo, and not default.jsd, ending in D as in Delta. (Default JAWS voices read these very similarly.)
    2. Type Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+V to copy the file to the clipboard and bring back the copy into the file list. The copy will show up as "Copy of default.jsb."
    3. Find the copy, usually possible just by pressing the End key to go to the last file in the list.
    4. Press F2 to edit the name of the file, then change the name to default_fs.jsb and press Enter to rename the file.
  6. Move the new default_fs.jsb file from the Shared folder to the User folder. You can do this by typing Ctrl+X on the file, pressing Alt+Tab to go to the open User folder window, and typing Ctrl+V there to paste the file into that folder.
  7. Type JAWSKey+0 to open the JAWS Script Manager, then type Ctrl+N and then Enter to open a blank screen within the Script Manager.
  8. Enter the following code, by typing or pasting from this document as you prefer:
    Use "default_fs.jsb"

    void function _filler()
    return
    endFunction
    The dummy function is necessary to avoid problems compiling default.jss under JAWS 7.1 and later.
  9. Verify that the code you entered looks exactly as shown above. Failure to enter this code correctly, or failure to create default_fs.jsb correctly as described earlier, can cause the next step to disable all JAWS keystrokes. If that happens, it will be necessary to find a way to delete default.jsb from this User folder before JAWS will work again.
  10. Save the new custom default.jss file and recompile it. Do this by typing Ctrl+S and, when prompted, entering the name "default.jss" (without the quotes) and pressing Enter. You should hear JAWS say "Compile complete." If you get an error message instead, press the OK button, then go back and check the code and recompile as necessary. If you get a warning like "This file already exists, do you want to replace it?" choose Yes. This will probably happen to several people, because the old SkypeWatch installation procedure can create a copy of default.jss in the JAWS user folder. By saying Yes here, you will not be replacing the original JAWS default files.
  11. Whether you reached this step from step 10 or from step 3, you should still be in the Script Manager with the custom default.jss file loaded. Add this below the Use "default_fs.jsb" line:
    Use "skypewatch.jsb"
  12. Recompile the default.jsb file with the JAWS Script Manager to make the new code immediately take effect. Do this by typing Ctrl+S. You should hear JAWS say "Compile complete." If you get an error message instead, press the OK button, then go back and check the code and recompile as necessary.
  13. Close the JAWS Script Manager, the Shared folder window if open, and the User folder window, each with Alt+F4.

SkypeWatch Maintenance For JAWS 6.0 and Later

Note: The following procedure is performed automatically by the following script versions:

Users of these versions need not perform the below procedure manually. Users of older scripts will still need to do this however.

Because SkypeWatch modifies JAWS' default behavior, a small bit of maintenance is required after any change to default JAWS files. This can happen when

The following procedure will insure correct operation of JAWS and SkypeWatch after such a change:
  1. Copy default.jsb in the shared folder to default_fs.jsb in the user folder.
  2. Unload and reload JAWS once to reset its default behavior.

JAWS 6.0 and Later Recovery Procedure

The following procedure was worked out, tested, and reported to me by Roy Nickelson. Thanks much to Roy for this. This procedure applies if JAWS stops functioning due to a mistake in the above JAWS 6.0 and later installation procedure.

  1. Type Windows+U to run Microsoft Narrator so you'll have speech during this procedure. If Windows+U does not work on your system (a rare but possible problem), instead type Windows+R, then the word Narrator, then Enter.
  2. Type Windows+R, then the word JAWS8 or JAWS71 or the appropriate command for your JAWS version, then Enter. Because JAWS is already running, this will bring up the Context menu for JAWS rather than running it again.
  3. Type Alt+Shift+F4. This will bring up the "Exit JAWS?" dialog. The "shift" part of that command gets around any possible script attached to a plain Alt+F4.
  4. Press Enter to close JAWS. The keyboard will now become fully usable.
  5. Launch the user settings folder by going to the Start menu, then All Programs, then your JAWS version, then Explore JAWS, and finally Explore My Settings. Be sure to use Explore My Settings, not Explore Shared Settings.
  6. From the folder just opened, delete default.jsb. This will restore JAWS' default behavior.
  7. Close Narrator by Alt+Tabbing to it and typing Alt+F4.
  8. Restart JAWS in your normal fashion.