Known limitations
- Three things need a mouse or trackpad, because each needs two points: drawing an arrow, highlighting part of a line, and framing a region of your own choosing. From the keyboard, and with VoiceOver, you mark one whole heading, paragraph, image, link or other block at a time.
- A page’s own dialog or pop-up: Simple MarkUp does not work on top of it. Close the page’s dialog first.
- Web components: some sites build parts of their pages as web components, and Simple MarkUp does not list what is inside them. Mark those parts with a rectangle or an arrow (both need a mouse or trackpad); a callout marks the whole component.
- Some ads and embedded frames, often ones fixed on top of the page, still take a click while the tool is open, and aren’t marked.
- Text a page draws with its own styles, such as the code on GitHub, can be marked with a callout but not highlighted.
- With the Highlighter, anything on the page that reacts as you press the mouse button still does: a list or menu can open, a slider can move, and a text field can take your typing. Links still don’t.
- Copy on a plain http page: Simple MarkUp can copy only on a secure page, such as https or
http://localhost. On a plain http page, use Export instead. - With VoiceOver on,
Endin the Markup elements list belongs to VoiceOver, which jumps to the last control on the page (Clear all). - Text size: the in-page toolbar and panel are drawn at fixed sizes and don’t follow a text-size setting. At very high page zoom the panel leaves the page little room; zoom out a step, or hide it with
☰. - Dark mode: the app’s window follows dark mode, but the in-page panel is light only.
- Not yet tested: Voice Control, and use with Reduce Motion turned on (every motion is written to honour it, but nobody has watched it that way yet).
Using the keyboard and VoiceOver
Almost everything works without a mouse, with or without VoiceOver: one place you are, drawn in blue, throughout. Three things need a mouse or trackpad, because each needs two points — drawing an arrow, highlighting part of a line, and framing a region of your own choosing. VoiceOver claims a few keys for itself, and where that changes what to press, it says so below.
The toolbar
Open with ⇧⌘M; move along it with the arrow keys, or VO–Left/VO–Right with VoiceOver.
⇧⌘M opens Simple MarkUp with the keyboard on the toolbar. Move along it with the Left and Right arrow keys, and press Return. With VoiceOver on, Left and Right belong to VoiceOver, so move with VO–Left and VO–Right and press VO–Space instead. Up and Down choose within the tools and the colours either way, and VoiceOver says which is selected each time you reach it.
Choosing what to mark
⌃⌘M opens a list of what is on screen; move through it and press Return to mark.
Press ⌃⌘M to go into a list of what is on screen — the top of the window included — in page order: headings, paragraphs, list items, images, links, buttons, fields, lines of code and other blocks. (Markup elements on the toolbar shows or hides the list; ⌃⌘M takes you into it.) Move with Up and Down, or VO–Right; the page outlines each one. The list’s last item is Page down and its first is Page up: choose one to scroll the page a screen and carry on with the next block, so you never have to leave the list to move on — each is dimmed when the page can go no further that way, and the Page Down and Page Up keys do the same. Press Return to mark it with the current tool — Space works too, and VO–Space with VoiceOver; a highlight made this way covers the whole item, except text a page draws with its own styles, such as code on GitHub, which can be marked with a callout but not highlighted. Tab goes the same way round as ⌃⌘M — the toolbar, then the list, then your marks once you have made some, then back to the toolbar — and Shift-Tab back; it stays in Simple MarkUp until you close it, with ⇧⌘M or the toolbar’s Close button.
Writing the note
Type your note, then press Return to save it.
Marking opens a note box. Type, then press Return to save it — you go back to the list, where you left off. Esc closes the box without keeping what you typed. Tab reaches the Done button.
Your marks
Each mark has a row in the panel — reach and manage them from there.
Each mark has a row in the panel, with its number, what it is on, its note and a button to delete it. Reaching a row brings that mark into view. From the list, ⌃⌘M reaches your marks; Up and Down, or Tab, move through them in order — a mark’s delete button, then its note, then the next mark, and on to Clear all. In a note, Up and Down move through your text, and go on to the next control only from its first or last paragraph. Return on a delete button deletes that mark. Clear all puts you on Undo, which brings every mark back; Undo and Redo say what they did.
Copy and Export
Toolbar buttons like the rest; Export opens the standard folder panel.
Copy and Export are toolbar buttons like the rest. Export opens the standard folder panel, which VoiceOver reads as usual.
Things that come up
Can I use Simple MarkUp without a mouse?
Yes, for almost everything.
Yes, for almost everything. Three things need a mouse or trackpad, because each needs two points: drawing an arrow, highlighting part of a line, and framing a region of your own choosing. Press ⇧⌘M to open it, then ⌃⌘M for a list of what is on screen, move to one, and press Return to mark it. A highlight made from the list covers the whole item.
Does it work with VoiceOver?
Yes, with VoiceOver’s own keys throughout.
Yes. Use VoiceOver’s own keys: VO–Right to move, VO–Space to press. The tools and colours say which one is selected, and every control has a name. Your marks are listed in the panel, where each one is read as its number, the text of the thing it marks, and its note — the marks drawn on the page are visual, so VoiceOver reads them from the panel rather than in the middle of the page’s own text. Two things to know: with VoiceOver on, End in the Markup elements list belongs to VoiceOver and jumps to the last control on the page, Clear all — though while a result card is on screen it can be that card’s ✕ instead — and pressing Clear all by mistake lands you on Undo. On the toolbar, End goes to its last button, with or without VoiceOver. And in the Markup elements list, the Page Down key (fn-↓ on a laptop) moves a screen and carries on with the next block, the keyboard equivalent of the list’s own Page down row.
The page has a dialog or pop-up open
Simple MarkUp doesn’t work on top of it; close it first.
This version of Simple MarkUp does not work on top of a page’s own dialog. Close the page’s dialog first, then open Simple MarkUp.
Part of a page is not in the Markup elements list
Mark web components with a rectangle or an arrow instead.
Some sites build parts of their pages as web components, and this version does not list what is inside them. Mark those parts with a rectangle or an arrow (both need a mouse or trackpad); a callout marks the whole component.
At high zoom there is little room for the page
Zoom out a step, or hide the panel with ☰.
At very high page zoom the marks panel leaves the page little room. Zoom out a step while you mark up, or hide the panel with ☰.