Learn about QuickBooks Time’s accessibility features and screen reader support.
Intuit takes accessibility of our websites seriously and we are committed to meeting the needs of all of our customers. This guide describes the general layout of the application, basic interaction, and assistive technologies that are used during quality testing.
Learn about:
- Navigation
- Header (banner)
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Interactive controls
- Supported Technologies
- QuickBooks Time VPAT
Landmarks
QuickBooks Time has four main landmarks to navigate the site:
- Header (sometimes called “banner”) - This has a visually hidden accessibility toolbar, consisting of quick shortcuts to navigate or interact with commonly used features in QuickBooks Time.
- Navigation - This is the primary site menu. Navigating to and selecting options here opens pop-up windows for the selected feature within the main section of QuickBooks Time.
- Main - this section contains the pop-up windows that are open.
- Footer (sometimes called “contactinfo”) - this contains legal, privacy, and contact information.
Navigation
Navigation consists of links that open features you have access to use. In QuickBooks Time, the navigation links change to a new feature by opening a pop-up window that contains the feature.
Some of the links have pop-up menus and are announced as “menu pop-up link” or similar depending on the screen reader. These pop-up menus are accessible to screen readers and keyboard navigation.
Pop-up windows
Selecting a link from Navigation opens up a pop-up window in the QuickBooks Time main section. You can have many windows open, but the windows are never duplicated.
Keyboard focus is put on the pop-up window’s container, or “region”, so you can immediately start working in that pop-up window. Each pop-up window has its own heading level one (H1), since it’s a self-contained region that acts as a distinct page. The H1 text tells you what that window is, so you know which windows you have open when navigating between them.
Each window has a button labeled “close”, which can be selected to close that pop-up.
Header (banner)
Located in the Header section, the Accessibility Toolbar has quick shortcuts to navigate or interact with commonly used features in QuickBooks Time. The toolbar is visually-hidden until keyboard focus is moved into the toolbar, at which time the toolbar appears at the top of the banner and disappears again once keyboard focus exits. For example, press Tab to move focus forward, or Shift + Tab to move focus to the previous selection.
It contains the following actions:
- Skip to main navigation - this shortcut takes you to the Navigation section.
- Quick actions - This displays a pop-up menu with both a quick action section and a skip to section. Navigate it using the up and down arrows on your keyboard, and close it by pressing Tab or Esc. This list has corresponding keyboard shortcuts for the quick actions. You can use the keyboard shortcuts at any time, not just in this menu.
- Clock in - clock in to the last job or customer you were clocked into. If you’re already clocked in, it’ll open the Time Clock window.
- Clock out - clocks you out. If your company requires custom fields, those must be filled out before you can clock out.
- Take/End a break - starts a break. If you are already on a break, it ends the break. An accessible dialog appears if there is more than one break to choose from.
- Close windows - closes all pop-up windows. Note: be sure anything you are filling out is saved before selecting this option.
- Skip to - Skip to links appear for any open pop-up window. Selecting one of the options will switch your focus to that window.
- Get help - This displays a menu with further help options. Navigate it using the up and down arrows on your keyboard, and close it by pressing tab or escape.
- Accessibility Guide - opens a new browser tab with this help guide.
- Chat with us - opens a chat dialogue with our support team, when available.
- Give feedback - opens a form to submit feedback that goes directly to our QuickBooks Time accessibility team.
Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts can be very useful, but they should be used with caution. For example, if you use the shortcut to close all of the open popup windows, you could lose data if you weren’t able to save your data first.
You can use the shortcuts at any time, with the exception if you are in a text field filling out data, the shortcuts won’t work.
Each of the keyboard shortcuts have a primary shortcut, which are keypress combinations, and a secondary shortcut, which are keypress sequences.
Important note: The primary keyboard shortcuts won’t work if you’re using MacOS VoiceOver with quicknav turned on. Also, the secondary keyboard shortcuts don’t work with screen readers.
Clock In
Primary shortcut:
- Press and hold Alt+Shift+I keys at the same time
- Press and hold Opt+Shift+I for MacOS
Secondary shortcut:
- Press CI (“C” and “I” without a space)
Clock Out
Primary shortcut:
- Press and hold Alt+Shift+O keys at the same time
- Press and hold Opt+Shift+O for MacOS
Secondary shortcut:
- Press CO (“C” and “O” without a space)
Take/End a Break
Primary shortcut:
- Press and hold Alt+Shift+B keys at the same time
- Press and hold Opt+Shift+B for MacOS
Secondary shortcut:
- Press TB (“T” and “B” without a space)
Close Windows
Primary shortcut:
- Press and hold Alt+Shift+W keys at the same time
- Press and hold Opt+Shift+W for MacOS
Secondary shortcut:
- Press CW (“C” and “W” without a space)
Interactive Controls
Interactive controls in older features may not use traditional elements and instead have selectable text. If you use a screen reader, you may have to select these controls using the screen reader’s virtual mouse (see also VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts). If you primarily use a keyboard, you’ll need to use a mouse to interact with these.
Supported Technologies
Accessibility testing for QuickBooks Time includes the following:
- MacOS with VoiceOver and Safari
- Windows 10 with NVDA and Chrome
- Windows 10 with NVDA and FireFox
JAWS isn’t used in testing but the latest version has been known to work well for Windows 10 + Chrome or FireFox. For more information about NVDA, visit NV Access - About NVDA or consult the NVDA quick reference guide. For more information about VoiceOver, visit Deque’s VoiceOver Keyboard Shortcuts guide.
QuickBooks Time VPAT
The Intuit QuickBooks Time Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) describes how QuickBooks Time accessibility features meet federal Section 508 Standards.