Important Messages, such as Service Disruption and Opening Times.
Hartgen Consultancy closing dates are as follows:
Monday 11 November through to Monday 18 November.
Friday 20 December 2024 through to Monday 6 January 2025.
During these dates, urgent technical support queries, together with sales orders, will be processed by Email only.
This is exactly the same procedure as previous years.
Are usual opening hours are Monday to Friday 9 AM to 5 PM UK time, excluding public holidays.
Leasey Version 8 is Released!
We're very pleased to release Leasey version 8. This is a major new release of the product which we hope you will enjoy. It contains new features and we expect to have many updates to come this year in the version 8 series which you will be entitled to receive as a Leasey 8 user.
This document contains details of the new features. It also contains help if you are upgrading from a previous version of Leasey and details of remote assistance if you have difficulty.
Each new feature is fully explained in our documentation. You can access the documentation online, in RTF format, DAISY Text and HTML.
There is a demonstration of each new feature in an audio tutorial through our LeaseyBites.
LeaseyBites are available through a link on every page of our web site, or by subscribing to a podcast feed from Apple's podcast service.
They are available on the BrailleSense, Humanware's Victor Reader products, Amazon and Audible.
Changed in Leasey 8.1.
Completely compatible with JAWS 2024.
It is hoped that the majority of difficulties with the new Results Viewer have been overcome.
When in the Placemarker Dialog Box, ALT+A should activate the Add button.
Pressing the Leasey key then ALT+K should route the JAWS cursor to the focused area of the web page and left click.
ALT+Windows+Grave Accent starts Microsoft dictation.
Within Microsoft Outlook, and you press the Leasey key then ALT+Windows+N, you should now be able to create a new Leasey Note.
The following keystrokes are available when Face in View is active. These keys are pressed by themselves:
O: Close Face in View.
D: Face in View description.
L: Face in View brightness.
P: Face in View Picture Smart.
U: Face in View change confidence threshold.
Previous Changes.
WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is an ideal service for sending instant text or voice messages, making calls or sharing files. Last summer, Leasey included support for what is known as the WhatsApp Web client. Now, that support is provided to the Microsoft Store app. Having used it extensively, we know you can move around the application quickly and the Leasey support makes it super easy to work with. This really is the ideal time to give it a try!
When searching for WhatsApp in the app store, you may prefer to search for "WhatsApp Beta". The official app works just fine, but there are some accessibility tweaks in the beta version and more are coming along every day. One was noticed this morning.
A group on WhatsApp has been created for those people who feel they may like a little assistance as this is a new platform for a number of us. To join, please let us know. We will then send you a link which you can activate so as to join the group.
Leasey Virtual Notes.
It is more than possible that you would like to work in one application while referring to notes in another one or within a series of applications. Here are some examples.
You may be writing a report in Microsoft Word, but you've made notes relating to a client which are stored in a text file which would typically be opened up in Notepad or another text editor. To get to those notes, you may have to press alt with tab a number of times to find it, especially if you have several applications open.
alternatively, you may be a person who does quite a lot of audio recording, and you need to read text which you have compiled from a number of documents or web page sources. You would need to start the recording, and then press alt tab often several times in order to move to the web page or document of interest.
a new feature in leasey version 8, called leasey virtual notes, makes referring to text a very easy process. You can stay within the primary application, such as Microsoft Word or your recording application, and still have access to your important text. It's a bit like a sighted person having two monitors side by side: one containing the document and the other displaying the text notes. Best of all, these notes can be from a variety of different sources.
Mastodon Address Book.
Mastodon is a social network which has become popular in recent months. One of its attractions is that you can express yourself more fully, as some of the server providers allow you to send messages comprising thousands of characters. after all, if you have to condense a message into a small number of characters, this can lead to misunderstanding and frustration. But one problem can occur, and this relates to how to remember the different addresses of the people you would like to write to. Meet the Mastodon Address Book which can help.
Mapping Folders to Drive Letters.
If you are fond of typing a folder path into the Windows Run, Open or Save As dialog boxes, you could find yourself entering something which is quite lengthy.
If the path to a folder location is reasonably difficult to get to, and you use it regularly, it would be good if you could save yourself some time in
order to save items there more quickly. A feature available in Leasey allows you to map folders to drive letters.
The Leasey Start Menu.
This feature arose as a direct request from a number of customers.
The Leasey Start Menu serves two purposes. It allows you to access computing applications you may wish to frequently launch. But it also allows you to
open common utilities in Windows it may be more difficult to get access to. One could assume that such a feature is designed for computer beginners. However,
we already know that experienced users of JAWS are benefiting from it.
Continuous Tagging in File Explorer.
Since version 1, Leasey has contained a feature called Leasey Tags.
LeaseyTags is an intelligent application which allows you to manage files within File Explorer.
For example, if you wanted to select files 1, 3 and 25 in a File Explorer list, perhaps for copying, cutting or deleting, this could be difficult. It can
be done using the keyboard but there is the potential for mistakes to be made. LeaseyTags makes this and other similar functions simple!
Leasey version 8 contains the ability to tag files in a continuous range. Activate the mode with Control+Windows+T. Then, press Down Arrow to tag files continuously. If you change your mind, and you wish to cancel tagging, press Escape.
Elegance for ElBraille and Focus Displays.
In some situations, we have found that pressing Enter to terminate Elegance mode on the Focus Braille display is not working correctly. Please try pressing Z-Chord instead.
Upgrading From a Previous Version, Obtaining Support and Other Notes.
As described in the documentation, when the computer is restarted following the installation, Leasey will check online to see if an activation file is available for you.
Assuming the file is found, it will be installed onto the computer and you will be prompted to restart JAWS for Windows. Please press the letter "Y" for JAWS to be restarted.
If a message box appears stating that an activation file is not available, please contact us immediately! This may occur if installing Leasey within a company or organisation, since the Firewall or virus checking software may block the activation file. If so, we can arrange for a manual activation file to be sent to you. Please include your JAWS serial number!
You can always copy the JAWS serial number to the Windows Clipboard by pressing the Leasey Key followed by letter U.
If you do not send along your JAWS serial number, all you are doing is delaying the fixing of the problem you have.
If You Need Remote Technical Support.
Remote Technical Support means that we can with your permission connect to your computer to resolve any difficulties with the Leasey program.
Please note this is not training!
If you require individual training, this can be arranged for an additional cost.
The following paragraphs will assist you in downloading and installing the Remote Incident Manager software which we use to provide advanced technical support and allows us to connect to your computer.
If you have Leasey installed, you can always press the Leasey Key then Backspace. If the Remote Incident Manager client is not installed, Leasey will install it in the background.
Alternatively, the software can be downloaded here.
Please go ahead and install the software. The installer is extremely straightforward. Just press Enter if necessary repeatedly so as to work through the various screens. When the install begins, it is likely to take a minute or two to complete but it will prompt you when the process has concluded.
When the software has been installed, you will find a shortcut on the Windows Desktop entitled Remote Incident Manager. Press Enter to launch the program.
Alternatively, you can press the Leasey Key then Backspace.
A web-page-like environment will be available with an Edit Field which should be focused.
The title of this page is: Remote Incident Manager: Receive Remote Help.
Some text is below this which is as follows: Please enter the keyword you received from the person helping you.
When prompted by the technician on the phone, type in the key word which you will mutually agree between you, then press Enter.
Thank you for your interest in Leasey!