What is Picture Smart and How Do I Use It?

Picture Smart is a feature in JAWS that uses artificial intelligence to describe images, charts, slides, and other visual content that may not have alternative text. It helps you understand what is in a picture, such as the number of people, their appearance, activities, landmarks, text in the image, and more.

You can use Picture Smart in different contexts:

• On a web page, it describes the focused image or control.
• In File Explorer, it describes the selected image file.
• In PowerPoint or Teams, it describes the current slide.
• In Outlook, it can describe a signature
• It can also describe the entire screen or the current application window.

To use Picture Smart:

1. Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, then P to activate the Picture Smart layer.
2. Press one of the following keys:
   • C to describe a selected image or control.
   • F to describe a selected image file in File Explorer.
   • S to describe the entire screen.
   • W to describe the current application window.
   • A to acquire and describe an image from a scanner or Pearl camera.

JAWS will then analyse the image and display a description in the Results Viewer. You can also ask follow-up questions about the image for more details.

Picture Smart is especially useful for understanding images in emails, social media, presentations, and websites where visual information is important but not otherwise accessible.