How do I open a book in FSReader?

JAWS users may like to read Bookshare books with FSReader, a reading program that comes free with JAWS. If you are using JAWS but prefer not to use FSReader, please visit our article on Reading Books with a Screen Reader. If you'd like to use FSReader, please follow the steps below to open a book.

Download the DAISY File 

  1. Log in to your Bookshare account.
  2. Using the search field at the top of the page, search for the book by title, author, or ISBN number.
  3. Search results are listed as headings, so you may press the letter H to navigate through the list of results.
  4. Within the search results, select "DAISY Text" from the download format drop-down menu (combo box).
  5. Press Space Bar or Enter on the Download button.
  6. On the next page (My History), press Enter on the Available link below the status of the book you just downloaded.

Note: Entries in the My History page are also listed as headings so you may use the letter H to navigate to the title of the book, and then press Tab until you locate the Available link.

 If you are using Firefox or Chrome, the book should automatically save to your downloads folder at this point. 

 If you are using Internet Explorer:

  1. Press Alt plus N to view the notifications bar.
  2. Press the Tab key until you hear the Save option, and then press Enter.

Unzip the Book on Windows

All of our books download as .ZIP files, so you’ll need to unzip that book before you can open it. To unzip the book you just downloaded:

  1. Locate the book that you just downloaded. Books are usually saved to your Downloads folder by default.
  2. Select the book folder, then press the Applications key (or press Shift plus F10).
  3. Press T, and then Enter.
  4. Press Tab until you reach the Show Extracted Files When Complete checkbox and press Spacebar to uncheck it. Then press Alt plus E. 

Now that the book is unzipped, you can delete the .ZIP file in your Downloads folder.

 Open the Book in FSReader 

  1. Open FSReader.
  2. Press Control plus O.
  3. Press Shift plus Tab until you get to a list of files.
  4. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the folder where your book was saved.
  5. Press Enter on the book's title.
  6. Press down arrow until you hear the book's title with the letters .OPF at the end, and press Enter.

This will open your book. If the book doesn't read correctly when you use the arrow keys, press F6 until you get to the book's content. You can then navigate through the headings in your book by pressing the letter H. Insert down arrow will read continuously, and you can stop reading with the Control key. When you close the book, FSReader will save your place automatically.