I just bought a Surface Pro 3 as YAC reading device. Then a saw a thread that with no real touch ability it's nearly useless on a Surface. I'm experimenting with voice attack and I know it's till early but I found when I flip the keyboard back you lose the keyboard so I was able to open a comic before folding the keyboard back, then fold the keyboard back, then orient surface like a comic book, make it go full screen or off of full screen with a voice command, then make it go forward or back with the pages with a voice command. I just wanted to try this to see if I could read a comic once opened in the proper orientation and go thru the pages. Next will be opening YAC reader and using voice commands to select the comic I want, open it then read it.

Which version of Windows are you using? On Windows 11 you can use the Android version from the Amazon Appstore.

www.yacreader.com/63-yacreader-and-windo...ubsystem-for-android

Mine is Windows 10 pro

Maybe you can try something like this: www.onmsft.com/how-to/windows-subsystem-...droid-on-windows-10/

Wow, that looks pretty intense, Not sure if a Surface has virtualization. I might check it out.
In the meantime, I've accomplished the following using voice attack:

Note: I am doing this in Windows 11 on a PC first then I will copy the profile to the Surface for testing, but it should be about the same. I've already tested some of this on the Surface.

Saying: Open Library>> Opens YAClibrary.exe

Saying: Down>> starts moving down the list of library folders

Saying: Up>> Moves up the list of library folders

Saying: Select Folder>> Selects the folder and opens the first comic in the folder

Saying: Next Page>> goes to the next page

Saying: Previous Page>> goes back a page

Saying: Close>> Closes the open comic

You can then use "Up" and "Down" again to select the folder you wish to select

I'm using a registered copy of voice attack but I think the unregistered version allows 20 commands and 1 profile, you could probably make that suffice

All I have left I think with my rough draft of this is finding a command to close the library and skipping around the comics within the folders.

I copied the voice attack profile to the Surface and it works pretty good. I'm still working out the details of how to get from the library folder in the left pane to the comic list in the right pane. I can do it with shift tabbing or tabbing, but the pattern seems unpredictable. If I have the folder highlighted and I shift tab or tab a couple times I can get it to the right pane and then up/down/select works fine. Then I can't seem to find a keyboard shortcut to get it back to the left pane. sometimes it takes 8 or 10 shift tabs or tabs to get it to the right pane. I'm not sure where it's going.

I also added a "full Screen" command to toggle the full screen on and off when I'm oriented in portrait mode for reading

Also is there a keyboard shortcut for closing the library app when it's open and in focus?

Thanks

Tony

OK, I did some reading and found that ctrl-Q quits the library app

This all works really well with windows 11 as a test bed doing everything with keyboard control translated to voice control using voice attack. I just need to scour the documentation to locate all the keyboard options.

I have voice recognition trained on windows 11, but not on the surface yet. The surface responds fairly well without any voice recognition training at all, so I'm hoping when I get it right it will work nearly as well as in windows 11.

Is there an actual keyboard method for navigating from the left directory pane to the right pane comic listing pane and then back to the left directory pane?

Is it even possible to navigate the library completely with only a keyboard?

Is there any documentation that lists the keyboard shortcuts all in one location?

I'm almost having more fun trying to figure all this out than reading the comics, lol!

I have about 30k comics I've been looking for the right hardware and surface 12 inch is great for this and YAC reader/library is the best app. I really don't like reading comics from my computer, because I can't relax. I want to read like I was actually reading a comic book(I'm 61 and collected in the 70s, wish I still had them, lol) So in my bed or in a relaxed couch or easy chair works. Laptops are too bulky and not oriented right.

Thanks for your app!

There is no good keyboard navigation between the folders tree and the comics view I am afraid.

You can check all the shortcuts in Settings -> Edit Shortcuts

I have a work around for the no keyboard shortcuts to get from the left folder pane to the right file pane and back

Using voice attack and the library app opening in the same location on the screen, I selected a mouse location on the first file in the file pane and then voice attack recorded the coordinates of the location, then the next thing voice attack clicked the left mouse button.

So my command of "right pane" selected the right mouse location on the first file in the list and left clicked the mouse so the focus was there. Then a right or left arrow key command moved among the files.

Then to reverse that I used a mouse location to select the left folder pane again and then left mouse click.

So my command of "left pane" moved the mouse cursor to the first file folder and left clicked it to put the focus back there.

Then I can use the up and down commands to move up and down the file folders.


I'm not really too concerned about all the other options, I just want to open the app, navigate the folders, select any comic within the folders, full screen, go thru the pages backward and forward, close the comic, select another comic within the folder or go back to the folders, and repeat, then close the app without using the mouse.

So long as the app opens in the same location, this works. I'm sure there is a way to use voice attack to modify even this, but for now I have what I need to make my surface pro 3 do what I want it to do to read comics

Thanks for the replies!

Tony