Accessibility Guide
DBeaver offers you the ability to use most of its features with a keyboard and screen readers. Here you will find a guidelines on how to use DBeaver without a mouse in some common cases.
Note: DBeaver is tested primarily with standard Windows keyboard shortcuts for accessibility.
Table of contents
General
Screen readers support
DBeaver provides support for various screen readers:
- NVDA. Find more details in the NVDA User Guide.
- JAWS. Access comprehensive information through the JAWS Documentation.
- Narrator. More information available at the Narrator User Guide.
To change the screen reader in DBeaver, navigate to Window -> Preferences -> User Interface -> Accessibility.
Structure and navigation
DBeaver is an application consisting of many parts, so-called Views, such as Database Navigator, SQL Editor, Data Editor, etc. A Toolbar with many buttons inside each View and horizontal and vertical tabs allows you to switch between Views and inside them.
Main navigation shortcuts
- You can switch Views by using Ctrl+F7 | ⌘F7.
- You can switch between buttons on the toolbars and menus using Tab and the arrows.
How to switch tabs
- You can switch horizontal tabs by using Ctrl+PageUp/PageDown.
- Sub-tabs can be switched by using Alt+PageUp/PageDown.
- If there are vertical tabs inside the view, you can switch them by using Ctrl+Alt+PageUp/PageDown or Ctrl+Shift+PageUp/PageDown.
When you focus on any interface object, such as a table, column, tab, or cell, you can open the Context menu to see all the actions available for that object.
To open the Context menu, use Shift + F10 | ⇧F10.
Shortcuts
Most of DBeaver's functions are accessible through special shortcuts. You can find them in Window -> Preferences –> User Interface –> Keys. If you mostly use the keyboard, you can switch to the DBeaver Keyboard Only scheme, which has additional shortcuts.
Learn more about DBeaver shortcuts
Colors and fonts
Themes: DBeaver supports theme customization to enhance your user experience. Among the available options, DBeaver provides integration for the High-Contrast theme native to Windows systems. For more details on this and other themes, see our comprehensive theme guide.
Fonts: To change fonts in DBeaver, navigate to Window -> Preferences –> User Interface —> Appearance —> Color and fonts, and open DBeaver fonts. The Main font allows you to change the font family, size, and color in most elements of DBeaver's interface, including the Database Navigator and the Data Grid. The Monospace font changes the font in the SQL Editor and other Views with monospaced fonts.
Data Colorization: You can color rows in the Data Grid by following some rules or even by selecting colors for particular data types.
DBeaver Views and Wizards
Let's see some comments on using the most popular Views in DBeaver with the keyboard and screen reader.
Database Navigator
In the Database Navigator, you can view and open all the database connections and objects inside them. You can move between database objects and open nodes using arrows.
- To view object properties, use F4.
- To open SQL Editor associated with the selected object, use F3.
See all Database Navigator shortcuts
New Connection
To create a new connection, open the Wizard window using Ctrl+N | ⌘N, then type connect and select Database connection.
Object Properties
The Properties Editor is used to see all the information about database objects. When you focus on the first row of the table, NVDA reads the contents of the row with the corresponding column names.
- You can open object properties with F4.
- To switch between left-side tabs, use Alt+Shift+Up | Alt+Shift+Down.
See Properties Editor shortcuts
SQL Editor
The SQL Editor allows you to create and execute SQL scripts associated with a database connection. To open the SQL Editor, focus on the connection or table in the Database Navigator and press F3. To execute the SQL script under the cursor, press Ctrl+Enter.
Result Set
When you place your focus on the first cell in the data table, the NVDA screen reader says the table name and the name of a column consisting of this cell. If you move from one cell to another, the screen reader announces the column names when you change focus.
If you need to work with columns using the keyboard, you can select an entire column, copy the column name, and resize the column using special keyboard shortcuts. Some of them are only available in the DBeaver Keyboard Only scheme.
ER Diagrams
ER Diagrams are fully accessible with the keyboard and the NVDA screen reader. You can move inside the table, move or resize it, and listen to the screen reader pronounce the table name and column names inside that table.