Interact with help balloons

[nvaccessAuto]

Reported by challsworth2 on 2011-10-26 10:56
When a help balloon is displayed, allow the user to interact with it by simulating a left mouse click.
Blocking #3235, #5101

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 1 by jteh on 2012-07-23 23:31
If you press Windows+b, it should take you to the last notification area icon that displayed a help balloon. You should be able to activate it from there. However, while I tested this with one app, I'm not sure if this works in all cases. Please test and report.

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 2 by camlorn on 2013-04-19 19:35
This method doesn't work for me. It moves me to the last application to have displayed a help balloon, but not the balloon itself. Perhaps it's theme dependent. I get at least one of these a day that I'd like to be able to click; I was going to create a ticket but saw this one.

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 3 by jteh on 2013-04-21 01:15
You're correct, except that I've never seen an application where clicking the help balloon didn't perform the same task as clicking the notification area icon at that time. That doesn't mean to say there aren't any. Can you give an example, explaining what clicking the balloon would do as compared to what clicking the icon does?

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 4 by camlorn on 2013-05-11 02:49
I should have remembered to check this, thus being able to provide you with the example I had tested with, but I can not remember what it is now. I want to say it was dropbox, and will consequently try to repeat the setup. I believe I know why it didn't work, but don't want to comment as I haven't looked in 3 weeks.

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 5 by camlorn on 2013-05-11 16:27
yes, it was dropbox:
Basically, at least in the case of dropbox, it shows the balloon but doesn't change the icon. That is, clicking the balloon will do it, but clicking the icon in the notification tray will not. "x files have been updated in your drobpox click here to view" actually has to be clicked, not the icon in the notification area, at least for me.
I can live without this, but it would be nice to have. I imagine that there are more apps that we aren't immediately aware of that do something similar, that is, separate the balloon from the icon completely.

[bhavyashah]

IMHO, proper access to help balloons should have been looked into years ago given the clear demand for the same. Regardless, given that Windows 10 uses toast notifications which I believe are accessible, and clearly, Windows 10 is the future and not Windows 7/8.1, I suppose the priority of this feature is no longer high. Thoughts?

[Adriani90]

Support for Windows 8.1 ended in January 2023 so I don't expect any further accessibility updates to that Windows version.
Dropbox notifications are displayed in the notification center in Windows 10 and 11 which can be accessed by pressing windows+a or windows+n shortcut.
I am closing this issue as works for me. If you are still having it, please comment and we can reopen.