hierarchy

Unity Access — Hierarchy View

Overview

The Hierarchy View allows you to navigate and manage GameObjects in your Unity scene using the keyboard and NVDA.

You can select objects, add new objects, delete or duplicate existing objects, create Prefabs and organise objects into parent-child relationships.

Opening the Hierarchy View

The Hierarchy View opens automatically when Unity Access starts.

You can return to it at any time by pressing H.

Keyboard Controls

Key	Action
H	Open the Hierarchy View
Up Arrow	Navigate to the previous object
Down Arrow	Navigate to the next object
Enter	Select an object
Backspace	Remove an object
Shift+F10	Open the Object Options Menu

Navigating Objects

Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move through the GameObjects in your scene.

NVDA announces the name of each object as you navigate.

Press Enter to select an object. You can then inspect and modify its properties using the Inspector.

Adding Objects

The Hierarchy View contains an Add Object button.

Activate this button to open the Add Object utility, where you can add a new GameObject to your scene.

Objects created this way are not assigned a parent automatically.

To add an object as a child of an existing GameObject, use the Add Child option in the Object Options Menu.

Object Options Menu

Press Shift+F10 to open the Object Options Menu for the selected GameObject.

The menu contains the following options:

Delete

Removes the selected GameObject from the scene.

Before deletion, a confirmation dialogue identifies the object being deleted.

Confirm to delete the object, or cancel to return to the menu.

Deletion can be reversed using Unity's Undo functionality.

Duplicate

Creates a copy of the selected GameObject.

The duplicate:

• Retains the original object's components and property values.
• Has the same parent as the original.
• Appears in the Hierarchy View.
• Is automatically selected after creation.

The operation can be reversed using Undo.

Create Prefab

Creates a reusable Prefab from the selected GameObject.

The original GameObject remains in the scene.

Set Parent

Allows you to place the selected GameObject underneath another GameObject in the hierarchy.

An object selector opens, showing available GameObjects in the current scene.

Choose the object you want to use as the parent.

You cannot select the object itself or create a circular parent-child relationship.

Parent changes can be reversed using Undo.

Unparent

Removes the selected GameObject from its current parent.

The object becomes a root-level GameObject in the scene hierarchy.

If the object does not have a parent, no changes are made.

This action can be reversed using Undo.

Add Child

Opens the Add Object utility to create or add a GameObject as a child of the currently selected object.

The new object appears beneath its parent in the hierarchy.

For example, selecting Player and choosing Add Child allows you to add a Camera beneath Player.