SAW5

For the switch user, accessing the essentially mouse-driven Windows environment appears to be a formidable task. Not any more. Introducing SAW5 (Special Access to Windows) - it's software that enables Windows to be controlled by switches, joystick, trackerball or headpointer. SAW has many additions and features to make creating interfaces easy for those who use alternative inputs. It runs under most versions of Windows, and it's FREE!

SAW replaces the mouse and keyboard with a series of onscreen Selection Sets - arrangements of letters, words, symbols, numbers and shapes that can be automatically or manually scanned, item by item, and selected using switches. You can write, draw, move the cursor around the screen - SAW5 gives you the access power to all aspects of operation. The image below shows a selection set being used to enter text into a word processor.

We've created some freely-downloadable selection sets that cover mouse navigation, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express and word processing (with integrated links to Prophet, PenFriend or WordAid) and mathematical drawing through AccessMaths. See the Selection Set page for more details. Of course, you're welcome to develop your own and we invite you to distribute them through this website.

Choose your flavour

There are two versions of SAW, and both of them are free! If all you need is access to and customisation of pre-made selection sets, then try SAW Lite. For those who want to try their hand at the relatively straightforward process of creating their own selection sets, there's SAW Designer.

Downloading SAW5

SAW5 Designer and SAW5 Lite can be downloaded from their respective pages.

Some ready-made selection sets for SAW Lite are available as separate downloads from our selection set pages.

Last updated: 24/11/08