Others may have comments on what I've written and may want to change it in various ways.

This is my idea, of what the kind of guide we are discussing should be like.  I think that discussion and commands is better than just a list of commands.  The titles between sections could be turned into headings in the document as it is developed.

This proposed document may save Che some work and may be useful in considering how such a document might be written.

The document is not complete.  I would add a little information about a few other things such as help and the quick commands reference guide and perhaps this list.  But this is my idea of how most of such a document might be written.

I haven't discussed laptop layout nor given such commands and others may wish to discuss whether that should be done.

The draft is below my signature.

Gene

When using NVDA or any other screen-reader than JAWS, a lot of what you will do will be the same because a lot or most of what you do will be working with program and Windows commands and they, of course, remain the same.

This guide will give commands you will very likely want to use immediately.  It will discuss similarities and differences of commands.
It will also tell you how to get context sensitive help and discuss the NVDA menu briefly.

Speech settings.
To open the speech setting dialog, use the command control, NVDA key, v.
You are on a field that announces the synthesizer you are using.
Tab once to a change button, press the space bar, and choose a different one if you wish.
Change it in the combo box and press enter.
You are now back in the dialog you were in before.
Continue to tab around to adjust rate, punctuation, and other settings.
Activate the OK button when finished.
You can change punctuation levels on the fly with the command NVDA key, p.  It cycles through the levels.

Document formatting
To change what NVDA announces about documents, open the document formatting dialog with control, NVDA, d.
Tab around the dialog and see the large number of changes you can make.
If you want information about a setting, press f1.  The user manual will open in your default browser where the setting is discussed. This is similar to context sensitive help.
Close the browser as usual and you will be back in the dialog.

Browse mode settings
Browse mode is what NVDA calls the Virtual PC cursor.  It is another name for the same thing.
Quick navigation commands are almost identical.
Find is NVDA key, f.
To manually turn off browse mode, use NVDA key, space.  To manually turn it on, use the same command, its a toggle.
The command is equivalent to  JAWS key z.
If you want verbal notification about which mode you have switched to instead of a sound, you can change this in browse mode settings.
To display all links on their own lines, as JAWS does by default, uncheck the use screen layout, when supported check box in browse mode settings.

To change browse mode settings, open the dialog with control NVDA b.
Using Context sensative help can be done in all settings dialogs, as explained above.

Browse mode in office.
You can turn browse mode on and off in Office programs.  The same browse mode toggle command is used as in a browser, NVDA key, space.

Read to end
The read to end command in NVDA is NVDA key down arrow.  Use down arrow on the main keyboard, not numpad 2.
Read current line
Read current line is NVDA key, up arrow, using up arrow on the main keyboard.
Press the command twice quickly to have the line spelled, three times quickly to have it spelled phonetically.
Other review commands
These commands move what is called the object navigator and not the application cursor.
Current line, numpad 8.
Previous line, numpad 7.
Next line, numpad 9.
The same pattern holds for other commands in this discussion.
Current word, numpad 5.
Previous word, numpad 4.
Next wordd, numpad 6.
Current character, numpad 2.
Previous carachter, numpad 1.
Next carachter numpad 3.
Pressing the read current keys two and three times quickly will do the same things as doing so using read current commands in JAWS.

The system tray
NVDA has no system tray dialog.
To use the system tray, do the following.  These are Windows commands.
Windows key b moves you to the system tray.
Move with the left and right arrow keys or first letter navigation to the icon you want.
Use the following commands on ic
Double left click, enter.
Single left click, space.
Single right click, context menu key or shift f10.
The following three commands remain the same.
NVDA f12 announces the time.  Pressing twice announces the date.
NVDA t announces the title bar.
Pressing twice spells what is there.
Pressing three times copies the text to the clipboard.
NVDA does more with the command than JAWS, which only announces the title bar.
You can use input help in NVDA.  The toggle is the same, NVDA key, f1.