FUSION Pro Perpetual 2 SMA

FUSION Pro Perpetual 2 SMA

About the Fusion™Software

Fusion™ is the ultimate accessibility tool for individuals with any level of vision impairment. Fusion provides the best of both worlds – ZoomText®, with its screen magnification and visual enhancements for screen viewing ease, coupled with the power and speed of JAWS® for screen reading functionality.

By blending ZoomText and JAWS together, Fusion has flexible, high-quality speech using Eloquence and Vocalizer Expressive, powerful keyboard access including navigation on the web, and a wide range of customisation options.

Fusion is the perfect solution for schools, agencies, training centres, and businesses where individuals with vision loss are served. A single installer and one license gives access to both ZoomText and JAWS individually, or together when run as the combined solution – Fusion.

Fusion is available in two versions: Professional and Home Edition

A Professional license is used by schools, businesses, and other organisations. The Home Edition – for non-commercial use – is licensed to individuals for use on their personal computer

Download Fusion from the Freedom Scientific website.

Euro pricing may vary due to the fluctuating exchange rates.

1. Product Description

Software Maintenance Agreement – Fusion™

To support our customers, we have simplified how we support and help you or your team stay secure, compliant, and ahead of accessibility requirements. A 24 month timed Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) is now required to receive uninterrupted access to the latest product enhancements.

SMAs are essential for receiving ongoing access to the latest product enhancements, critical updates, and technical support. These changes are designed to maintain a consistent, high-quality experience for all users.

By maintaining your SMA, you’ll continue to benefit from the latest software developments, accessibility improvements and security updates designed to support you. You’ll also have direct access to Sight and Sound Technology’s specialist support team, providing you with expert assistance and peace of mind, so you can continue using your technology with confidence and independence.

If you do not keep an active SMA, you will incur additional costs when you want to upgrade your current software version. By keeping your SMA active, you’ll:

• Receive critical updates that improve performance and compatibility

• Access new features and technical fixes as they become available

• Avoid potential reinstatement fees or service disruptions.

If you already own a version of Fusion, you must supply your serial number.

What is Fusion?

Fusion is the ultimate accessibility tool for individuals with any level of vision impairment. Fusion provides the best of both worlds – ZoomText®, with its screen magnification and visual enhancements for screen viewing ease, coupled with the power and speed of JAWS® for screen reading functionality.

By blending ZoomText and JAWS together, Fusion has flexible, high-quality speech using Eloquence and Vocaliser Expressive, powerful keyboard access including navigation on the web, and a wide range of customisation options.

Fusion is the perfect solution for schools, agencies, training centres, and businesses where individuals with vision loss are served. A single installer and one license gives access to both ZoomText and JAWS individually, or together when run as the combined solution – Fusion.

Fusion™ upgrades are available to purchase only if you own an existing copy of Fusion™, and upgrades are now supplied as a licence key with a download link and your existing serial number must be supplied to access it.

A Consolidated Toolbar for Screen Magnification and Screen Reading

Fusion 2026 introduces a reorganised toolbar that brings together all ZoomText and JAWS functions into one easy-to-navigate interface. The new Fusion Toolbar streamlines access to magnification, reading, speech, and braille settings, making it simpler to control all aspects of Fusion in one place.

The Fusion Toolbar is fully accessible and supports keyboard, mouse, and touch gestures. You can tailor the interface to match your preferred interaction style, giving you complete control over how you work.

With all tools centralised in the Fusion Toolbar, users transitioning from ZoomText or using both visual and speech access can navigate their computer more efficiently and intuitively.

Advantages for ZoomText Users When Using Fusion

• Fusion offers a smoother, more approachable way to get started with JAWS screen reading.

• Fusion lets you read for longer periods of time by letting you listen to text and screen activity instead of reading everything visually.

• Fusion provides more advanced speech options compared to the basic speech features in ZoomText, allowing users to interact with the screen using only speech information if needed.

• ZoomText offers basic speech support, while Fusion allows users to access all available information through speech. With Fusion, users receive comprehensive feedback, including relationship details such as groupings, all status information, and more detailed feedback when using browsers.

• Fusion offers better keyboard navigation, which provides an easier and faster way to use the software. For example, Fusion has Navigation Quick Keys, which let you jump instantly to headings, links, tables, and other elements with single letters or simple keystrokes, making it faster and easier to move through web pages, documents, and emails.

• Fusion offers Picture Smart AI™ that quickly analyses a picture and then reports a description of the image.

• Convenient OCR is designed to make otherwise inaccessible text available for reading and navigation. It can recognise text in PDFs, images, or screen captures, as well as printed documents scanned with a reading camera or scanner. After recognition, the text is displayed in the Results Viewer window, where you can read it with standard commands or copy it to another application.

Advantages for JAWS Users When Using Fusion

• With Fusion 2026, JAWS settings have moved to the Fusion toolbar and are easily accessed from the JAWS Settings menu. In previous versions of Fusion, you had to press INSERT+J to access the JAWS Settings menu from the system tray. Now when you press INSERT+J, the menu opens directly in the Fusion toolbar.

• Fusion helps JAWS users who still have some usable vision by combining speech and keyboard navigation with visual enhancements. The magnified view and high-contrast colours make it easier to locate focus, follow along with highlighted text, and understand on-screen layout while listening with JAWS. This dual feedback provides smoother transitions between visual and speech use.

Overview

Fusion seamlessly integrates the capabilities of ZoomText and JAWS within one toolbar. The toolbar provides quick access to:

• Visual controls for magnification and colour adjustments

• Speech settings for managing voice output

• Reading and navigation tools for exploring documents and websites

• Braille options for users with a connected braille display

The toolbar also includes access to Fusion, ZoomText, and JAWS menus for more advanced configuration and customisation.

Toolbar Layout

The Fusion Toolbar is organised into tabs and menus, each containing:

• Buttons – Icon-based buttons with clear text labels for quick recognition.

• Groups – Related tools are grouped together for logical organisation.

• Menu Settings – Access detailed configuration options for Fusion, ZoomText, and JAWS.

Toolbar Layout Options

Fusion offers two main toolbar layout styles, letting you choose the interface that best fits your preferred way of working:

• Tab Layout – Mirrors the traditional ZoomText interface and is ideal for mouse users.

• Menu Layout – Reflects the JAWS interface and is optimised for keyboard and hotkey users.

• Optional Braille Tab/Menu – Adds braille configuration options when a braille display is in use.

By default, Fusion displays four main tabs: Magnifier, Reader, Navigation, and Tools. A fifth Braille tab becomes available when enabled. You can also switch to a menu-only view to make it easier and more efficient to navigate using the keyboard.

Changing the Toolbar Layout

To switch between toolbar styles:

1. In the Fusion menu, select Toolbar Layout.

2. Choose Show the tabs or Show the tabs as menus.

Your selection is saved automatically and applied immediately.

Braille Tab

The optional Braille tab provides quick access to all braille-related settings. You can easily show or hide the tab depending on your needs.

To enable or disable the Braille tab:

1. From the Fusion menu, select Toolbar Layout.

2. Choose Show the Braille tab.

3. When enabled, the Braille tab appears alongside your other Fusion tabs.

Enable Legacy Fusion Toolbar

If you would rather use the legacy Fusion toolbar instead of the new Fusion 2026 user interface, you can restore it by doing the following:

• In the Fusion menu, choose Preferences > User Interface > Use legacy toolbar format.

• Click OK and restart Fusion.

Updated Fusion Menus

We continue to update and improve the Fusion menus to make it easier to find and use features.

The following features are now located in the ZoomText Settings menu under Preferences > Advanced:

• Display Adapter

• Scripting

The following features are now located in the Fusion menu under Help > Technical Support:

• System Info

• FS Support Tool

• Remote Desktop

• Data Reporting

The following features are now located in the Fusion menu under Help > ZoomText Resources:

• Tools (this includes the FS Support Tool, Remote Desktop, and Fix-it Commands)

• Explore Utilities Folder

• ZoomText Help

Multiple 4K Monitor Support with Better Performance

ZoomText and Fusion 2026 use DirectX 11. This support improves compatibility with multiple 4K monitors and modern graphics cards. It also reduces memory and resource usage.

Save Settings Automatically

The “Save ZoomText settings automatically when exiting” and the “Save Fusion settings automatically when exiting” settings have been renamed. They are now “Save ZoomText settings automatically” and “Save Fusion settings automatically.”

For Fusion, all changes to speech and visual settings are saved automatically. This setting is always on by default.

For ZoomText, this setting is always off by default. To save ZoomText settings, you must choose Save as Default (from ZoomText menu > Configurations) or create and save a custom configuration.

Configuration Status Message

You can create multiple configurations to customise how you want ZoomText or Fusion to look and operate. These can be unique to specific applications or customized for your viewing preferences. Now when you select a custom configuration, the name of the configuration will display in the status bar area along the bottom of the ZoomText and Fusion toolbar. Note that when you close and restart ZoomText or Fusion, the default configuration is reloaded.

New Option for Shared Computer Environments

In shared environments such as offices, libraries, or schools, Fusion and ZoomText now include an option to start in a disabled state when a user logs on to a shared computer. This prevents magnification and speech from starting automatically for users who do not need them. Users who do need Fusion or ZoomText can quickly enable it by pressing CAPS LOCK+CTRL+ENTER (or by choosing Enable Fusion in the Fusion menu, or Enable ZoomText in the ZoomText menu), and it will automatically disable again when they log out.

To configure Fusion to start in a disabled state, do the following:

1. From the ZoomText Settings menu, choose Preferences > Program.

2. Select Start Fusion in disabled state.

3. Click OK to save the change.

To configure ZoomText to start in a disabled state, do the following:

1. From the ZoomText menu, choose Preferences > Program.

2. Select Start ZoomText in disabled state.

3. Click OK to save the change.

Other Changes

• ZoomText now works smoothly with the Dutch accounting software Snelstart.

• The Create New Freeze View hotkey has changed from CAPS LOCK+N to CAPS LOCK+CTRL+N.

Fusion Features

The following features are available:

Flexible Magnification

Full range of magnification levels up to 36x (up to 60x in Windows 8). Levels include: 1x to 8x in steps of 1, 10x to 16x in steps of 2, 20x to 36x in steps of 4, and fractional powers of 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x and 2.5x. 30 levels of magnification in ZoomText 10.1: 1x to 2x in steps of 0.2; 2.25x, 2.5x, 2.75x, 3x, 3.5x, 4x, 4.5x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x; 10x to 16x in steps of 2; 20x to 36x in steps of 4; 42x, 48x, 54x, and 60x.

xFont Magnification

xFont technology displays high-definition text that’s easy to read at all magnification levels. Smooth, bold and condense settings allow you to fine-tune the thickness and spacing of text for added legibility. With other screen magnifiers, the clarity of text is degraded in the magnified view. As a result, many fonts (text characters) are difficult to read, including small fonts, serif and italic fonts, and cursive fonts. With ZoomText’s revolutionary ‘xFont’ technology, you’ll see amazingly clear text at all magnification levels. All types and sizes of text are displayed with high-definition clarity, in all of your applications. Once you’ve seen xFont, no other screen magnifier will do.

Automatic Document Reading

ZoomText’s AppReader automatically reads documents, web pages and email within the parent application. ZoomText’s DocReader reads documents in a special environment where text is reformatted for easier viewing. ZoomText offers a variety of tools for quick and easy reading of documents, web pages and email. Each of these tools has unique characteristics that lend themselves to particular reading tasks.

AppReader

AppReader reads documents, web pages and email, within the parent application. As you enter and exit AppReader your view of the document does not change, providing quick and seamless transitions between document editing and reading. AppReader can automatically read through the entire document, or you can manually read by word, line, sentence or paragraph. As reading occurs, each spoken word is highlighted. AppReader settings allow you to customize the appearance of word highlighting, including the highlight shape, size, colour and transparency level.

ZoomText Magnifier Features

Includes all of the features of ZoomText Magnifier.