Phone Instructions

Getting Started

From any touch-tone telephone, call NFB-NEWSLINE® at 888-882-1629 or use a local number if available. Using the telephone keypad, enter your ID number and the security code that you were given when you first became a subscriber. After the initial call, the system will remember your codes. You will need to enter your codes the first time you call from a different telephone number, however.

Main Menu Choices

1 - for NFB-NEWSLINE tutorials and announcements
2 - for your state's information channel
3 - for newspapers in your state
4 - for your favorites
5 - for newspapers from a different state
6 - for advertising circulars from national retail chains
7 - for magazines
8 - for television listings
9 - for job listings
0 - for subscriber's control panel (within this area, for local telephone look up, press 1; for voice control, press 2; to resume reading where you last left off, press 3; to enter a global search, press 4)

If you find you need more detail or clarification of the instructions, you can call NFB-NEWSLINE and press 1 from the main menu for the complete tutorial. The complete tutorial is divided into ten sections. Navigate to your lesson of interest by pressing 3 to advance to the next lesson or 1 to go back. You may also request NFB-NEWSLINE instructions in an audio format.

After selecting a category from the main menu, you can choose from newspapers, magazines, or topics, and then follow the prompts. The NFB-NEWSLINE service holds today's, yesterday's, and the most recent Sunday edition, if one is published.  

After selecting the paper or magazine you wish to read, the system will prompt you to select the section you wish to read (for example, sports, editorial, news, etc.).

Keypad Commands

When in an article, use these key commands to navigate through NFB-NEWSLINE:

1 - return to previous article
2 - return to beginning of current article
3 - move to next article
4 - read previous line
5 - return to beginning of line
6 - read next line
7 - slow down speaking speed
8 - change speaking voice
9 - speed up speaking speed
* - go back one menu
# - help mode for the current menu
#, 5 - spell (follow the directions)
#, # - search for a word or phrase (follow the directions)
#, 3 - hang up
0 - pause for 1 minute
0, 0 - speech control: 1 or 3 - adjust the volume; 4 or 6 - change the pitch; 7 or 9 - change the speed; 8 - change the voice

Your Favorites

To personalize your reading choices, take advantage of the favorites option and save as many newspapers and magazines as you'd like.

0 - to enter subscriber's control panel
6 - to begin the process of adding newspapers and magazines to your favorites; a list of publications will be presented in categories, including national, Spanish, and magazines, and then states will be presented in alphabetical order in groups of six; select the desired state where the paper is published and follow the instructions to select the paper you wish to add
9 - during the list of states, to advance to the next group of states in alphabetical order

After following the prompt to select the state of interest, listen for the available list of newspapers and press the appropriate key to add your selection to the list. 

The system will then return to the list of favorites you have selected. You can choose to read one or continue the process by pressing:

1 - to add another favorite
2 - to delete an item in your favorites list
3 - to delete all selections from your favorites
4 - to explore your favorites list

If you sign up for email delivery, the publications in your favorites list will be the ones that are emailed to you.


If you need help at any time while in an article or TV listing, press the pound key. You will hear NFB-NEWSLINE say:

"Press the star key to exit help, press any other key to learn about its function." When you press a key, NFB-NEWSLINE will tell you what that key does within the current feature. 

Spell Mode

While reading an article, if you hear a word you would like to spell, press the pound key and 5. NFB-NEWSLINE will pause when you do this, and read the word on which you have paused. Use the keypad to select the word you'd like to spell and then press 2. 

1 - to go to the first word of the previous sentence
2 - to spell your chosen word
3 - to go to the first word of the next sentence
4 - go to the previous word
5 - re-read the word on which you've paused
6 - go to the next word

Once you press 2, NFB-NEWSLINE will read your chosen word one letter at a time. Pressing 2 for a second time will spell the same word again. You can continue to spell other words by using the spell mode navigation keys or press the star key to go back to your article.

TV Listings

Pressing 8 from the main menu will bring you into TV listings. The first time you must tell us where you are located and how you receive your television signal. Go through the prompts and enter your zip code, then select your service provider from the menu, and then select your time zone. After you complete these steps, NFB-NEWSLINE will retrieve your programming information. It will start at the first channel in your lineup at the current time. You then navigate through the listings by pressing different commands on the keypad. For help with these commands at any time, press the pound key, and then use this menu.

1 - to go back one channel
2 - to jump to a different time, date, or channel
3 - to go forward one channel
4 - to go back in time to the previous program on the current channel
5 - to repeat the current program listing including the date
6 - to go forward to the next program on the current channel

After your initial call, the menu for TV listings will offer you the following:

1 - to change your setup
2 - to go directly to TV listings
3 - to create a temporary setup that will not be saved
4 - to go directly to your favorite TV listings
5 - to manage your favorite channels list

To personalize your TV listing choices, you may want to take advantage of the favorites option. At the first menu in the TV listings, you can press 5 to create your favorite channels list. The system will then bring up the channel lineup. You navigate through the channels to find the favorite ones you wish to add by pressing 1 to go back one channel and 3 to go forward one channel. You may also press 2 to jump straight to the channel number you desire. Press 4 to add the channel to your favorite channels list. At this point, you will be prompted to keep the channel number assignment or to change it. After you have initially set up your favorites list, you can then go directly to your favorites list by pressing 4 on the TV listings menu.

2 - to jump to a particular channel
4 - to add a favorite
6 - to delete

Press the pound key for help managing TV favorites.

For those of you who receive your television signal with an antenna, you can retrieve your listings. However, you will want to create a favorites list in order to assign the proper channel number to your channel. Listen for the call letters of your local channel and then add that channel to your favorites list. You will then have the opportunity to assign a number to that channel.

If you have a satellite company for your service provider, the local antennae channels will be imported into the beginning of your lineup automatically. You can also do a favorites list to assign a channel number to these channels.

Search Mode

To use the search feature, press the pound key twice while reading an article within the publication you wish to search. NFB-NEWSLINE will prompt you to enter your search word or phrase. There is a two-digit numeric code for all letters, numbers, and punctuation marks (see search codes below). After entering the appropriate codes, it will search the entire publication you are reading to find your keyword or phrase.

As you enter each character, it will read your entry back to ensure accuracy. When you have finished entering the word or phrase you would like to search for, press 99. NFB-NEWSLINE will begin reading the first article in which your search word occurs.

To hear what you have entered so far, press 96. To backspace to delete one character, press 97.  To erase the entire word or phrase to start over, enter 98.

To skip to the next occurrence, press 3. Keep in mind that your keyword or phrase may appear in an article more than once. NFB-NEWSLINE may tell you there are ten matches for your search, but all ten could be in the same article.

Search Codes


A: 0, 1
B: 0, 2
C: 0, 3
D: 0, 4
E: 0, 5
F: 0, 6
G: 0, 7
H: 0, 8
I: 0, 9
J: 1, 0
K: 1, 1
L: 1, 2
M: 1, 3
N: 1, 4
O: 1, 5
P: 1, 6
Q: 1, 7
R: 1, 8
S: 1, 9
T: 2, 0
U: 2, 1
V: 2, 2
W: 2, 3
X: 2, 4
Y: 2, 5
Z: 2, 6


0: 3, 0
1: 3, 1
2: 3, 2
3: 3, 3
4: 3, 4
5: 3, 5
6: 3, 6
7: 3, 7
8: 3, 8
9: 3, 9

Special Characters

Space: 0, 0
Colon: 2, 7
Period: 2, 8
Slash: 2, 9
Double-quote: 4, 0
Single-quote: 4, 1
Comma: 4, 2
Asterisk: 4, 3
At sign: 4, 4
Dash: 4, 5
Left parenthesis: 4, 6
Right parenthesis: 4, 7
Pound sign: 4, 8
Dollar sign: 4, 9
Question mark: 5, 0
Exclamation point: 5, 1
Semicolon: 5, 2
Percent: 5, 3
Plus sign: 5, 4
Equals: 5, 5
Less than: 5, 6
Greater than: 5, 7
Underscore: 5, 8
Ampersand: 5, 9
Clear phrase: 9, 8
Delete character: 9, 7
Start search: 9, 9

As you enter each pair of digits, NFB-NEWSLINE will announce the entered letter or number. If NFB-NEWSLINE does find the keyword you have entered, it will start reading at the beginning of the article in which it found your keyword. To go to the next search result press 3. Repeat this step to proceed through all the results. NFB-NEWSLINE will tell you the section and the article with the keyword or phrase. If it does not find your keyword, it will resume reading where you were.