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In-process 15th March 2024

Ven, 15/03/2024 - 13:01

It’s a busy time at NV Access HQ (and abroad!) so let’s dive on in:

NVDA 2023.3.4

As we wait for the new version of NVDA, we are pleased to announce that NVDA 2023.3.4 is now available. This is a security patch release, and we encourage all users to update to this release. Please see the NVDA 2023.3.4 release notes for full details and download links. Please note, however, this release and security fix are only tested on Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11. 2023.3 is the last NVDA version tested to work with Windows 7, and is considered insecure.

NVDA 2024.1 Beta 13

For those preparing for NVDA 2024.1, we are pleased to advise that NVDA 2024.1 Beta 13 is now available for download and testing from the 2024.1 beta 13 release announcement.

Last In-Process we were up to Beta 10 so there are a few new things since then:

  • Bug fix for interacting with some NVDA controls such as the synth selection dialog and selectable checklist items (Beta 13)
  • Bug fix for displaying emojis and Unicode symbols in NVDA dialogs such as the symbol pronunciation dialog. (Beta 12)
  • No longer report “native copy” when copying text in native selection mode in browse mode. (Beta 12)
  • Updated our GUI framework wxPython. (Beta 12)
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.4 (Beta 11)
  • Bug fix for updating incompatible add-ons to ensure they do not disappear from the add-on store list while downloading (Beta 11)
  • Restored heading numbering to the user guide and developer guide (Beta 11)
  • Added a table of contents to the key commands guide (Beta 11)
  • Bug fix for using BAUM braille displays (Beta 11)
  • Updates to translations (All Betas)

Please check the NVDA 2024.1 Beta 13 release announcement for all the details and download links.

CSUN

The NV Access team are very excited to be travelling to California, USA for the 39th annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference!

We have a busy schedule of meetings, coffee for jetlag, and of course, the NV Access presentation! If you are in Anaheim for CSUN, please do feel invited to come to our session:

Topic: NVDA 2024: New and upcoming features Date: Thursday 21st March 2024 Time: 2:20 PM Location: Orange County 1 – 2

We have FIVE of our six team members there, and look forward to sharing lots of info about NVDA with everyone.

You can find an online version of the information from our presentation at https://www.nvaccess.org/csun/ We have also submitted it to CSUN themselves.

Firefox Native Selection Mode

One of the features in NVDA 2024.1 is a new “Native Selection mode”. Toggled by NVDA+shift+f10, Native Selection Mode works in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. While enabled, copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

Let’s test it out:

  1. Open NVDA’s CSUN page at: https://www.nvaccess.org/csun/
  2. Press 2 to jump to the main heading level 2 heading
  3. Press shift+down arrow four times to select the first few lines in the traditional way, WITHOUT Native Selection Mode
  4. Press control+c to copy the text
  5. Open a blank Word (or WordPad) document
  6. Paste the text with control+v
  7. Press enter twice to leave a blank line
  8. Press alt+tab to go back to the CSUN page
  9. Press shift+2 to go to the previous heading level 2, the CSUN heading
  10. Press NVDA+shift+f10 to enable Native Selection Mode
  11. Press shift+down arrow four times to select the same first four lines
  12. Press control+c to copy the text
  13. Press alt+tab to move to Word
  14. Press control+v to paste the text
  15. Read through the Word document and note that the first pasted text is in “Normal” style with no formatting or links. Note that the second pasted text has CSUN as a heading level 2, and the link to the official CSUN site is preserved.

If a screenshot helps, then visually, the result of the activity should look like this:

That’s all for this week. We look forward to catching up with those attending CSUN. Please do download NVDA 2023.3.4 and / or NVDA 2024.1 Beta 13 (and if you check out the CSUN notes you might see some interesting information about something else coming up next week to do with 2024.1!) We’ll be back after CSUN with more news as we get closer to the big release of NVDA 2024.1!

NVDA 2024.1beta13 available for testing

Mar, 12/03/2024 - 04:33

Beta13 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Important Note:
  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 13:
  • Bug fix for interacting with some NVDA controls such as the synth selection dialog and selectable checklist items
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 12:
  • Bug fix for displaying emojis and unicode symbols in NVDA dialogs such as the symbol pronunciation dialog.
  • No longer report “native copy” when copying text in native selection mode in browse mode.
  • Updated our GUI framework wxPython.
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 11:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.4
  • Bug fix for updating incompatible add-ons to ensure they do not disappear from the add-on store list while downloading
  • Restored heading numbering to the user guide and developer guide.
  • Added a table of contents to the key commands guide.
  • Bug fix for using BAUM braille displays
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 8-10:
  • A bug fix where emojis in Windows Terminals could cause a crash
  • A bug fix for Native Selection mode in Word
  • Bug fixes to the installer process and ensuring NVDA exits safely
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 7:
  • When copying text in Microsoft Word with NVDA’s browse mode enabled, formatting is now also included
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Several fixes to Native Selection mode
  • Fix occasional error when the session is locked/unlocked
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 6:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.3
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 5:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.2
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

NVDA 2024.1beta12 available for testing

Mer, 06/03/2024 - 05:30

Beta12 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 12:
  • Bug fix for displaying emojis and unicode symbols in NVDA dialogs such as the symbol pronunciation dialog.
  • No longer report “native copy” when copying text in native selection mode in browse mode.
  • Updated our GUI framework wxPython.
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 11:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.4
  • Bug fix for updating incompatible add-ons to ensure they do not disappear from the add-on store list while downloading
  • Restored heading numbering to the user guide and developer guide.
  • Added a table of contents to the key commands guide.
  • Bug fix for using BAUM braille displays
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 8-10:
  • A bug fix where emojis in Windows Terminals could cause a crash
  • A bug fix for Native Selection mode in Word
  • Bug fixes to the installer process and ensuring NVDA exits safely
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 7:
  • When copying text in Microsoft Word with NVDA’s browse mode enabled, formatting is now also included
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Several fixes to Native Selection mode
  • Fix occasional error when the session is locked/unlocked
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 6:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.3
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 5:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.2
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

NVDA 2024.1beta11 available for testing

Lun, 04/03/2024 - 02:03

Beta11 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 11:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.4
  • Bug fix for updating incompatible add-ons to ensure they do not disappear from the add-on store list while downloading
  • Restored heading numbering to the user guide and developer guide.
  • Added a table of contents to the key commands guide.
  • Bug fix for using BAUM braille displays
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 8-10:
  • A bug fix where emojis in Windows Terminals could cause a crash
  • A bug fix for Native Selection mode in Word
  • Bug fixes to the installer process and ensuring NVDA exits safely
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 7:
  • When copying text in Microsoft Word with NVDA’s browse mode enabled, formatting is now also included
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Several fixes to Native Selection mode
  • Fix occasional error when the session is locked/unlocked
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 6:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.3
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 5:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.2
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

NVDA 2023.3.4 Released

Lun, 04/03/2024 - 01:33

NV Access is pleased to announce that version 2023.3.4 of NVDA, the free screen reader for Microsoft Windows, is now available for download. This is a security patch release to fix a security issue. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version.

Note: this release and security fix are only tested on Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11. 2023.3 is the last NVDA version tested to work with Windows 7, and is considered insecure.

Please note that as this is a patch release, the “What’s new” text has not been translated for this release. Users running NVDA in languages other than English, accessing the “What’s new” text from the Help menu will show the latest version as 2023.3. The correct current version can always be found in the “About NVDA” dialog, available from the Help menu.

Security fixes

Please responsibly disclose potential security issues to info@nvaccess.org following our security policy.

  • Prevents loading custom configuration while secure mode is forced.

Technical details for this security issue will be released in the future via this GitHub security advisory.

Bug fixes
  • Fixed bug which caused the NVDA process to fail to exit correctly.
  • Fixed bug where if the previous NVDA process failed to exit correctly, an NVDA installation could fail to an unrecoverable state.

For further information, please contact NV Access via info@nvaccess.org.

Important Note: Please note, after updating any software, it is a good idea to restart the computer. Restart by going to the Shutdown dialog, selecting “restart” and pressing ENTER. Updating software can change files which are in use. This can lead to instability and strange behaviour which is resolved by rebooting. This is the first thing to try if you do notice anything odd after updating.

Links

Close-up photograph of NVDA logo in notification area.

In-Process 29th February 2024

Gio, 29/02/2024 - 13:41

There’s a lot to cover this time as we approach the end of February. Lucky we have an extra day or I likely wouldn’t have got this out until next month!

Strategy planning

Hello from Melbourne! This edition of In-Process comes to you live from the 2024 NV Access strategy day. This in-person session is held once a year. It is a great chance for us to meet face to face as staff, and also to catch up with the NV Access board of directors.

We talk about broader issues like the general direction we want to go in with NV Access or new funding opportunities,. It doesn’t necessarily drill down to planning for specific NVDA features. So we won’t suddenly change NVDA 2024.1, for instance. The only impact on our work in the short term is that we’re all out of the office today and tomorrow so responses to queries may be slightly delayed.

NVDA 2024.1 Beta 10

We are getting much closer to the release of NVDA 2024.1. Since last In-Process, we released Betas 8 and 9 but pulled them fairly quickly due to issues stopping many users from updating. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we worked through that. We have now released NVDA 2024.1 Beta 10 which fixes those issues. Please do update and as always, do let us know if anything doesn’t work as expected.

Other improvements since Beta 7 include:

  • A bug fix where emojis in Windows Terminals could cause a crash
  • A bug fix for Native Selection mode in Word
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations

Download the latest beta from the NVDA 2024.1 Beta 10 release announcement.

WebAIM survey results

The keenly awaited WebAIM Screen Reader User’s Survey #10 results are out, and there are some interesting results.

It was great to see strong support for NVDA, the most commonly used screen reader, and neck and neck with Jaws as the most popular primary screen reader.

Nearly 64% of respondents reported being very satisfied with their screen reader. 97.6% of NVDA users reported being somewhat or very satisfied with their screen reader, a very pleasing result!

One interesting statistic was that not only was Chrome used by 52.3% of respondents overall, but also by over half of NVDA users who completed the survey. We know Firefox has traditionally been a popular browser choice with NVDA users. That is still true, and I think what the result represents is that many users keep multiple browsers on hand and switch between them as needed. Which browser or browsers do you use? Share why in the conversation in the NVDA user’s chat group.

Using NVDA at work

81% of respondents to the WebAIM survey reported using a different screen reader at home compared to at work. Most organisations are very pleased to let users access their chosen assistive technology. Particularly when they discover that NVDA is free for them to use, even at work. Many organisations value the peace of mind of having telephone support and training material. We have found that the NVDA Productivity Bundle is very popular for this reason. We even offer a discount where organisations wish to purchase ths in bulk for their users.

We do occasionally hear from people who use NVDA at home and are told they need to use something different at work. If this has happened to you, please do let us know. We are happy to work with employers to ensure they can tick off everything they need in order to install the technology users need. We are quite happy to discuss details such as security and internet access with organisations.

We have recently re-organised our Corporate and Government page. We have made key information easier for organisations to find. We do of course welcome any additional questions organisations may have. or feedback on the change.

GitHub AT User’s survey

Michael Curren, our founder, passed on this survey from GitHub which would be worth completing:

Github have passed along a survey in which they would like to ask some

questions about assistive technology usage with Github. They

may be interested in asking further questions based on the answers.

If you have the time, Github would greatly appreciate if you could fill out the survey, as NVDA is an important and large group of AT users for github.

Mastodon Windows app survey

Meanwhile, in response to a user question, I conducted my own survey this week. Someone asked which Mastadon clients for Windows are most accessible with NVDA. As Mastadon is one of our most engaged social media communities, I asked this question of our followers.

The results I got were:

  • Tweesecake 38%
  • TW Blue 30%
  • Enafore / Semaphore 32%
    • And several people use the web interface. Enafore is an updated project based on Semaphore, which users advise does not seem to be developed anymore.

      That’s all for this week. Do try out the latest beta. If you like it, why not tell us how you’re finding the beta on Mastodon using your favourite Mastodon client

NVDA 2024.1beta10 available for testing

Lun, 26/02/2024 - 03:32

Beta10 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 8-10:
  • A bug fix where emojis in Windows Terminals could cause a crash
  • A bug fix for Native Selection mode in Word
  • Bug fixes to the installer process and ensuring NVDA exits safely
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 7:
  • When copying text in Microsoft Word with NVDA’s browse mode enabled, formatting is now also included
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Several fixes to Native Selection mode
  • Fix occasional error when the session is locked/unlocked
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 6:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.3
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 5:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.2
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

NVDA 2024.1beta9 available for testing

Mar, 20/02/2024 - 04:42

Beta9 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 9:
  • A bug fix where emojis in Windows Terminals could cause a crash
  • A bug fix for Native Selection mode in Word
  • Bug fixes to the installer process and ensuring NVDA exits safely
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 7:
  • When copying text in Microsoft Word with NVDA’s browse mode enabled, formatting is now also included
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Several fixes to Native Selection mode
  • Fix occasional error when the session is locked/unlocked
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 6:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.3
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 5:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.2
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

In-Process 9th February 2024

Ven, 09/02/2024 - 09:49

We are continuing to get closer to the release of 2024.1. As well as a new beta for that, we also have a new 2023.3 point release. Also this week, we have a look at portable copies of NVDA. What are they? When should you use one, and how do you set them up? Let’s dive in!

NVDA 2023.3.3

NVDA 2023.3.3 was released recently. This is a security patch release to fix a security issue. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version.

For full details and to download, please visit the NVDA 2023.3.3 release announcement.

NVDA 2024.1 Beta 7

We are also up to Beta 7 of NVDA 2024.1. This is a great chance to get a feel for what will be included in the next version of NVDA before it comes out. And of course to ensure everything works as expected. If it doesn’t, please do report any issues.

And what is new in NVDA 2024.1 Beta 7? Changes in Beta 7 include:

  • When copying text in Microsoft Word with NVDA’s browse mode enabled, formatting is now also included
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Several fixes to Native Selection mode
  • Fix occasional error when the session is locked/unlocked
  • Updates to translations
  • the security patch from 2023.3.3. (This was first introduced in Beta 6 which came out after the last In-Process)

To read the full information and download the beta, head to the NVDA 2024.1 Beta 7 release announcement.

The release announcement also contains the full list of what is new in NVDA 2024.1, so do browse that if you haven’t already. We’ll start covering individual features next time around!

We have had a couple of questions around why there are so many betas this time around. There are several reasons for that. Firstly, the security patch releases. Each time we have released a security patch, we have also incorporated that change into a new beta. Next, we always planned a longer release cycle this time around because of some of the larger changes in 2024.1. One of the reasons this is an API breaking release is because there are some big updates internally. NVDA now uses Python 3.11, and many pip dependencies such as comtypes, py2exe, SCons and wxPython have been updated. While those terms will only make sense to developers, what it means for the rest of us is there are lots of changes under the hood. We’d like to ensure that those changes are all well tested, as well as giving the add-on developers plenty of time to update their offerings by the time the stable build comes out.

And, as we regularly say, we’d rather take a little extra time to make sure we get it right. To that end, we do encourage you to test out the latest 2024.1 beta. Please do report any issues you encounter on our GitHub issue tracker. You may prefer to run it as a portable copy to keep your add-ons working in NVDA 2023.3.3, so we’ve included a guide to that below.

Creating a portable copy of NVDA

NVDA can be installed like most programs on the PC. This allows for features such as having NVDA start on the Windows logon screen. There are times when this may not be possible, or wanted. Installing isn’t possible if you don’t have admin rights to the PC you are using, such as at a library, or when working on a sighted friend’s PC. Or, if you are trying out the latest NVDA beta version but don’t want to overwrite your stable NVDA install. There are two ways to create a portable copy of NVDA, from the downloaded launcher, or from a running copy of NVDA. Both end up the same, the difference is mainly in whether you already have a copy of NVDA running or not. Another advantage of portable copies is that, like installed copies, you can make whatever changes to NVDA’s configuration you need, and save them to use again next time.

Creating a portable copy from the downloaded launcher

This method is useful if you do not already have NVDA, or are trying out a new version of NVDA before installing.

  1. Download NVDA from NV Access (or from the release announcement for a Beta release)
  2. Run the downloaded file. This can be done from your browser’s download window, or by opening File explorer and navigating to “Downloads”
  3. Music will play while NVDA loads. Once loaded, the license agreement displays
  4. Read the license agreement, then press tab to the ‘I agree” checkbox, and press spacebar to check this
  5. Press tab to move through the options. The first option is “Install NVDA on this computer”. Press tab again to move to “Create portable copy”
  6. With the focus on “Create portable copy”, press enter
  7. The screen which appears asks for the directory to create the portable copy in. You can either type the address, such as c:\NVDA\, or press tab to the “Browse” button, press enter on that, and use the file explorer window to select the folder
  8. Please note: NVDA does NOT create a sub-folder. The necessary files will be copied directly into the specified folder. If you specified c:\NVDA for instance, then nvda.exe and all the other needed files would be created there.

  9. Press tab to “Start the new portable copy after creation”. Press spacebar to check if you would like to start the new copy once it is created
  10. Press tab to the “Continue” button, then press enter to create the portable copy
  11. NVDA will install the portable copy. This may take a number of seconds, or complete almost instantly
  12. NVDA will report “Successfully created a portable copy of NVDA at ” (where is the name of the folder used)
  13. Press enter to close the dialog. If “Start the new portable copy after creation” was checked, NVDA will restart as the new version, and the welcome dialog will be displayed

Creating a portable copy from a running copy

This method is available if an installed or portable copy of NVDA is already running. It is also useful if you would like to keep your existing settings in your portable copy. This is convenient when moving to a new PC and wanting to copy your settings over. The existing version can be setup as a portable copy on a memory stick and installed on the new PC from there.

  1. Have NVDA running
  2. Press NVDA+n to open the NVDA menu
  3. Press t to open the “Tools” sub-menu, then c to activate “Create portable copy”
  4. The screen which appears asks for the directory to create the portable copy in. You can either type the address, such as c:\NVDA\, or press tab to the “Browse” button, press enter on that, and use the file explorer window to select the folder
  5. Please note: NVDA does NOT create a sub-folder. The necessary files will be copied directly into the specified folder. If you specified c:\NVDA for instance, then nvda.exe and all the other needed files would be created there.

  6. Press tab to “Copy current user configuration”. Press spacebar if you would like to copy your current settings to the portable version
  7. Press tab to “Start the new portable copy after creation”. Press spacebar to check if you would like to start the new copy once it is created
  8. Press tab to the “Continue” button, then press enter to create the portable copy
  9. NVDA will install the portable copy. This may take a number of seconds, or complete almost instantly
  10. NVDA will report “Successfully created a portable copy of NVDA at ” (where is the name of the folder used)
  11. Press ENTER to close the dialog. If “Start the new portable copy after creation” was checked, NVDA will restart as the new version, and the welcome dialog will be displayed

Installing NVDA from a portable copy

If you have tested the portable copy of NVDA and decided you would to install that version on your PC, you can install NVDA from it. To do that, follow these steps:

  1. Have a portable copy of NVDA running
  2. Press NVDA+n to open the NVDA menu
  3. Press t to open the “Tools” sub-menu
  4. Press i to activate the “Install NVDA” option
  5. A screen of options is presented. The first option is “Use NVDA during sign-in”. This controls whether NVDA runs on the logon screen; this is checked by default. Press spacebar to uncheck this if desired
  6. Press tab to move through the other options and press spacebar to check or uncheck as needed. The options are whether NVDA should create a desktop icon and control+alt+n shortcut, and whether to copy the portable configuration to the newly installed copy
  7. After changing any options needed, press tab to the “Continue” button. Press enter to start the installation
  8. The User Account Control dialog appears. Press alt+y or tab to the “Yes” button and enter to accept this. This is required when installing any software
  9. NVDA will install. This should only take a few seconds
  10. A dialog is displayed confirming that NVDA has been successfully installed. Press enter to close the confirmation which will also start the installed version

That’s all for this week. Do be sure to update to NVDA 2023.3.3 and / or NVDA 2024.1 Beta 7, and do reort any issues you encounter on GitHub.

NVDA 2024.1beta7 available for testing

Mar, 06/02/2024 - 03:25

Beta7 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 7:
  • When copying text in Microsoft Word with NVDA’s browse mode enabled, formatting is now also included
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Several fixes to Native Selection mode
  • Fix occasional error when the session is locked/unlocked
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 6:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.3
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 5:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.2
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

NVDA 2024.1beta6 available for testing

Lun, 29/01/2024 - 04:32

Beta6 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 6:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.3
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 5:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.2
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

NVDA 2023.3.3 Released

Lun, 29/01/2024 - 02:54

NV Access is pleased to announce that version 2023.3.3 of NVDA, the free screen reader for Microsoft Windows, is now available for download. This is a security patch release to fix a security issue. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version. This is the last version compatible with Windows 7, NVDA 2024.1 will require Windows 8.1 and newer.

Please note that as this is a patch release, the “What’s new” text has not been translated for this release. Users running NVDA in languages other than English, accessing the “What’s new” text from the Help menu will show the latest version as 2023.3. The correct current version can always be found in the “About NVDA” dialog, available from the Help menu.

Security fixes

Please responsibly disclose potential security issues to info@nvaccess.org following our security policy.

  • Prevents possible reflected XSS attack from crafted content to cause arbitrary code execution.

Technical details for this security issue will be made available via a security advisory shortly. This will be made available on the NVDA Security Advisories page.

For further information, please contact NV Access via info@nvaccess.org.

Important Note: Please note, after updating any software, it is a good idea to restart the computer. Restart by going to the Shutdown dialog, selecting “restart” and pressing ENTER. Updating software can change files which are in use. This can lead to instability and strange behaviour which is resolved by rebooting. This is the first thing to try if you do notice anything odd after updating.

Links

Close-up photograph of NVDA logo in notification area.

In-Process 23rd January 2024

Lun, 22/01/2024 - 23:50

Welcome to 2024! I hope the year is starting off well for you. The NV Access team are all back on deck and looking forward to a fantastic year. If you have written to us over Christmas / New Year and not yet got a reply, bear with us! We’re still catching up on correspondence, and will get back to you shortly.

NVDA 2023.3.2

First up this year, we have a new release! NVDA 2023.3.2 is a security patch release, so the only change from 2023.3 is this one fix (and yes this is the second fix to fix the fix that wasn’t fixed in the first fix). All the exciting features we’ve started talking about for 2024.1 are NOT in this patch. New and exciting features and updates are all still coming in the 2024.1 beta (more below).

So, what does this patch which fixes the patch fix, fix (I think that’s enough of that)? “An issue was fixed (ok one more) that prevents possible system access and arbitrary code execution with system privileges for unauthenticated users.” Do check out the 2023.3.2 release announcement for the full details and download links.

Note that we have not yet (as of In-Process being published) released the technical details. These will be on the NVDA security advisories page once available – thank you for your patience!

Close-up photograph of NVDA logo in notification area.

NVDA 2024.1 Beta 5

Along with the new 2023.3.2 patch release, we also have a new 2024.1 beta – now up to NVDA 2024.1 Beta 5! There have been many updates since Beta 1. The one I’ll highlight to start with, is that yes, the security patch from 2023.3.2 is included in 2024.1 Beta 5.

Other updates since Beta 1 include:

  • Security patch from 2023.3.2 (I know, I said it twice)
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Add-on store stability
  • Fixes for combo-boxes (in iTunes & web browsers particularly)
  • Updates to documentation and translations
  • Speech mode fixes
  • Battery time reporting and mouse echo improvements
  • Updates to translations

What is new in 2024.1?

I listed the full “highlights” in In-Process when the first beta came out, but it is quite extensive. So, here is the dot point version of the highlights:

  • New On-Demand speech mode (& ability to choose which speech modes to cycle with NVDA+s)
  • New native selection option in Firefox, allowing copying of formatted information
  • Bulk actions in add-on store (eg enabling multiple add-ons at once)
  • Moved audio output device and ducking options to audio settings panel, NVDA+control+u
  • eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated
  • New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available
  • Many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio

Note that is only the HIGHLIGHTS. The full NVDA 2024.1 Beta 5 release announcement has a much more comprehensive “What’s new” link with ALL the changes.

Download NVDA 2024.1 Beta 5 from the release announcement.

Important notes

  • NVDA 2024.1 (Beta and later) breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported

WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey

The 10th WebAIM screen reader user survey is now open, but only until the end of January. This survey is important for several reasons. As the largest survey of its kind, it is good for getting a sense of what is popular. More than that, many organisations use the data to help inform choices and priorities around accessibility. We encourage all users of NVDA to complete the survey and have your views heard.

Welcome Gerald Hartig as NV Access’s New Chief Technology Officer

On 9th January 2023, Michael Curran, NV Access founder, posted the following announcement, copied here in full:

“We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Gerald Hartig as the new Chief Technology Officer at NV Access. With over a decade of expertise in software engineering and product management, Gerald brings not just technical proficiency but also a unique personal perspective to our team. His dedication to accessibility is fueled by his experiences as a parent of children with special needs, aligning perfectly with our mission.

Gerald’s responsibilities at NV Access include:

Defining product strategy and roadmaps for NVDA and related services.

Engaging with our user and open source developer communities to understand their needs and coordinate contributions.

Prioritizing issues and projects to streamline development and ensure maximum impact for all users.

Implementing innovative solutions to enhance NVDA’s global reach and effectiveness.

Overseeing technical infrastructure to ensure stability and security.

After 17 incredible years of working full-time on NVDA, I am excited to begin to transition these responsibilities to our new Chief Technology Officer. This change will enable me to dedicate my time to technical consulting for NV Access and its partners, but importantly also allows me a much-needed break to spend time with my family and contemplate new directions in life. Rest assured, my commitment and belief in NVDA stays as strong as ever, and I will continue to support its journey in every way I can. I am confident that under Gerald’s product leadership, NVDA will continue to grow and break new ground in accessibility technology.

Please join me in welcoming Gerald into our community, and I very much look forward to watching the next chapter for NVDA and NV Access unfold.

  • Michael Curran, NV access Founder”

Thank you to our supporters!

We work hard to ensure the longevity of NVDA as a free screen reader for anyone who needs it, anywhere in the world. This important value has helped us reach well over 250,000 users worldwide. We couldn’t do this without support from many wonderful organisations and individuals who donate to NV Access. Some donate as a one-off donation, and many setup a recurring regular contribution.

This time around, we would like to highlight two organisations who have supported us recently:

#ID24 – Inclusive Design 24

Inclusive Design 24 (#id24) is a free 24-hour online event for the global community. It celebrates inclusive design and shares knowledge and ideas from analogue to digital, from design to development, from planners to practitioners, and everything and everyone in between.”

Xero

Xero is Accounting software made for small businesses and sole traders.”

Thanks to both organisations for your support! And thank you too to all those who quietly donate in the background, without wanting recognition – we see you and thank you as well!

If you would like to donate to NV Access, we’d love to have your support – whether a one off donation or recurring. You can donate any amount too, it doesn’t have to be a lot. We are a registered charity in Australia. Donations in Australia are tax deductible.

That’s all for this time around. Do download either the stable point release, or the latest beta, and do share your thoughts in the NVDA user group. We’ll be back at the end of the month, as we get closer to the final release of NVDA 2024.1

NVDA 2024.1beta5 available for testing

Lun, 22/01/2024 - 08:20

Beta5 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 5:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.2
  • Improvements to documentation
  • Bug fix related to logging
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

NVDA 2023.3.2 Released

Lun, 22/01/2024 - 07:26

NV Access is pleased to announce that version 2023.3.2 of NVDA, the free screen reader for Microsoft Windows, is now available for download. This is a security patch release to fix a security issue. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version. This is the last version compatible with Windows 7, NVDA 2024.1 will require Windows 8.1 and newer.

Please note that as this is a patch release, the “What’s new” text has not been translated for this release. Users running NVDA in languages other than English, accessing the “What’s new” text from the Help menu will show the latest version as 2023.3. The correct current version can always be found in the “About NVDA” dialog, available from the Help menu.

Security fixes

Please responsibly disclose potential security issues to info@nvaccess.org following our security policy.

  • The fix released in NVDA 2023.3.1 was incomplete. The same issue should now be fixed correctly, preventing possible system access and arbitrary code execution with system privileges for unauthenticated users.

Technical details for this security issue will be made available via a security advisory shortly. This will be made available on the NVDA Security Advisories page.

For further information, please contact NV Access via info@nvaccess.org.

Important Note: Please note, after updating any software, it is a good idea to restart the computer. Restart by going to the Shutdown dialog, selecting “restart” and pressing ENTER. Updating software can change files which are in use. This can lead to instability and strange behaviour which is resolved by rebooting. This is the first thing to try if you do notice anything odd after updating.

Links

Close-up photograph of NVDA logo in notification area.

NVDA 2024.1beta4 available for testing

Lun, 15/01/2024 - 02:40

Beta4 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 4:
  • Security fix from NVDA 2023.3.1
  • NVDA should no longer fail to restart intermittently after opening and closing Add-on Store
  • Fix for interacting with comboboxes in iTunes and web browsers
  • Changes to documentation structure
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

NVDA 2023.3.1 Released

Lun, 15/01/2024 - 02:02

NV Access is pleased to announce that version 2023.3.1 of NVDA, the free screen reader for Microsoft Windows, is now available for download. This is a security patch release to fix a security issue. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version. This is the last version compatible with Windows 7, NVDA 2024.1 will require Windows 8.1 and newer.

Please note that as this is a patch release, the “What’s new” text has not been translated for this release. Users running NVDA in languages other than English, accessing the “What’s new” text from the Help menu will show the latest version as 2023.3. The correct current version can always be found in the “About NVDA” dialog, available from the Help menu.

Security fixes

Please responsibly disclose potential security issues to info@nvaccess.org following our security policy.

  • An issue was fixed that prevents possible system access and arbitrary code execution with system privileges for unauthenticated users.

Technical details for this security issue will be made available in this security advisory:

For further information, please contact NV Access via info@nvaccess.org.

Important Note: Please note, after updating any software, it is a good idea to restart the computer. Restart by going to the Shutdown dialog, selecting “restart” and pressing ENTER. Updating software can change files which are in use. This can lead to instability and strange behaviour which is resolved by rebooting. This is the first thing to try if you do notice anything odd after updating.

Links

Close-up photograph of NVDA logo in notification area.

Welcoming Dr. Gerald Hartig as NV Access’s New Chief Technology Officer

Mar, 09/01/2024 - 07:59

By Michael Curran, NV access Founder

We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Gerald Hartig as the new Chief Technology Officer at NV Access. With over a decade of expertise in software engineering and product management, Gerald brings not just technical proficiency but also a unique personal perspective to our team. His dedication to accessibility is fueled by his experiences as a parent of children with special needs, aligning perfectly with our mission.

Gerald’s responsibilities at NV Access include:

  • Defining product strategy and roadmaps for NVDA and related services.
  • Engaging with our user and open source developer communities to understand their needs and coordinate contributions.
  • Prioritizing issues and projects to streamline development and ensure maximum impact for all users.
  • Implementing innovative solutions to enhance NVDA’s global reach and effectiveness.
  • Overseeing technical infrastructure to ensure stability and security.

After 17 incredible years of working full-time on NVDA, I am excited to begin to transition these responsibilities to our new Chief Technology Officer. This change will enable me to dedicate my time to technical consulting for NV Access and its partners, but importantly also allows me a much-needed break to spend time with my family and contemplate new directions in life. Rest assured, my commitment and belief in NVDA stays as strong as ever, and I will continue to support its journey in every way I can. I am confident that under Gerald’s product leadership, NVDA will continue to grow and break new ground in accessibility technology.

Please join me in welcoming Gerald into our community, and I very much look forward to watching the next chapter for NVDA and NV Access unfold.

NVDA 2024.1beta3 available for testing

Lun, 08/01/2024 - 06:21

Beta3 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 3:
  • Bug fixes for excluding speech modes from the cycle speech mode command from settings
  • Improved battery time reporting message to pluralise hours/minutes/seconds correctly
  • Updates to translations
Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

NVDA 2024.1beta2 available for testing

Mer, 27/12/2023 - 02:02

Beta2 of NVDA 2024.1 is now available for download and testing. For anyone who is interested in trying out what the next version of NVDA has to offer before it is officially released, we welcome you to download the beta and provide feedback. By installing the beta you will be opting into NVDA’s beta channel, and will only receive update notifications for beta and release candidate (RC) builds. The beta channel will always keep you up to date with latest NVDA version, where the latest RC build will be identical to the latest stable build if no newer RC is available. To return to the stable release channel, upgrade manually to the latest stable build.

Highlights

A new “on-demand” speech mode has been added. When speech is on-demand, NVDA does not speak automatically (e.g. when moving the cursor) but still speaks when calling commands whose goal is explicitly to report something (e.g. report window title). In the Speech category of NVDA’s settings, it is now possible to exclude unwanted speech modes from the Cycle speech modes command (NVDA+s).

A new Native Selection mode (toggled by NVDA+shift+f10) is now available in NVDA’s browse mode for Mozilla Firefox. When turned on, selecting text in browse mode will also manipulate Firefox’s own native selection. Copying text with control+c will pass straight through to Firefox, thus copying the rich content, rather than NVDA’s plain text representation.

The Add-on Store now supports bulk actions (e.g. installing, enabling add-ons) by selecting multiple add-ons. There is a new action to open a reviews webpage for the selected add-on.

The audio output device and ducking mode options have been removed from the “Select Synthesizer” dialog. They can be found in the audio settings panel which can be opened with NVDA+control+u.

eSpeak-NG, LibLouis braille translator, and Unicode CLDR have been updated. New Thai, Filipino and Romanian braille tables are available.

There are many bug fixes, particularly for the Add-on Store, braille, Libre Office, Microsoft Office and audio.

Changes introduced in Beta 2:
  • Bug fixes for installing and uninstalling add-ons
  • Speech text is no longer updated when the mouse moves in the Speech Viewer
  • Syntax fixes for documentation
  • Updates to translations

Important Note:

  • This release breaks compatibility with add-ons made for NVDA 2023.3 and earlier.
  • Windows 7, and Windows 8 are no longer supported. Windows 8.1 is the minimum Windows version supported.
Links

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