What's New in NVDA

2021.3.1

This is a minor release to fix several issues in 2021.3.

Changes

Bug Fixes

2021.3

This release introduces support for the new HID Braille specification. This specification aims to standardise support for Braille Displays without needing individual drivers. There are updates to eSpeak-NG and LibLouis, including new Russian and Tshivenda tables. Error sounds can be enabled in stable builds of NVDA via a new advanced settings option. Say all in Word now scrolls the view to keep the current position visible. There are lots of improvements when using Office with UIA. One UIA fix is that Outlook now ignores more types of layout tables in messages.

Important notes:

Due to an update to our security certificate, a small number of users get an error when NVDA 2021.2 checks for updates. NVDA now asks Windows to update security certificates, which will prevent this error in future. Affected users will need to download this update manually.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2021.2

This release introduces preliminary Windows 11 support. While Windows 11 is yet to be released, this release has been tested on preview versions of Windows 11. This includes an important fix for Screen Curtain (see important notes). The COM Registration Fixing Tool can now resolve more problems when running NVDA. There are updates to the synthesizer eSpeak and braille translator LibLouis. There are also various bug fixes and improvements, notably for braille support and Windows terminals, calculator, emoji panel and clipboard history.

Important notes

Due to a change in the Windows Magnification API, Screen Curtain had to be updated to support the newest versions of Windows. Use NVDA 2021.2 to activate Screen Curtain with Windows 10 21H2 (10.0.19044) or later. This includes Windows 10 Insiders and Windows 11. For security purposes, when using a new version of Windows, get visual confirmation that the Screen Curtain makes the screen entirely black.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2021.1

This release includes optional experimental support for UIA in Excel and Chromium browsers. There are fixes for several languages, and for accessing links in Braille. There are updates to Unicode CLDR, mathematical symbols, and LibLouis. As well as many bug fixes and improvements, including in Office, Visual Studio, and several languages.

Note:

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2020.4

This release includes new Chinese Input methods, an update to Liblouis and the elements list (NVDA+f7) now works in focus mode. Context sensitive help is now available when pressing F1 in NVDA dialogs. Improvements to symbol pronunciation rules, speech dictionary, Braille message and skim reading. Bug fixes and improvements to Mail, Outlook, Teams, Visual Studio, Azure Data Studio, Foobar2000. On the web, there are improvements to Google Docs, and greater support for ARIA. Plus many other important bug fixes and improvements.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2020.3

This release includes several large improvements to stability and performance particularly in Microsoft Office applications. There are new settings to toggle touchscreen support and graphics reporting. The existence of marked (highlighted) content can be reported in browsers, and there are new German braille tables.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes For Developers

2020.2

Highlights of this release include support for a new braille display from Nattiq, better support for ESET antivirus GUI and Windows Terminal, performance improvements in 1Password, and with Windows OneCore synthesizer. Plus many other important bug fixes and improvements.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes For Developers

2020.1

Highlights of this release include support for several new braille displays from HumanWare and APH, plus many other important bug fixes such as the ability to again read math in Microsoft Word using MathPlayer / MathType.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2019.3

NVDA 2019.3 is a very significant release containing many under-the-hood changes including the upgrade of Python 2 to Python 3, and a major re-write of NVDA's speech subsystem. Although these changes do break compatibility with older NVDA add-ons, the upgrade to Python 3 is necessary for security, and the changes to speech allow for some exciting innovations in the near future. Other highlights in this release include 64 bit support for Java VMs, Screen Curtain and Focus Highlight functionality, support for more braille displays and a new Braille viewer, and many many other bug fixes.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2019.2.1

This is a minor release to fix several crashes present in 2019.2. Fixes include:

2019.2

Highlights of this release include auto detection of Freedom Scientific braille displays, an experimental setting in the Advanced panel to stop browse mode from automatically moving focus (which may provide performance improvements), a rate boost option for the Windows OneCore synthesizer to achieve very fast rates, and many other bug fixes.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2019.1.1

This point release fixes the following bugs:

2019.1

Highlights of this release include performance improvements when accessing both Microsoft word and Excel, stability and security improvements such as support for add-ons with version compatibility information, and many other bug fixes.

Please note that starting from this release of NVDA, custom appModules, globalPlugins, braille display drivers and synth drivers will no longer be automatically loaded from your NVDA user configuration directory. Rather these should be installed as part of an NVDA add-on. For those developing code for an add-on, code for testing can be placed in a new developer scratchpad directory in the NVDA user configuration directory, if the Developer scratchpad option is turned on in NVDA's new Advanced settings panel. These changes are necessary to better ensure compatibility of custom code, so that NVDA does not break when this code becomes incompatible with newer releases. Please refer to the list of changes further down for more details on this and how add-ons are now better versioned.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2018.4.1

This release fixes a crash at start up if NVDA's user interface language is set to Aragonese. (#9089)

2018.4

Highlights of this release include performance improvements in recent Mozilla Firefox versions, announcement of emojis with all synthesizers, reporting of replied/forwarded status in Outlook, reporting the distance of the cursor to the edge of a Microsoft Word page, and many bug fixes.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2018.3.2

This is a minor release to work around a crash in Google Chrome when navigating tweetts on www.twitter.com. (#8777)

2018.3.1

This is a minor release to fix a critical bug in NVDA which caused 32 bit versions of Mozilla Firefox to crash. (#8759)

2018.3

Highlights of this release include automatic detection of many Braille displays, support for new Windows 10 features including the Windows 10 Emoji input panel, and many other bug fixes.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2018.2.1

This release includes translation updates due to last-minute removal of a feature which caused problems.

2018.2

Highlights of this release include Support for tables in Kindle for PC, support for HumanWare BrailleNote Touch and BI14 Braille displays, Improvements to both Onecore and Sapi5 speech synthesizers, improvements in Microsoft Outlook and much more.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for developers

2018.1.1

This is a special release of NVDA which addresses a bug in the Onecore Windows Speech synthesizer driver, which was causing it to speak with a higher pitch and speed in Windows 10 Redstone 4 (1803). (#8082)

2018.1

Highlights of this release include support for charts in Microsoft word and PowerPoint, support for new braille displays including Eurobraille and the Optelec protocol converter, improved support for Hims and Optelec braille displays, performance improvements for Mozilla Firefox 58 and higher, and much more.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for developers

2017.4

Highlights of this release include many fixes and enhancements to web support including browse mode for web dialogs by default, better reporting of field group labels in browse mode, support for new Windows 10 technologies such as Windows Defender Application Guard and Windows 10 on ARM64, and automatic reporting of screen orientation and battery status. Please note that this version of NVDA no longer supports Windows XP or Windows Vista. The minimum requirement for NVDA is now windows 7 with Service Pack 1.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2017.3

Highlights of this release include input of contracted braille, support for new Windows OneCore voices available on Windows 10, in-built support for Windows 10 OCR, and many significant improvements regarding Braille and the web.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2017.2

Highlights of this release include full support for audio ducking in the Windows 10 Creators Update; fixes for several selection issues in browse mode, including problems with select all; significant improvements in Microsoft Edge support; and improvements on the web such as indication of elements marked as current (using aria-current).

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2017.1

Highlights of this release include reporting of sections and text columns in Microsoft Word; Support for reading, navigating and annotating books in Kindle for PC; and improved support for Microsoft Edge.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2016.4

Highlights of this release include improved support for Microsoft Edge; browse mode in the Windows 10 Mail app; and significant improvements to NVDA's dialogs.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2016.3

Highlights of this release include the ability to disable individual add-ons; support for form fields in Microsoft Excel; significant improvements to reporting of colors; fixes and improvements related to several braille displays; and fixes and improvements to support for Microsoft Word.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2016.2.1

This release fixes crashes in Microsoft Word:

2016.2

Highlights of this release include the ability to indicate spelling errors while typing; support for reporting grammar errors in Microsoft Word; and improvements and fixes to Microsoft Office support.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2016.1

Highlights of this release include the ability to optionally lower the volume of other sounds; improvements to braille output and braille display support; several significant fixes to Microsoft Office support; and fixes to browse mode in iTunes.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2015.4

Highlights of this release include performance improvements in Windows 10; inclusion in the Ease of Access Center in Windows 8 and later; enhancements for Microsoft Excel, including listing and renaming of sheets and access to locked cells in protected sheets; and support for editing of rich text in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Mozilla Thunderbird.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

2015.3

Highlights of this release include initial support for Windows 10; the ability to disable single letter navigation in browse mode (useful for some web apps); improvements in Internet Explorer; and fixes for garbled text when typing in certain applications with braille enabled.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2015.2

Highlights of this release include the ability to read charts in Microsoft Excel and support for reading and interactive navigation of mathematical content.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2015.1

Highlights of this release include browse mode for documents in Microsoft Word and Outlook; major enhancements to support for Skype for Desktop; and significant fixes for Microsoft Internet Explorer.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2014.4

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2014.3

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2014.2

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

2014.1

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2013.3

New Features

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2013.2

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2013.1.1

This release fixes the problem where NVDA crashed when started if configured to use the Irish language, as well as including updates to translations and some other bug fixes.

Bug Fixes

2013.1

Highlights of this release include a more intuitive and consistent laptop keyboard layout; basic support for Microsoft PowerPoint; support for long descriptions in web browsers; and support for input of computer braille for braille displays which have a braille keyboard.

Important

New Laptop Keyboard Layout

The laptop keyboard layout has been completely redesigned in order to make it more intuitive and consistent. The new layout uses the arrow keys in combination with the NVDA key and other modifiers for review commands.

Please note the following changes to commonly used commands:

Name Key
Say all NVDA+a
Read current line NVDA+l
Read current text selection NVDA+shift+s
Report status bar NVDA+shift+end

In addition, among other changes, all of the object navigation, text review, mouse click and synth settings ring commands have changed. Please see the Commands Quick Reference document for the new keys.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2012.3

Highlights of this release include support for Asian character input; experimental support for touch screens on Windows 8; reporting of page numbers and improved support for tables in Adobe Reader; table navigation commands in focused table rows and Windows list-view controls; support for several more braille displays; and reporting of row and column headers in Microsoft Excel.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2012.2.1

This release addresses several potential security issues (by upgrading Python to 2.7.3).

2012.2

Highlights of this release include an in-built installer and portable creation feature, automatic updates, easy management of new NVDA add-ons, announcement of graphics in Microsoft Word, support for Windows 8 Metro style apps, and several important bug fixes.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2012.1

Highlights of this release include features for more fluent reading of braille; indication of document formatting in braille; access to much more formatting information and improved performance in Microsoft Word; and support for the iTunes Store.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2011.3

Highlights of this release include automatic speech language switching when reading documents with appropriate language information; support for 64 bit Java Runtime Environments; reporting of text formatting in browse mode in Mozilla applications; better handling of application crashes and freezes; and initial fixes for Windows 8.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2011.2

Highlights of this release include major improvements concerning punctuation and symbols, including configurable levels, custom labelling and character descriptions; no pauses at the end of lines during say all; improved support for ARIA in Internet Explorer; better support for XFA/LiveCycle PDF documents in Adobe Reader; access to text written to the screen in more applications; and access to formatting and color information for text written to the screen.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2011.1.1

This release fixes several security and other important issues found in NVDA 2011.1.

Bug Fixes

2011.1

Highlights of this release include automatic reporting of new text output in mIRC, PuTTY, Tera Term and SecureCRT; support for global plugins; announcement of bullets and numbering in Microsoft Word; additional key bindings for braille displays, including keys to move to the next and previous line; support for several Baum, HumanWare and APH braille displays; and reporting of colors for some controls, including IBM Lotus Symphony text controls.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

Changes for Developers

2010.2

Notable features of this release include greatly simplified object navigation; virtual buffers for Adobe Flash content; access to many previously inaccessible controls by retrieving text written to the screen; flat review of screen text; support for IBM Lotus Symphony documents; reporting of table row and column headers in Mozilla Firefox; and significantly improved user documentation.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

2010.1

This release focuses primarily on bug fixes and improvements to the user experience, including some significant stability fixes.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

2009.1

Major highlights of this release include support for 64 bit editions of Windows; greatly improved support for Microsoft Internet Explorer and Adobe Reader documents; support for Windows 7; reading of the Windows logon, control+alt+delete and User Account Control (UAC) screens; and the ability to interact with Adobe Flash and Sun Java content on web pages. There have also been several significant stability fixes and improvements to the general user experience.

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

0.6p3

New Features

Changes

Bug Fixes

0.6p2

0.6p1

Access to web content with new in-process virtualBuffers (so far for Mozilla Gecko applications including Firefox3 and Thunderbird3)

Internationalization

Speech

Performance

Key commands

Application support

APIs and toolkits

Mouse

Object presentation and interaction

User Interface

0.5