Free screen reader for computers running on the Windows operating system

NVDA

NVDA

  -  34.68 MB  -  Open Source
  • Latest Version

    NVDA 2024.4 LATEST

  • Review by

    Marian Marinescu

  • Operating System

    Windows 8 / Windows 10 / Windows 11

  • User Rating

    Click to vote
  • Author / Product

    NV Access / External Link

  • Filename

    nvda_2024.3.exe

  • MD5 Checksum

    26c7d801d1be5047044577ffd58b52b2

NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is a free “screen reader” which enables blind and vision-impaired people to use computers. It reads the text on the screen in a computerized voice. You can control what is read to you by moving the cursor to the relevant area of text with a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard.

The tool can also convert the text into braille if the computer user owns a device called a “braille display”. The app provides the key to education and employment for many blind people. It also provides access to social networking, online shopping, banking, and news.

NVDA works with Microsoft Windows. You can download it to your PC, or to a USB stick which you can use with any computer. Normally screen readers are expensive, making them unaffordable for many blind people. NVDA is free. It’s been downloaded 70,000+ times, in 43 languages.

  • NVDA 2024.4 Screenshots

    The images below have been resized. Click on them to view the screenshots in full size.

    NVDA 2024.4 Screenshot 1
  • NVDA 2024.4 Screenshot 2
  • NVDA 2024.4 Screenshot 3
  • NVDA 2024.4 Screenshot 4
  • NVDA 2024.4 Screenshot 5

What's new in this version:

New Features:
New braille features:
- It is now possible to change the way NVDA displays certain text formatting attributes in braille. The available options are:
- Liblouis (default): Uses formatting markers defined in the selected braille table
- Tags: Uses start and end tags to denote where certain font attributes begin and end
- When the "Read by paragraph" option is enabled, NVDA can now be configured to indicate the start of paragraphs in braille
- When performing a braille cursor routing action, NVDA can now automatically speak the character at the cursor
- This option is disabled by default. You can enable "Speak character when routing cursor in text" in NVDA's braille settings.
- The comment command in Microsoft Word and notes command in Microsoft Excel can now be pressed twice to show the comment or note in a browsable message
- NVDA can now be configured to report font attributes in speech and braille separately
- The timeout to perform a multiple keypress is now configurable; this may be especially useful for people with dexterity impairment

Changes:
- The -c/--config-path and --disable-addons command line options are now respected when launching an update from within NVDA
- Component updates:
- Updated LibLouis Braille translator to 3.31.0
- Fixed translation of numbers in Spanish Braille

New Braille tables:
- Thai grade 1
- Greek international Braille (single-cell accented letters)

Renamed tables:
- "Thai 6 dot" was renamed to "Thai grade 0" for consistency reasons.
- The existing "Greek international braille" table was renamed to "Greek international braille (2-cell accented letters)" to clarify the distinction between the two Greek systems.
- eSpeak NG has been updated to 1.52-dev commit 961454ff
- Added new languages Faroese and Xextan
- When using a multi-line braille display via the standard HID braille driver, all lines of cells will be used
- The stability of NVDA's Poedit support has been improved with the side effect that the minimum required version of Poedit is now version 3.5

Fixed:
Braille fixes:
- It is now possible to use braille display routing keys to move the text cursor in Microsoft PowerPoint
- When accessing Microsoft Word without UI Automation, NVDA no longer outputs garbage characters in table headers defined with the set row and column header commands
- The Seika Notetaker driver now correctly generates braille input for space, backspace and dots with space/backspace gestures
- Cursor routing is now much more reliable when a line contains one or more Unicode variation selectors or decomposed characters
- NVDA no longer throws an error when panning the braille display forward in some empty edit controls
- NVDA is no longer unstable after restarting NVDA during an automatic Braille Bluetooth scan
- It is now possible to use the review cursor selection commands to select text in Microsoft PowerPoint
- In on-demand speech mode, NVDA does not talk any more when a message is opened in Outlook, when a new page is loaded in a browser, or when displaying a new slide in a PowerPoint slideshow
- In Mozilla Firefox, moving the mouse over text before or after a link now reliably reports the text
- NVDA no longer occasionally fails to open browsable messages (such as pressing NVDA+f twice)
- Updating NVDA while add-on updates are pending no longer results in the add-on being removed
- It is now possible to interact with Data validation dropdown lists in Microsoft Excel 365
- NVDA is no longer as sluggish when arrowing up and down through large files in VS Code
- NVDA no longer becomes unresponsive after holding down an arrow key for a long time while in browse mode, particularly in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook
- NVDA no longer reads the last line when the cursor is on the second-last line of a multiline edit control in Java applications

Changes for Developers:
- Please refer to the developer guide for information on NVDA's API deprecation and removal process

Component updates:
- Updated py2exe to 0.13.0.2
- Updated setuptools to 72.0
- Updated Ruff to 0.5.6
- Updated nh3 to 0.2.18
- Added a .editorconfig file to NVDA's repository in order for several IDEs to pick up basic NVDA code style rules by default
- Added support for custom speech symbol dictionaries
- Dictionaries can be provided in locale specific folders in an add-on package, e.g. localeen.
- Dictionary metadata can be added to an optional symbolDictionaries section in the add-on manifest.
- Please consult the Custom speech symbol dictionaries section in the developer guide for more details.
- It is now possible to redirect objects retrieved from on-screen coordinates, by using the NVDAObject.objectFromPointRedirect method
- Running SCons with the parameter --all-cores will automatically pick the maximum number of available CPU cores
- Developer info now includes information on app architecture (such as AMD64) for the navigator object

Deprecations:
- The bool configuration key [documentFormatting][reportFontAttributes] is deprecated for removal in 2025.1, instead use [fontAttributeReporting]
- The new key has an int value matching an OutputMode enum with options for speech, braille, speech and braille and off.
- API consumers can use the bool value as previously, or check the OutputMode if handling speech or braille specifically.
- These keys are currently synchronized until 2025.1.
- NVDAObjects.UIA.InaccurateTextChangeEventEmittingEditableText is deprecated with no replacement