NVDA 2024.4

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