Welcome to the Home of NVDA
NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) is a free and open source screen reader for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Providing feedback via synthetic speech and Braille, it enables blind or vision impaired people to access computers running Windows for no more cost than a sighted person. Major features include support for over 35 languages and the ability to run entirely from a USB drive with no installation. NVDA is developed by NV Access, with contributions from the community.
For more information about NVDA, including features and system requirements, visit the About section.
Check out the Download section if you would like to obtain a copy. Extra voices can also be downloaded for use with NVDA.
Need help with using NVDA? please visit our Support page for many useful links and resources including documentation, email lists, language-specific community pages, and 3rd party organisations offering NVDA training and support.
If you are interested in NVDA's development, including reporting bugs or feature requests, please see the Development section.
If you would like to support the project, please consider making a Donation to NV Access.
Video: NVDA on ABC TV's New Inventors
Sponsors
Major sponsors of NV Access are Mozilla Corporation and Adobe Systems Inc who are enabling full-time development of NVDA. Past sponsors include Yahoo! Inc and Microsoft Corporation. Many thanks also go to all the individuals who have made financial donations.
Contact
If you have a question about NVDA or require technical support, please visit the Support page, which contains information about email lists, documentation, community resources and 3rd party support/training. For all other inquiries, please contact NV Access.
News
Keep up to date with the latest NVDA news including announcement of new releases.
NVDA 2012.2beta2 Released
NVDA 2012.2beta2 has just been released. Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2012.2 release.
Changes from beta1 to beta2:
- Fix an error that stopped NVDA installing on a system where NVDA was previously installed in a non-default directory. (#2332)
- In Internet Explorer 9, NVDA no longer reads unwanted content when focus moves inside certain landmarks or focusable elements (specifically, a div element which is focusable or h ...
NVDA 2012.2beta1 Released
NV Access is pleased to announce the release of NVDA 2012.2beta1. It is intended for those who are interested in testing and evaluating the upcoming NVDA 2012.2 release, but is not recommended for production use. Testers are encouraged to report any bugs found while using this beta.
Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2012.2 release.
Highlights of this release include an in-built installer and portable creation feature, automa ...
NVDA 2012.1 Released
NV Access is pleased to announce that NVDA 2012.1 has been released. This release has been declared stable, which means it is suitable for production use and is recommended for most users.
Highlights of NVDA 2012.1 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.
Changes from 2012.1rc1 to 2012.1:
- Updated translations. ...
NVDA 2012.1rc1 Released
NVDA 2012.1rc1 has just been released. This is a release candidate, which means that unless any critical issues are found, this will be almost identical to the final 2012.1 release.
Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2012.1 release.
Changes from beta2 to rc1:
- Updated translations.
- When using eSpeak, speech no longer goes silent in some cases in the Save As dialog of the NVDA Log Viewer. (#2145)
- NVDA will no longer f ...
NVDA 2012.1beta2 Released
NVDA 2012.1beta2 has just been released. It is intended for those who are interested in testing and evaluating the upcoming NVDA 2012.1 release, but is not recommended for production use. Testers are encouraged to report any bugs found while using this beta.
Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2012.1 release.
Changes from beta1 to beta2:
NVDA 2012.1beta1 Released
NV Access is pleased to announce the release of NVDA 2012.1beta1. It is intended for those who are interested in testing and evaluating the upcoming NVDA 2012.1 release, but is not recommended for production use. Testers are encouraged to report any bugs found while using this beta.
Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2012.1 release.
Highlights of NVDA 2012.1 include features for more fluent reading of braille; indication of doc ...
NV Access Offers Phone-based Support and Training to Australian Users
NV Access now offers phone-based support and training for users of NVDA in Australia for a flat rate of AU$59.95 per hour. Hours are prepaid so that once purchased, you can give us a call any week day to have your query answered. Whether you have a specific question or you want a thorough introduction to the basics or more advanced features, we're only a phone call away. We can also offer face-to-face training for organisations or groups of individu ...
Update on NVDA and ETI-Eloquence
Due to the high demand to be able to use Nuance ETI-Eloquence or IBM ViaVoice TTS with NVDA, a few months ago, we asked for expressions of interest in purchasing Nuance ETI-Eloquence from NV Access. We did receive sufficient interest to make this viable and began negotiating with Nuance. More than three months ago, We raised several concerns with Nuance concerning the contract they provided. Unfortunately, Nuance have provided ...
NVDA 2011.3 Released
NV Access is pleased to announce that NVDA 2011.3 has been released. This release has been declared stable, which means it is suitable for production use and is recommended for most users.
Highlights of NVDA 2011.3 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 initi ...
NVDA 2011.3rc1 Released
NVDA 2011.3rc1 has just been released. This is a release candidate, which means that unless any critical issues are found, this will be almost identical to the final 2011.3 release.
Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2011.3 release.
Changes from beta1 to rc1:
- Updated documentation.
- Updated translations.
- NVDA no longer fails to recognise that the focus has moved when switching windows in some cases; e.g. opening a ne ...
NVDA is developed by 