Bug 158522 - Newer versions of LibreOffice seem to be inaccessible to JAWS For Windows.
Summary: Newer versions of LibreOffice seem to be inaccessible to JAWS For Windows.
Status: RESOLVED NOTOURBUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.5.5.2 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: accessibility
Depends on:
Blocks: a11y-Windows
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Reported: 2023-12-04 15:32 UTC by Petr Pařízek
Modified: 2023-12-05 07:01 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

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Crash report or crash signature:


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Description Petr Pařízek 2023-12-04 15:32:53 UTC
Description:
The two most popular screen readers are probably NVDA and JAWS For Windows. LibreOffice versions of 7.5.5.2 and later seem to only work with NVDA but not with JAWS For Windows.
I can easily test it by typing in some text into a new text document and then repeatedly pressing left and right arrows, to move by character, or up and down arrows, to move by line. With the newer versions of LibreOffice, instead of reading out loud the current character or the current line, JAWS either says "Blank" or doesn't say anything, while NVDA reads what it's supposed to read.
I'm not exactly sure at which version it stops working but I have verified that version 7.4.7.2 does work with both screen readers, not just NVDA, while version 7.5.5.2 only works with NVDA and not with JAWS.
So I can't comment on the specific LibreOffice versions that came between 7.4.7.2 and 7.5.5.2 because I haven't tested those.


Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open a new text document in Writer.
2. Type in a few lines of meaningful text.
3. Keep pressing up arrow to move by line or left arrow to move by character.


Actual Results:
NVDA reads the current character (if I press the left arrow) or the current line (if I press the up arrow), while JAWS either says "Blank" or is silent.


Expected Results:
JAWS should be doing what NVDA is doing -- i.e. read the current character or the current line, respectively. In LibreOffice 7.4.7.2 or older, this was indeed the case.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: Yes

Additional Info:
No other relevant information that could be of help in this issue.
Comment 1 Michael Weghorn 2023-12-04 21:16:21 UTC
What JAWS version are you using?

Your descriptions sounds the same as what was reported on the accessibility mailing list earlier:
https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/accessibility/msg01022.html

That was a bug in JAWS:
https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/accessibility/msg01023.html

This should be fixed in current JAWS versions, s. David's reply on the mailing list:
https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/accessibility/msg01029.html

Quoting from there:

> Hello. As of yesterday JAWS 2023 is now reading text in the manner expected when navigating a 
> Writer document using arrow key navigation. From the changelog:
> Resolved an issue with JAWS not reading text entered into a document in LibreOffice Writer.
> https://support.freedomscientific.com/Downloads/Fusion/FusionWhatsNew#enhancements

Can you please retest whether this works as expected with the latest JAWS version?
Comment 2 Petr Pařízek 2023-12-04 22:59:53 UTC
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I didn't know that this was a JAWS bug. And yes, I'm currently running an older version of JAWS.
At this time, I can't run the newer version of JAWS so I can't test it for you right now. Had I known that it was fixed in a newer JAWS version, I wouldn't have reported it as a LO bug in the first place. For me a viable solution then is to keep using LO 7.4.7.2 and switch to a newer LO version when I'm able to run a newer JAWS version.

(In reply to Michael Weghorn from comment #1)
> What JAWS version are you using?
> 
> Your descriptions sounds the same as what was reported on the accessibility
> mailing list earlier:
> https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/accessibility/msg01022.html
> 
> That was a bug in JAWS:
> https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/accessibility/msg01023.html
> 
> This should be fixed in current JAWS versions, s. David's reply on the
> mailing list:
> https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/accessibility/msg01029.html
> 
> Quoting from there:
> 
> > Hello. As of yesterday JAWS 2023 is now reading text in the manner expected when navigating a 
> > Writer document using arrow key navigation. From the changelog:
> > Resolved an issue with JAWS not reading text entered into a document in LibreOffice Writer.
> > https://support.freedomscientific.com/Downloads/Fusion/FusionWhatsNew#enhancements
> 
> Can you please retest whether this works as expected with the latest JAWS
> version?
Comment 3 Michael Weghorn 2023-12-05 07:01:18 UTC
Thank you for your feedback. Since this is a JAWS bug, I'm closing this as NOTOURBUG.

In case you still run into any issues once you switch to the current JAWS version, please don't hesitate to report a new bug.