Browse Mode

Document navigation and virtual buffer system for web content and documents

Browse Mode is NVDA’s powerful document navigation system that provides efficient access to web pages, PDF documents, and other structured content. It presents documents in a flat, navigable format optimized for screen reader users.

Overview

When browsing the web or reading documents, NVDA automatically enters Browse Mode to provide a virtualized view of the content. This allows you to navigate using cursor keys and quick navigation commands, rather than tabbing through every element.

Browse Mode is also known as “Virtual Buffer” or “Virtual Cursor” mode. It creates a text representation of a document that can be navigated like a text file.

Browse Mode vs Focus Mode

NVDA switches between two modes when interacting with documents:

Browse Mode

Navigate documents using cursor keys and quick navigation. Single letter commands jump to elements. Best for reading web pages and documents.

Focus Mode

Direct interaction with form controls. All keys pass through to the application. Best for filling out forms and text editing.

Automatic Mode Switching

NVDA intelligently switches between modes:

• Entering Focus Mode: When you focus on editable text fields, combo boxes, or other interactive controls
• Entering Browse Mode: When leaving form controls to navigate document content
• Audio Indication: Plays different sounds (or speaks “Focus mode” / “Browse mode”) when switching

Manual Mode Switching

• Press NVDA+Space to manually toggle between Browse and Focus mode
• Useful when automatic switching doesn’t behave as expected
• Some controls require manual switching to access all features

When Focus Mode Activates Automatically

Focus mode automatically activates for:

• Editable text fields (input, textarea)
• Combo boxes and select controls
• Menu items and menu bars
• Tree views and expandable elements
• Embedded applications and applets
• Toolbars and tool palettes
• Any element with contenteditable or EDITABLE state
• ARIA widgets like grids, treegrids, and sliders
• Certain focusable list items in interactive lists

Quick Navigation

Browse Mode’s most powerful feature is single-letter navigation, allowing instant jumping to element types.

Single Letter Navigation

Press a single letter to jump to the next element of that type. Add Shift to jump backward.

Key	Element Type	Description
H	Heading	Jump to next heading (any level)
1-6	Heading Level	Jump to heading of specific level
L	List	Jump to next list
I	List Item	Jump to next list item
T	Table	Jump to next table
K	Link	Jump to next link
V	Visited Link	Jump to links you’ve visited
U	Unvisited Link	Jump to links not yet visited
F	Form Field	Jump to form input, button, etc.
E	Edit Field	Jump to text input fields
B	Button	Jump to buttons
X	Checkbox	Jump to checkboxes
C	Combo Box	Jump to dropdown menus
R	Radio Button	Jump to radio buttons
Q	Block Quote	Jump to quoted text
D	Landmark	Jump to ARIA landmarks
M	Frame	Jump to iframes
G	Graphic	Jump to images
A	Annotation	Jump to comments/annotations
O	Embedded Object	Jump to embedded objects
S	Separator	Jump to horizontal separators
N	Non-linked Text	Skip blocks of links

Disabling Single Letter Navigation

Press NVDA+Shift+Space to toggle single letter navigation on/off. When off, letter keys pass through to the application (useful for web apps with keyboard shortcuts).

Elements List

The Elements List provides a searchable, filterable view of document elements.

Opening Elements List

Press NVDA+F7 to open the Elements List dialog.

Available Element Types

Links Tab

Lists all links in the document:

• Filter by link text
• See visited vs unvisited links
• Activate links without moving cursor

Headings Tab

Shows document structure:

• Hierarchical heading tree
• Filter by heading text
• Jump to any heading instantly
• Great for understanding page structure

Form Fields Tab

Lists all interactive elements:

• Input fields
• Buttons
• Checkboxes and radio buttons
• Combo boxes
• Quickly navigate to any form control

Landmarks Tab

Shows ARIA landmarks:

• Navigation regions
• Main content areas
• Search regions
• Complementary sections
• Filter by landmark type

Using Elements List

1. Type to filter elements by name
2. Use arrow keys to navigate the list
3. Press Enter to jump to selected element
4. Press Space to activate links/buttons
5. Press Escape to close without moving

The Elements List is particularly useful on long, complex pages where visual scanning would normally be used to find specific elements.

Document Navigation

Cursor Movement

In Browse Mode, cursor keys navigate through the virtual representation:

• Arrow Keys: Move by character, line, word (with Ctrl)
• Page Up/Down: Move by screenful
• Home/End: Jump to start/end of line
• Ctrl+Home/End: Jump to start/end of document

Reading Commands

Command	Action
NVDA+Down Arrow	Say all (read from current position)
NVDA+Up Arrow	Read current line
NVDA+Numpad5	Read current character
NVDA+Tab	Read next focusable item
NVDA+Shift+Tab	Read previous focusable item

Navigation by Element Type

Beyond single-letter navigation, you can use:

• T / Shift+T: Next/previous table
• K / Shift+K: Next/previous link
• N / Shift+N: Skip/go back to non-linked text blocks
• F / Shift+F: Next/previous form field
• H / Shift+H: Next/previous heading

Table Navigation

Browse Mode provides special commands for navigating tables:

Command	Action
Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Keys	Move between table cells
Ctrl+Alt+Home	Jump to first cell
Ctrl+Alt+End	Jump to last cell
Ctrl+Alt+Page Down	Jump to next column
Ctrl+Alt+Page Up	Jump to previous column

When navigating tables:

• NVDA announces row and column headers
• Reports cell coordinates (row 3, column 2)
• Indicates spanning cells

Table navigation works best when tables have proper semantic markup with <th> headers and scope attributes.

Find in Document

Quick Find

Press NVDA+Control+F to search for text in the virtual buffer:

1. Type search text
2. Press Enter to find next
3. Use NVDA+F3 to find next occurrence
4. Use NVDA+Shift+F3 to find previous

Case Sensitive Search

Check the “Case sensitive” option in the Find dialog for exact matching.

Text Style Navigation

Browse Mode can announce and navigate by text formatting:

• Bold, italic, underline
• Font changes
• Color changes
• Highlighting
• Text size changes

Style Change Announcement

Configure in NVDA Settings → Document Formatting:

• Report font name
• Report font size
• Report colors
• Report emphasis (bold/italic)
• Report style changes

Virtual Buffer Technical Details

How Browse Mode Works

Browse Mode creates a text representation (virtual buffer) of structured documents:

1. Document Analysis: NVDA traverses the document object model (DOM)
2. Buffer Creation: Builds a flat text representation with semantic information
3. Element Mapping: Maintains bidirectional mapping between buffer positions and document objects
4. Quick Navigation Indexing: Builds indexes for each element type
5. Event Handling: Updates buffer when document changes

QuickNav Items

Each navigable element is represented as a QuickNavItem object containing:

• Item Type: Element category (link, heading, table, etc.)
• Label: Text representation for Elements List
• Position: Location in virtual buffer
• Document Reference: Pointer to actual DOM element

BrowseModeTreeInterceptor

The core class implementing Browse Mode functionality:

• Intercepts keyboard input
• Manages focus vs browse mode switching
• Handles single letter navigation
• Implements Elements List
• Synchronizes with document changes

Source: source/browseMode.py

Browse Mode Settings

Configurable Options

NVDA Settings → Browse Mode:

Page Layout

• Use screen layout: Preserve visual positioning of elements
• Maximum characters per line: Control line wrapping
• Maximum lines per page: Control page down/up distance

Automatic Mode Switching

• Automatic focus mode for focus changes: Switch on focus
• Automatic focus mode for caret movement: Switch when navigating into forms
• Audio indication of focus/browse modes: Sound or speech

Navigation

• Trap non-command gestures: Beep when pressing non-command keys
• Automatically set focus on focusable elements: Focus elements when navigating to them
• Auto-pass-through keys: List keys that should always activate focus mode

Applications Supporting Browse Mode

Browse Mode works with:

• Web Browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Office: Word, Outlook (reading pane), PowerPoint (reading view)
• PDF Readers: Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader, Edge PDF viewer
• Email Clients: Outlook, Thunderbird
• Help Systems: CHM files, Windows Help
• Other: Any application exposing accessible document structure

Some single-page web applications (SPAs) may not work optimally with Browse Mode due to dynamic content updates. NVDA includes workarounds for popular frameworks.

Advanced Techniques

Embedded Objects

When encountering embedded objects (Flash, Java applets, iframes):

• Press NVDA+Control+Enter to interact with embedded object
• Browse mode temporarily disabled within object
• Press NVDA+Control+Space to return to Browse Mode

Pass-Through Keys

Configure specific keys to always pass through to applications:

1. NVDA Settings → Browse Mode → Pass-through keys
2. Add key combinations that should skip Browse Mode
3. Useful for web applications with keyboard shortcuts

Screen Layout Mode

When enabled, Browse Mode attempts to preserve:

• Spatial positioning of elements
• Column layouts
• Visual grouping
• Relative indentation

Useful for tables and multi-column layouts, but may create extra whitespace.

Troubleshooting

Browse Mode Not Activating

• Ensure you’re in a supported application
• Check if document loaded completely
• Try refreshing the page/document
• Verify Browse Mode isn’t disabled for this application

Focus Mode Won't Deactivate

• Press NVDA+Space to manually switch
• Some controls keep focus mode active intentionally
• Check for modal dialogs that trap focus

Single Letter Navigation Not Working

• Check if single letter nav is disabled (NVDA+Shift+Space)
• Verify you’re in Browse Mode, not Focus Mode
• Some web apps override letter keys

Elements List Empty

• Wait for document to fully load
• Some elements may use non-standard markup
• Try refreshing the virtual buffer (NVDA+F5)

Related Topics

• Speech Synthesis - Audio output configuration
• Braille Displays - Tactile display support
• Vision Enhancements - Visual highlighting
• Add-ons - Extend Browse Mode functionality