Zoom Enhancements 1.3 released, 26.1 incoming

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joseph....@gmail.com

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Jan 25, 2026, 7:26:36 AM (4 days ago) Jan 25
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Hi all,

I am delighted to announce the immediate release of Zoom Enhancements 1.3, the add-on release compatible with NVDA 2024.x and 2025.x. After no activity on the add-on for almost three years, I decided to create a fork of the original Zoom Enhancements add-on and maintain it in the interim until the NVDA add-ons community finds permanent maintainers. The newly released add-on version is available from NV Access add-on store.

In addition, Zoom Enhancements 26.1 is on its way. The upcoming release is a significant update to the add-on as it includes changes such as:

  • NVDA 2024.1 requirement
  • Code edits
  • In NVDA settings dialog, “Zoom Enhancements settings” will be called “Zoom Enhancements”
  • In NVDA settings/Zoom Enhancements, custom alerts checkboxes will become items in a checkable list box

Enjoy.

Cheers,

Joseph

Yasser Tamer

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Jan 25, 2026, 8:25:12 AM (4 days ago) Jan 25
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Dear Joseph,
Thank you for the care and thought you have put into this work. Even in this brief initial use, I sense that the add-on already suggests its value, both to me and, I expect, to others.
I have installed the add-on and will continue testing it over the coming days. At this early stage, though, I would like to note one small issue: the chat window does not display messages. I started a meeting and sent several test messages, but none were rendered visible in the dialogue. I have not yet tested the alert functionality.
Thank you again for your time, your attentiveness, and your responsiveness.
Warmly,--
Yasser Atef
Research Assistant
The American University in Cairo
Equity unbound (equityunbound.org)

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joseph....@gmail.com

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Jan 25, 2026, 8:53:05 AM (4 days ago) Jan 25
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Hi,

Chat history: this happens because you are in a meeting by yourself, and the add-on does not account for that. I would consider this not quite a bug but something to be documented in the add-on documentation.

Cheers,

Joseph

Yasser Tamer

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Jan 25, 2026, 8:58:45 AM (4 days ago) Jan 25
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I would not consider it a bug either.
So grateful for the work you put into this.
Yasser

joseph....@gmail.com

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Jan 25, 2026, 9:36:59 AM (4 days ago) Jan 25
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Hi,

The limitation is now documented.

Turns out the add-on does come with a few bugs, namely keyboard shortcut conflict with NVDA features. This is now fixed and will be part of the upcoming 26.1 release.

Note: officially, I am not working on NVDA community activities including maintaining outdated add-ons. But since the community hasn’t heard from Zoom Enhancements add-on authors for close to three years and recognizing the importance of Zoom web conferencing tool in our daily lives, I decided to maintain this add-on in the interim until the NVDA community finds a permanent maintainer. My hope is that the community can find a permanent maintainer as soon as possible, but I understand that add-on maintenance can be time consuming (trust me when I say this). If no-one steps up, then I will maintain Zoom Enhancements add-on until NVDA 2026.1 release candidate is released, at which point community add-ons can declare their readiness for upcoming changes and mark themselves as NVDA 2026.1 compatible.

Postscript: this is not the first time I’m stepping into the role of interim add-on maintainer. For Zoom Enhancements add-on, the fact that I too use Zoom makes this role a bit easier (the first step an interim add-on maintainer does is contact the original add-on authors asking them about add-on maintenance; only then the temporary maintainer would read the add-on source code and try to understand what the add-on is doing and either resolve bugs or modernize the add-on code; for Zoom Enhancements add-on, I did fix bugs and modernized the code and edited add-on documentation to resolve spelling and grammar issues).

Sarah Alawami

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Jan 25, 2026, 12:08:57 PM (4 days ago) Jan 25
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they show up fine if not using the add on for me. I Have my alerts adjusted in zoom itself using what ever came out last week when I had to update before a meeting.

hopefully though they can fix the broken chat window for you.

Yasser Tamer

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Jan 26, 2026, 8:29:33 AM (3 days ago) Jan 26
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Dear Sarah,
Yes, I have been using the default Zoom interface for a while, and while I can say it is to a great extent accessible, I am hoping that the add-on would improve the navigation by making things more quicker.
I do not know if Zoom introduced something for the alerts and screen readers recently?
Best wishes,
Yasser

Sarah Alawami

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Jan 26, 2026, 12:05:38 PM (3 days ago) Jan 26
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It has for me since maybe 2024 or so, maybe earlier, I don't remember. go to settings in zoom itself, then navigate to accessibility. there, you will find ways in enhancing the interface for you.

Hope this helps.

joseph....@gmail.com

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Jan 26, 2026, 12:19:41 PM (3 days ago) Jan 26
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Hi,

I can confirm that you can configure screen reader specific alert announcements such as participant role changes, closed captioning availability, file transfers, and other alerts. The Zoom Enhancements add-on does include keyboard commands to toggle between Zoom alert reporting modes and to configure which alerts should be announced or not. If specific alerts are disabled from Zoom itself, these alerts will not be processed by Zoom Enhancements add-on.

In short, Sarah’s observation means we need to reassess the need for Zoom Enhancements add-on now that the app itself provides the same functionality included with the add-on. The next task for me is researching Zoom Workspace changelog to see when accessibility/screen reader alert announcement options were introduced and document it in Zoom Enhancements add-on (including noting how to change Zoom alert settings from Zoom itself). If there is still a need for Zoom Enhancements add-on, then I imagine someone would take over the add-on maintenance in the future as my job (at the moment) is to offer a more up to date code for someone to work with.

Cheers,

Joseph

 

From: nvda-...@nvaccess.org <nvda-...@nvaccess.org> On Behalf Of Sarah Alawami
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2026 10:06 AM
To: nvda-...@nvaccess.org
Subject: Re: [NVDA] Zoom Enhancements 1.3 released, 26.1 incoming

 

It has for me since maybe 2024 or so, maybe earlier, I don't remember. go to settings in zoom itself, then navigate to accessibility. there, you will find ways in enhancing the interface for you.

Gene Asner

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Jan 26, 2026, 12:45:40 PM (3 days ago) Jan 26
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I just looked at these settings.  A lot of them say host only.  What does that mean, that only the host can configure them for their use of Zoom and others can't control them?  For example, one says, Participant has joined/left meeting (host only.


Gene

joseph....@gmail.com

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Jan 26, 2026, 12:49:57 PM (3 days ago) Jan 26
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Hi,

Some of these alerts report actions that hosts/co-hosts can perform such as screen sharing. The alerts themselves are done via an alert event.

Cheers,

Joseph

Sarah Alawami

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Jan 26, 2026, 2:18:25 PM (3 days ago) Jan 26
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Basically, this means the host will hear those particular alerts not you, the participant. so, if the host mutes everyone at the press of one key they will hear that, you will hear nothing. At least that is how I understand what that means.

Gene Asner

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Jan 26, 2026, 2:21:32 PM (3 days ago) Jan 26
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But if that is true, that seems to indicate that many of these
adjustments in the program don't do what the add-on does. I would think
the add-on allows the user, host or not, to hear or not to hear such
announcements as we are discussing and according to your description,
the adjustments in accessibility within the program itself applies only
to the host.

Gene
>>> *From:*nvda-...@nvaccess.org <nvda-...@nvaccess.org> *On Behalf
>>> Of *Sarah Alawami
>>> *Sent:* Monday, January 26, 2026 10:06 AM
>>> *To:* nvda-...@nvaccess.org
>>> *Subject:* Re: [NVDA] Zoom Enhancements 1.3 released, 26.1 incoming
>>> Equity unbound (equityunbound.org <http://equityunbound.org>)
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jan 25, 2026 at 2:26 PM
>>> <joseph....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I am delighted to announce the immediate release of
>>> Zoom Enhancements 1.3, the add-on release compatible
>>> with NVDA 2024.x and 2025.x. After no activity on the
>>> add-on for almost three years, I decided to create a
>>> fork of the original Zoom Enhancements add-on and
>>> maintain it in the interim until the NVDA add-ons
>>> community finds permanent maintainers. The newly
>>> released add-on version is available from NV Access
>>> add-on store.
>>>
>>> In addition, Zoom Enhancements 26.1 is on its way.
>>> The upcoming release is a significant update to the
>>> add-on as it includes changes such as:
>>>
>>> * NVDA 2024.1 requirement
>>> * Code edits
>>> * In NVDA settings dialog, “Zoom Enhancements
>>> settings” will be called “Zoom Enhancements”
>>> * In NVDA settings/Zoom Enhancements, custom alerts
>>> checkboxes will become items in a checkable list box
>>>
>>> Enjoy.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Joseph
>>>
>>> --
>>> ***
>>> Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and
>>> Contributor Code of Conduct.
>>> NV Access expects that all community members will
>>> read and abide by the rules set out in this document
>>> while participating in this group.
>>> https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
>>>
>>> You can contact the group owners and moderators via
>>> nvda-user...@nvaccess.org
>>> <mailto:nvda-users%2Bman...@nvaccess.org>.
>>> ---
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed
>>> to the Google Groups "NVDA Screen Reader Discussion"
>>> group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving
>>> emails from it, send an email to
>>> nvda-users+...@nvaccess.org.
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>>>
>>> --
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>>> Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and
>>> Contributor Code of Conduct.
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>>> and abide by the rules set out in this document while
>>> participating in this group.
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>>> You can contact the group owners and moderators via
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>>> nvda-users+...@nvaccess.org.
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>> --
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>> Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code of
>> Conduct.
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>> the rules set out in this document while participating in this group.
>> https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
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>
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> NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide by the
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Sarah Alawami

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Jan 26, 2026, 5:20:11 PM (3 days ago) Jan 26
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Not all of the modifications  apply to hosts. When said modifications
apply to hosts, they are indicated as such. for those who are
interested, please visit accessibility setting in zoom itself. I have
not touched the ad  on in years because of these changes. Your results
might or might not very spending on your use case.
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