NVDA Issue: Word-by-word selection announcement in Outlook
Mujtaba Merchant
Dear NVDA Community,
I'm reaching out to report a unique challenge I'm facing with NVDA in Microsoft Outlook. When I'm trying to select a string of words in a sentence using the CTRL + SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW key combination, NVDA only announces the first word selected, but fails to announce the subsequent words being selected.
This issue occurs both when composing a new email and when copying text from a received email. I've tried this with NVDA version 2025.3.1, but I've also experienced this issue with earlier versions, including 2025.3.
My environment:
- Outlook 2019 Version 2508 Build 16.0.19127.20302 (64-bit)
- NVDA Version: 2025.3.1
- Windows 10
Thank you for your time and assistance.
Sincerely,
Mujtaba Merchant
Bangalore | INDIA
Mail: mujt...@gmail.com
Website: The Somebody, Nobody, Anybody & Everybody Blog!
Sent from Outlook ® for Windows 10
daj.gr...@gmail.com
I am afraid this appears to be an issue local to your setup rather than a global NVDA one.
Using NVDA 2025.3.1 and Outlook Classic 365 subscription version I have tested control shift arrow selection keys in your below email and NVDA speaks selected output entirely as expected. Behaviour in a new message is also as expected. Have you disabled all addons to check if the problem persists?
Also try the same operation with Narrator. If Narrator also fails to read selected output, it might indicate a need to repair/reinstall Outlook.
You could also try the Dism /SFC check which has been recommended in the past on this list.
David Griffith
--
***
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.
---
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.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/012201dc4824%249d282a70%24d7787f50%24%40gmail.com.
Mujtaba Merchant
Thank you for your mail and the support. I checked with Narrator and it is reading the selected text as expected. I tried with add ons disabled I am still facing the same challenge. I reinstalled NVDA and see that after the reinstall the configuration profiles are still available, which is strange I was thinking it would be a fresh install. I will investigate this further once I am back from work.
Thank you once again for the support. Have a good one!
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/00a101dc486f%24fef39be0%24fcdad3a0%24%40gmail.com.
daj.gr...@gmail.com
Yes – if you leave your NVDA settings folder untouched then NVDA will still be reading these after a re-install.
First, I think you will need to have hidden files enabled to view in File Explorer settings. Ask help for this is you do not know how to do this.
Then navigate to
"C:\Users\ Your name \AppData\Roaming\nvda"
Substitute your user profile name where your name is in the file path.
What I then personally do is rename the NVDA folder to old NVDA.
Now running an NVDA install should produce a genuinely fresh install without reading your old settings folder.
If you have specific settings files you want to re-instate like for example your speech dictionary speech.dic file you can now copy these across from your now renamed Old NVDA folder to the new NVDA folder created by the install.
David Griffith.
So basically go to
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/000001dc4886%24a1623e20%24e426ba60%24%40gmail.com.
Mujtaba Merchant
Dear David,
Thank you so much for your detailed instructions and support.
I did the following: uninstalling NVDA, deleting the settings folder, and reinstalling NVDA, but unfortunately, the issue persists.
Since this is a fresh instal of NVDA, there are no add-ons and no configuration profiles.
I'm starting to think this might be specific to my Outlook setup. I'll explore further and consider repairing or reinstalling Outlook if needed. Your help and guidance are greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
Mujtaba Merchant
Bangalore | INDIA
Mail: mujt...@gmail.com
Website: The Somebody, Nobody, Anybody & Everybody Blog!
Sent from Outlook ® for Windows 10
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/000301dc48a0%2418fbe1c0%244af3a540%24%40gmail.com.
Mujtaba Merchant
Dear David,
I did a lot of trouble shooting steps and unfortunately nothing worked. Repaired my Office installation, reinstalled NVDA fresh and also updated my Office applications. Tried without add-ons and restarted the computer where required.
I also looked at the setting related to Microsoft Office UI Automation or Word/Excel UI Automation. As per instructions from Gemini it said that it needs to be unchecked, confirmed it was unchecked.
Not sure where to go from here.
Quentin Christensen
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/001801dc4950%244e605660%24eb210320%24%40gmail.com.
Mujtaba Merchant
Thanks Quentin, noticed same issue happening in Word. Will investigate and try raising a new request. Very tied up with multiple challenges both at work and home.
Quentin Christensen
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/002b01dc4959%24272845e0%247578d1a0%24%40gmail.com.
Mujtaba Merchant
Is not reproducible on Notepad and Browser. Tried with Notepad and on a form using Google Chrome browser. I will be going through the GitHub issue later today and then decide to raise a new one thereafter. I read your questions in the comments to the issue. It is a long laundry list, will make sure that I answer all of them when creating a new issue.
Thank you for your support, have a good one!
Mujtaba Merchant
Dear Quentin,
I wanted to share with you that I have successfully created a bug report on GitHub for the issue: Outlook 2019 | NVDA fails to read selected words when composing mail using shift + control + cursor keys #19154.
I must say, my experience with the reporting form was truly amazing! The instructions provided under each section were incredibly helpful, guiding me through the process and ensuring I provided all the necessary information.
I'm hopeful that I've done a good job reporting the bug, and I've also uploaded the Debug Log file as a text document. I didn't email it to in...@nvaccess.org as it's already been uploaded through the GitHub form.
Thank you for introducing me to this new way of reporting bugs - it's been a pleasure! I'm looking forward to seeing this issue resolved and appreciate all the efforts that will go into fixing it.
Sincerely,
Mujtaba Merchant
Bangalore | INDIA
Mail: mujt...@gmail.com
Website: The Somebody, Nobody, Anybody & Everybody Blog!
Sent from Outlook ® for Windows 10
Quentin Christensen
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/003601dc497a%24be25ac50%243a7104f0%24%40gmail.com.