The information below has been taken directly from Freedom Scientific. Check out my brief comments in the All Wrapped Up section, after the new features are listed. ZoomText updates are listed after JAWS and Fusion updates. You can use heading navigation to jump to them quickly.

Enhancements in JAWS 2020.2008.24 and Fusion 2020.2008.6 (August 2020)

The following is a list of improvements made in the latest JAWS and Fusion updates.

To download the latest release, visit the JAWS Downloads web page. You must be logged on as an administrator to install this software.

Update Notifications

• Once you have installed this August 2020 update, the English language versions will now include notification of official releases of new versions such as the 2021 release coming out later this year. When you check for updates using the English versions of JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion, major updates will now also appear in the list once they are released. If your license is authorized to run the new version, the update can be installed. Otherwise, the update is shown along with a message stating that a license renewal is required for use of this new version to work in other than 40 minute mode.
• Resolved an issue reading Tables in Microsoft Word 365 where JAWS was reporting “table” at the beginning of each row as you navigated by line.
• Resolved an issue with navigating tables in Chrome reported by Google where cells containing the ColSpan (column span) attribute were causing issues when navigating by cell.
• Resolved an issue in Microsoft Word where text that was previously hidden and then unhidden, was not being read using speech.
• In Chrome and Edge, resolved an issue where selecting text from Right to Left was very sluggish in edit controls.
• Resolved an issue where HTML controls that started with punctuation were not reading as expected.
• Resolved an issue in Internet Explorer reported by SSA where JAWS was not honoring the language tags in ARIA live regions.
• Updated the Help Topic for Microsoft Edge to reflect support based on the latest Edge Chromium browser.
• Resolved an issue where JAWS was overly verbose when tabbing to a Video Player on web pages in Chrome and Firefox.
• Resolved a reported issue where Mouse Echo in Excel was too verbose, especially when moving the mouse across empty cells. These improvements make mouse navigation with Fusion much better.
• When using Google Docs with Chrome, resolved an issue reported by Google where pressing the ALT key to access the Docs menu would sometimes unexpectedly open the Chrome menu instead.
• Posted a TSN on the support pages for JAWS and Fusion customers using the latest version of Skype from Microsoft. A problem has been introduced with this update which causes our software to stop reading correctly. The work around is to activate the menu with the ALT key, and then press ESC to leave the menu and return to Skype. The issue has been reported to Microsoft and we anticipate it will be resolved in the near future.
• Resolved reported issues in Google Sheets where accurate column or row headings were not always being reported as expected while navigating.
• Resolved a reported issue in Libre Office where JAWS and Fusion would fail to read every other line after opening a document that was previously edited and saved.
• Resolved issues reading prior messages in Zoom meetings and webinars using the JAWS commands, CTRL+1 through 0.
• Updated scripts and Help files provided by Corel Corp with changes to improve support for WordPerfect.
• Resolved problems where JAWS Personalized Web settings, accessed in Quick Settings (INSERT+V), were not saving and loading correctly. Personalized Web Settings allow you to customize JAWS settings for a particular website. For example, if you have a particular page where you do not want JAWS to Automatically read, you can make that change apply only for the specific domain rather than global.
• Added updated Braille display drivers tested and provided by Humanware to support new Braille devices shipping as of August 2020.
• Resolved an issue where JAWS was not reading the ALT Text for Graphics in both Chrome and Edge. Previously, JAWS was reading the Title.
• In Chrome and Edge, JAWS now relies on the “layout-guess” attribute to determine when a table is a layout or data table. Previously, JAWS could make mistakes when the browser’s zoom level was very high, such as 200%.
• Resolved a reported issue in Outlook where pressing CTRL+E to access the Search option on the ribbon, would not work as expected when the JAWS Virtual Ribbons were enabled.
• Resolved an issue in Word 365 where JAWS would announce “misspelled” on each character instead of when you first encounter the misspelling when JAWS is configured to detect spelling errors as you navigate.
• Resolved an issue where navigating to www.kmiz.com using Chrome was causing a hang in JAWS as it was attempting to process this site.
• Resolved an issue with the new Braille Viewer where “Computer Braille” was being announced under certain circumstances when navigating in Outlook.
• Added a Topic to the Help System to include all Layered Keystrokes. Previously, only the Table Layer commands were included.
• Added 8 Dot Braille Translation Table for Dutch.

Enhancements in ZoomText 2020.2008.19 and Fusion 2020.2008.6 (August 2020)

The following changes are in the latest ZoomText 2020 and Fusion 2020 releases. To download, select ZoomText 2020 or Fusion 2020. You must be logged on as an administrator to install this software.

Update/License Notifications

• After updating to the August 2020 update, future English version upgrades will be included in the Check for Updates feature. As a result, when Fusion 2021 and ZoomText 2021 are released later this year, you will be informed automatically of these major software releases. You will also be informed if your license must be updated.
• Added an optional registry key entry at the request of the SSA to block the ZoomText Camera feature from being exposed for their installations.
• Resolved a reported issue in Fusion when pressing WINDOWS Key+PERIOD to open the Windows Emoji window. Fusion was not tracking as expected as you moved through the Emoji window.
• Resolved an issue where several hotkeys were not working as expected in the Czech version of ZoomText.
• Resolved an issue when using Fusion with the latest NVidia GeForce GT 1030 graphics card. A problem occurred after updating the graphics driver to version 27.21.14.5167, dated 7/5/2020. Customers reported that the screen became very dark with red and black and could no longer be seen when running Fusion or ZoomText.
• Fusion now offers an option when using ILM licenses, to remove all ILM licenses that may be installed. This makes it easier to remove both a ZoomText and a Fusion license at the same time from the Fusion menu system. (Fusion only)

All Wrapped Up

That’s it for JAWS, ZoomText and Fusion this time around.

What I like in these updates are the notifications of major versions of software, improvements to Edge, fixes for Libra office, table navigation fixes in Chrome, and mouse echo fixes in excel.

One question? Who out there is still using Corel WordPerfect? Anyone?

Getting the Updates

If your version of JAWS hasn’t offered the update to you yet, go to the JAWS help menu, then arrow to Check for Updates.

If your ZoomText/Fusion hasn’t offered the update to you yet, go to the ZoomText/Fusion menu, navigate to Manage Licenses, then Check for Updates.

Qapla