The AddonsManager add-on helps restore the add-on management old functionality to the new NVDA interface.
Starting from NVDA 2023.2, the “Add-ons Manager” was removed and replaced by the “Add-ons Store”.
Some users might want to recall this add-on’s interface on NVDA 2025 and newer versions of NVDA.
You can open the Add-ons Manager dialog via the NVDA menu, under the Tools submenu, as “Add-ons Manager”.
The Add-ons Manager, accessible via NVDA menu → Tools → Add-ons Manager, allows you to install, remove, enable, and disable various add-on packages for NVDA.
These packages are provided by the community and contain user code capable of adding or modifying NVDA’s functionality, and even providing support for third-party braille displays and speech synthesizers.
The Add-ons Manager contains a list displaying all add-ons currently installed in your user configuration of NVDA.
For each add-on, the package name, status, version, and author name are indicated. More detailed information, such as description and URL, can be obtained by selecting the desired add-on from the list and clicking the “About” button.
If the selected add-on has help documentation, you can access it by clicking the “Add-on Help” button.
To view and download available add-ons from the internet, click the “Get more add-ons” button. This button will open the NVDA Russian Community Add-ons website.
If NVDA is installed and running on your computer, you can open the add-on directly from the browser to immediately start the installation process, as described below. Otherwise, save the add-on package on your computer and follow the further instructions.
To install a previously obtained add-on, click the “Install” button. This will allow you to find and select an add-on package (a file with the .nvda-addon extension) on your computer or from the network. As soon as you click the “Open” button, the installation process will begin.
First, NVDA will ask you to confirm that you really want to install this add-on. Since the capabilities of add-ons are not limited by the NVDA program’s framework and could theoretically include access to your personal data or even the entire system (if using an installed copy of NVDA), it is very important to install add-ons only from sources you trust.
After the add-on is installed, NVDA must be restarted for it to start working. Until you do this, its status in the add-ons list will be displayed as “Pending install”.
To remove a desired add-on, select it from the list and click the “Remove” button. NVDA will ask if you really want to remove the selected add-on. As with installation, NVDA must be restarted for the add-on to be completely removed. Until you do this, its status in the add-ons list will be displayed as “Pending removal”.
To disable the selected add-on, click the “Disable” button. To enable a previously disabled add-on, click the “Enable” button. You can disable an add-on if its status indicates it is enabled, or enable it if the add-on is disabled.
After each press of the Enable/Disable buttons, the add-on’s status changes, indicating what will happen to it after NVDA restarts:
Just as when installing or removing add-ons, a restart of NVDA is required for the changes to take effect.
The Add-ons Manager also has a “Close” button intended to close its dialog. If you have installed, removed, or changed the status of an add-on, then before closing the manager window, NVDA will ask you if you want to restart the program for the changes to take effect.
Some older add-ons may be incompatible with the version of NVDA you are using. Similarly, when using an old version of NVDA, some new add-ons may be incompatible with it. Attempting to install an incompatible add-on will result in an error explaining why the add-on is considered incompatible.
To view the list of incompatible add-ons, click the “View incompatible add-ons” button in the Add-ons Manager window.
To quickly open the Add-ons Manager from anywhere, please assign a custom gesture for this action using the “Input Gestures” dialog.
The Incompatible Add-ons Manager, opened by the “View incompatible add-ons” button in the Add-ons Manager, allows you to view all installed incompatible add-ons and learn the reasons for their incompatibility.
Add-ons are considered incompatible if they have not been updated to work with new versions of NVDA, or when they rely on features no longer available in the version of the program you are using.
The manager window contains a brief message about which NVDA version the existing add-ons are incompatible with.
Incompatible add-ons are presented in a list with the following columns:
The Incompatible Add-ons Manager window also has an “About” button. Clicking this button will allow you to learn full information about the add-on, which can be useful when seeking help from its developer.
In the Input Gestures settings, under the “Tools” category, the shortcut “Activates the NVDA Add-ons Manager for installing and removing NVDA add-on packages” is available without an assigned combination.
The code for the “AddonsManager” add-on was taken from the NVDA 2023.1 source code.
The add-on was tested on:
The add-on is not available on secure screens.