NVDA Markdown Navigator

Markdown Navigator is an NVDA add-on designed to enhance the experience of editing and reading Markdown content. It allows you to use single-key navigation features, similar to NVDA's Browse Mode, within editable text areas (such as Notepad, VS Code, web-based editors, etc.).

It enables you to quickly jump to headings, lists, tables, code blocks, and various inline formatting without frequently pressing the arrow keys.

Key Features

Efficient Navigation: Implements fast algorithms that allow for instant jumping even in large documents with tens of thousands of lines.
Structured Browsing: Supports navigation by headings, lists, tables, blockquotes, code blocks, and more.
Inline Elements: Supports jumping to bold, italic, links, images, and inline code.
Table Cell Navigation: Provides shortcuts consistent with NVDA for moving between cells in Markdown tables.

Usage

Toggle Browse Mode

By default, single-key navigation is disabled. You need to manually enable Markdown Browse Mode.

Shortcut: NVDA + Shift + Space (Spacebar)
Effect: Turns the add-on's functionality on or off. NVDA will announce "Markdown Browse Mode On/Off". This feature also follows NVDA's "Audio indications for focus and browse modes" setting in the Browse Mode settings.

Shortcut List (When Browse Mode is Enabled)

Once the mode is enabled, you can use the following single-letter keys. * Press the Letter Key to jump to the next element. * Press Shift + Letter Key to jump to the previous element.

Key	Element Type	Description
H	Heading	Any level heading (`#` to `######`)
1-6	Heading 1-6	Specific heading level
T	Table	Start of a table
L	List	Start of a list block
I	List Item	Specific list item (`-`, `*`, `1.`)
Q	Blockquote	Quote block (`>`)
C	Code	Code block (```) or inline code (`)
S	Separator	Horizontal rule (`---`, `***`)
X	Checkbox	Task list item (`- [ ]`, `- [x]`)
K	Link	Markdown link `[text](url)`
G	Graphic	Image tag `![alt](url)`
B	Bold	Bold text (`**` or `__`)
E	Emphasis	Italic/Emphasis text (`*` or `_`)
D	Delete	Strikethrough text (`~~`)
F	Footnote	Footnote reference `[^1]`
,	End of Block	Jump to the end of the current block element
Shift+,	Start of Block	Jump to the start of the current block element
M	Math	LaTeX math expression ( $...$ or `$$...$$`)

Table Cell Navigation

When the cursor is inside a Markdown table and Browse Mode is enabled, you can use the following shortcuts to move between cells:

Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow: Previous cell
Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow: Next cell
Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow: Cell above
Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow: Cell below

Notes

This add-on is specifically developed for Markdown editing scenarios. If you are reading an HTML page rendered by a browser, please use NVDA's built-in Browse Mode.
If pressing the keys above types characters instead of navigating, please check if you have enabled Browse Mode by pressing NVDA + Shift + Space.
In VS Code, due to the editor rendering content on demand (virtualization), this add-on's browse mode may not work as expected for content that is not currently visible/rendered.