Focus of NVDA screenreader does not remain in the last position every time I return back to the previous page pressing alt+left arrow key

[showharda]

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*Description of the issue:
I am blind and use my pc with the help of NVDA
screenreader software and key strokes. The focus of cursor does not always remain in the previous position every time I return back to the previously opened page pressing alt+left arrow key. This was not the case until June 2021. I tried using Brave Nightly but the issue is there too.
Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): 1. 2. 3.

1. Download, install and launch NVDA screenreader.
2. Go to Brave Browser or Brave Nightly.
3. Open a particular website and open a link within the website pressing enter key.
4. Return to the previous page pressing alt+left arrow key.
   Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!):
   The focus of the cursor often remains elsewhere than in the previous position
   Expected result:
   The focus of the cursor always remains in the previous position.
   Reproduces how often:
   Frequently
   Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu):
   Brave Version 1.45.113 and Brave Canary Version 1.47.17
   Additional Information:

[Kevin_cc]

Hello there @showharda, please accept my apologies for this inconvenience. Can you try disabling Hardware Acceleration in settings to see if this resolves the issue? You’ll find this in Settings --> Additional Settings --> System --> Hardware Acceleration

Let me know if that works.

[showharda]

Hi Kevin!
I did as you said but it didn’t work.

[Kevin_cc]

Hi again @showharda Could you please try opening your main profile in private or guest mode to see if the screen reader remains in its last position? If it does, try disabling your extensions to see if this is the cause of the issue.

You can open a Guest Window by going to Main menu --> Open Guest window:

1. On your computer, open Brave.
2. At the top right, click Menu → More tools → Extensions.
3. On to the extension you want to remove, click Remove.
4. Confirm by clicking Remove.

Let me know if that works.
Regards.

[showharda]

Hi Kevin!
The focus remains in private mode but not in guest mode and it does not remain when extensions are removed.
Regards
Showharda

[showharda]

Hi Kevin!
I have a new finding based on an observation which I would like to share with you. NVDA always remembers the last position in Gecko (browser engine) based browsers like Firefox and Basilisk whereas it mostly forgets the last position in Blink based browsers like Brave, Edge and Chrome but I prefer Brave which is the fastest browser I have ever used over Gecko based browsers…
Regards
Showharda

[Kevin_cc]

Hi again @showharda thanks for that information. Could you please double-check if the same same issue happens on other browsers such as Chrome?

Also, does the issue persist on Brave Nightly or just happens on the release version?

Be waiting for your response.

[showharda]

Hi Kevin!
I checked Chrome and Edge and found out that focus does not remain in the last position in both browsers most of the times when opened in private mode and when extensions are removed.
Similarly, the behavior of NVDA not remembering the last position is less frequent in Brave Nightly than in Brave Release.
Thank you!

[Kevin_cc]

@showharda thanks for sharing that information. It would seem that the issue is not related to Brave only, in this case I would like to kindly suggest you contact NVDA developer to see if they’ve identified this issue.

And as the error is less frequent on Nightly, try deleting your cache to see if the issue gets solved.

1. Click on the Menu icon in the top right, and go to Settings
2. Go to Additional settings → Privacy and Security → Clear browsing data

• A quicker way to get to this page would be to enter brave://settings/clearBrowserData into your address bar
• See Advanced for a breakdown of the data you can clear

3. Deselect Browsing history and Cached files (if you only want to clear cookies)
4. Click Clear data

If you have other concerns let me know.

[showharda]

Hi!
Thank you!
I will contact NVDA developers regarding this. Similarly, how can I import browsing data from Brave Nightly to other browsers?
Thanks in advance for your response.
Regards

[Kevin_cc]

@showharda to import data you will need to create an HTML file with your Browsing data, you can do it by doing the following:

1. Launch Brave and open the Main menu:
2. Select Bookmarks --> Bookmarks Manager
3. Open the More options menu at the top right
4. Select Export and choose where you want to store the exported file.
5. Once the file is created, you will be able to import it to another Browser. (The import process may vary from Browser)

Let me know if that works.

[showharda]

Hi Kevin!
I created an HTML file on Brave Nightly and tried to import it to Chrome and Edge but only bookmarks got imported but not other browsing history such as visited links. Does Brave plan to let its users sync its browsing data to email addresses alike other browsers? We could access our browsing data from anywhere if there were such feature.

[Kevin_cc]

@showharda it seems that when importing your data from HTML file, you are only able to import your Favorites and your Bookmarks.

At this time I do not posses that information, however, if you’d like you can open a feature request topic here https://community.brave.com/c/brave-feature-requests/57.

Should you have other concerns, let me know.