placeMarkers

  • Authors: Noelia, Chris.

This add-on is used for saving and searching specific text strings or placemarkers. It can be used on web pages or documents in NVDA's browse mode. It can also be used for saving or searching strings of text in multi-line controls; in this case, if it's not possible to update the caret, the corresponding string will be copied to the clipboard, so that it can be searched using other tools. The plugin saves the specified strings and placemarkers to files whose name is based on the title and URL of the current document. This add-on is based on SpecificSearch and Bookmark&Search, developed by the same author. You should uninstall them to use this one, since they have common keystrokes and features.

Key Commands:

  • control+shift+NVDA+f: Opens a dialog with an edit box that shows the last saved search; in this dialog you can also select the previously saved searches from a combo box or remove the selected string from the history using a checkbox. You can choose if the text contained in the edit box will be added to the history of your saved texts. Finally, choose an action from the next group of radio buttons (between Search next, Search previous or Don't search), and specify if NVDA will make a case sensitive search. When you press okay, NVDA will search for this string.
  • control+shift+NVDA+y: Saves the current position as a placemarker. If you want to provide a name for this placemarker, select some text from this position before saving it.
  • control+shift+NVDA+delete: Deletes the placemarker corresponding to this position.
  • NVDA+y: Moves to the next placemarker.
  • shift+NVDA+y: Moves to the previous placemarker.
  • Not assigned: Shows the file name where the placemarkers data will be saved in browse mode, without an extension.
  • alt+NVDA+y: Opens a dialog with the placemarkers saved for this document. You can write a note for each placemarker; press Save note to save changes. Pressing Delete you can remove the selected placemarker. Pressing OK you can move to the selected position.
  • Not assigned: Saves a position as a temporary placemarker.
  • Not assigned: Moves to the temporary placemarker for the current document.
  • Not assigned: Finds the next occurrence of the last text searched for any specific document.
  • Not assigned: Finds the previous occurrence of the last text searched for any specific document.

PlaceMarkers Submenu (NVDA+N)

Using the PlaceMarkers submenu under NVDA's Preferences menu, you can access:

  • Specific search folder: Opens a folder of specific searches previously saved.
  • Bookmarks folder: Opens a folder of the saved placemarkers.
  • Copy placeMarkers folder: You can save a copy of the placeMarkers folder.
  • Restore placeMarkers: You can restore your placeMarkers from a previously saved placeMarkers folder.

Note: The placemarker position is based on the number of characters; and therefore in dynamic pages it is better to use the specific search, not placemarkers.

Changes for 35.0

  • Removed URL parameters from file names, so that bookmarks are valid for specific websites in different sessions.

Changes for 24.0

  • Y is used instead of k in gestures such as NVDA+k, NVDA+shift+k, NVDA+alt+k and NVDA+control+shift+k.
  • Compatible with NVDA 2023.1.

Changes for 23.0

  • The add-on works again with Microsoft Word.

Changes for 22.0

  • We can move to bookmarks and delete them with UIA enabled, thanks to Abdel.

Changes for 21.0

  • Bookmarks can be saved with UIA enabled in browsers based on Chromium, thanks to Abdel.

Changes for 20.0

  • Requires NVDA 2022.1 or later.

Changes for 19.0

  • The add-on cannot be run on secure screens.

Changes for 18.0

  • The command to see the path for placeMarkers shows if there are permanent bookmarks, text for specific search or a temporary bookmark for the current document.

Changes for 17.0

  • Fixed a bug which didn't allow to save place markers in some documents.
  • Fixed translated strings making translations to work properly.

Changes for 16.0

  • Compatible with NVDA 2021.1 or later (required).
  • Skim reading is supported when moving to temporary bookmarks.
  • If needed, you can download other versions.

Changes for 15.0

  • When reading with say all in browse mode, the specific find next and specific find previous commands do not stop reading anymore if Allow skim reading option is enabled, according to find next and find previous commands from NVDA 2020.4.
  • When the Specific search dialog is opened after running the Specific find previous command, the Search previous option will be selected.

Changes for 14.0

  • The command to copy the name of the file where place markers data will be saved has been replaced by a command which shows this file name in browse mode. This is not assigned to a gesture.
  • The "Text to search" field does not overlap the "Saved text" field anymore. (Thanks to Cyrille Bougot).
  • Requires NVDA 2019.3 or later.

Changes for 13.0

  • Added not assigned commands to find the next and previous occurrences of the last text searched for any specific document.
  • The specific search feature works when the NVDA's About dialog is open.
  • In the Specific search dialog, the case sensitive checkbox will be checked if this option was selected for the last search.
  • When the add-on is updated, bookmarks and strings for specific search saved in the previous version of the add-on will be automatically copied to the new version, unless you prefer to import place markers saved in the main configuration folder of NVDA.
  • When using the dialog to copy place markers, if the chosen folder is not named placeMarkersBackup, a subfolder with this name will be created to prevent the deletion of directories containing important data, such as Documents or Downloads.

Changes for 12.0

  • Fixed a critical bug which caused NVDA to crash when trying to open the Notes dialog, if chinese characters were selected before saving bookmarks.

Changes for 11.0

Changes for 10.0

  • In Edge, gestures associated with bookmarks selection, such as NVDA+k, NVDA+shift+k or NVDA+alt+k, will be sent to the application instead of trying to move the cursor to bookmarks, to avoid errors, especially in long documents.
  • Now specific search is supported in Edge.

Changes for 9.0

  • When moving to a bookmark from the Notes dialog, the review cursor follows the system cursor.
  • The command to select the previous bookmark works properly again.
  • Bookmarks can be deleted from the Notes dialog.
  • Now you can assign gestures to save and move to a temporary bookmark for each document.

Changes for 8.0

  • Removed fragment identifiers from bookmark filenames, which can avoid issues in the VitalSource Bookshelf ePUB reader.
  • Added a Notes dialog, to associate comments for saved bookmarks and move to the selected position.

Changes for 7.0

  • The dialog to save a string of text for specific search has been removed. This functionality is now included in the Specific search dialog, which has been redesigned to allow different actions when pressing the OK button.
  • The visual presentation of the dialogs has been enhanced, adhering to the appearance of the dialogs shown in NVDA.
  • Performing a Find Next or Find Previous command in Browse Mode will now correctly do a case sensitive search if the original Find was case sensitive.
  • Requires NVDA 2016.4 or later.
  • Now you can assign gestures to open the Copy and Restore place markers dialogs.
  • NVDA will present a message to notify when place markers have been copied or restored with the corresponding dialogs.

Changes for 6.0

  • When the add-on features are not usable, gestures are sent to the corresponding application.

Changes for 5.0

  • Added case sensitive search.
  • Removed option to open documentation from Place markers menu.
  • More intuitive key commands.

Changes for 4.0

  • Removed fragment identifiers from bookmark filenames, which can avoid issues in ePUBREADER Firefox add-on.
  • Add-on help is available from the Add-ons Manager.

Changes for 3.1

  • Translation updates and new language.
  • Bookmark position is not announced in skim reading.

Changes for 3.0

  • Added support for skim reading.

Changes for 2.0

  • Added options to save and delete different searches for each file.
  • Fixed bug which broke when paths contained non latin characters.
  • Shortcuts can now be reassigned using the NVDA gesture input dialog.

Changes for 1.0

  • Initial version.
  • Translated into: Brazilian Portuguese, Farsi, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Portuguese, Spanish, Slovak, Slovenian, Tamil.