Dark Mode

Makes NVDA's own interface dark: the NVDA menu, the Settings dialog, the Add-on Store, message boxes and every other NVDA window.

NVDA's help pages go dark too. The User Guide, the Commands Quick Reference, What's New and every add-on's help open in your browser as dark copies, with light text on dark grey, tables that keep their contrast, every keyboard shortcut in a box with a purple outline, and file names and other code highlighted in dark purple. NVDA's own files are never changed: the dark copies live in your temporary folder, and with dark mode off NVDA opens its own pages again.

Focus and selection

Keyboard focus is shown as a solid blue ring on every control, including check boxes, dropdowns, sliders, and the selected row of a list, where Windows would draw a faint dotted rectangle. The highlighted item of a menu gets the same blue outline, with the keyboard and the mouse alike. Selected rows in lists are a medium blue with white text. Tick Thicker focus outlines in NVDA menu > Preferences > Settings > Dark Mode to make the rings and the menu outline two pixels thick instead of one.

Turning it on and off

Three ways, all equivalent:

• NVDA menu > Preferences > Dark mode: a check item; choosing it switches dark mode on or off immediately.
• NVDA menu > Preferences > Settings > Dark Mode: the check box Dark mode for NVDA's windows and menus. Like every NVDA setting, it takes effect when you press OK or Apply.
• A command called Toggles dark mode for NVDA's windows and menus in NVDA's Input Gestures dialog, under the Dark Mode category. It has no key assigned by default.

Turning dark mode off restarts NVDA, so that everything comes back exactly as NVDA draws it on its own. Untick Restart NVDA when dark mode is turned off in the Dark Mode settings category if you would rather it just switched off in place. Dark mode also switches itself off while a Windows High Contrast theme is active.

How it works, and its limits

NVDA's interface is drawn by a toolkit (wxPython) that has no dark mode of its own, so this add-on asks Windows directly, using the same unofficial switches File Explorer and other apps use. Most of the interface goes dark. A few pieces Windows draws itself stay light, for example the small progress box shown while checking for updates. When NVDA gains built-in dark mode, this add-on can be retired.

Licence

Copyright © 2026 Carrie on Accessibility. Free software under the GNU General Public License, version 2.