Skip to content

[Accessibility] NVDA focuses on previous messages instead of latest response after recent update #17530

@ademalgul

Description

@ademalgul

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.406.31014

What subscription do you have?

Enterprise

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (x64)

What issue are you seeing?

Hello,

I am a blind user using Codex Desktop App on Windows 10 64-bit with NVDA screen reader.

After the recent updates, a significant accessibility issue has appeared between Codex and NVDA. When Codex responds to my messages, NVDA does not focus on the latest (newest) response. Instead, the focus jumps to previous messages or earlier parts of the thread. This makes it very difficult and time-consuming to read the new answer every time.

In contrast, the regular ChatGPT web interface works very well with NVDA. In ChatGPT:

  • My messages and the assistant’s responses are clearly separated as distinct message blocks.
  • Even in very long conversations with hundreds of messages, NVDA can easily navigate between them.

I believe implementing a similar clear message structure (like in ChatGPT) in Codex would solve this focus problem completely.

Could you please look into this accessibility issue? It would make Codex much more usable for screen reader users.

Thank you.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Steps to reproduce the bug:

  1. Open Codex Desktop App with NVDA screen reader.
  2. Open any existing thread (especially a longer one).
  3. Type a message and press Enter to send it.
  4. Wait for Codex to generate and complete the response.
  5. NVDA does not move focus to the newest response. Instead, it stays on or jumps to previous/older messages in the thread.
  6. I have to manually press NVDA + End or use arrow keys to reach the latest message every single time.

This happens consistently after the recent update.
Expected behavior:

After I send a message and Codex finishes responding, NVDA should automatically focus on the latest (newest) message so I can read the response immediately without manual navigation.

Similar to how ChatGPT web interface works with NVDA — each message is clearly separated and focus moves naturally to the new response.

What is the expected behavior?

No response

Additional information

No response

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    appIssues related to the Codex desktop appbugSomething isn't workingregressionBehaviors that worked in previous versions but were broken due to an updatewindows-osIssues related to Codex on Windows systems

    Type

    No type
    No fields configured for issues without a type.

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions