Inaccessible edit field bug in TextEdit introduced in MacOS Catalina

By Adam Samec, 28 October, 2019

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hello,

I would like to share a finding about a bug which has been introduced in macOS 10.15 Catalina and which occurs in TextEdit. I've already reported the issue to accessibility@apple.com but would like to bring the issue to awareness also here at AppleVis so that we can gather more support in resolving the issue.

Steps to reproduce the issue:

  1. Turn on VoiceOver.
  2. Using Finder, open an existing plain text file in Text Edit and move the VoiceOver cursor to the document edit field. (The issue does not occur in rich text files.)
  3. Use the arrow keys to navigate the text cursor inside the document edit field.

Expected behavior:

You should hear voiceOver reading the text as you move the text cursor in the field.

What happens instead:

No VoiceOver feedback.

Workaround to repair the issue:

Turning VoiceOver off and on again. The reading of the edit field then becomes accessible as it should be.

Kind regards

Adam

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Comments

By KE7ZUM on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - 14:06

Reproducible here, submit your sis diagnose to them as well.

ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.15.1
BuildVersion: 19B86a

By Blade Runner on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - 14:06

I'm not experiencing this behavior in macOS 10.15.1 Developer beta 3.

By Adam Samec on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - 14:06

Hello,

thank you for sharing your experience. I've got a reply from apple stating they couldn't reproduce the issue. My macOS version is macOS 10.15 (build 19A602)

By KE7ZUM on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - 14:06

Yep I get tha talot. Tell them to reference Feedback · FB7420939

By Clayton Jacobs… on Friday, November 29, 2019 - 14:06

I'm not experiencing this issue in the latest update. That's a bizarre bug you're experiencing.

By Justin on Friday, November 29, 2019 - 14:06

Agreed here. I'm not experiencing this issue in the latest version of catalina.

By Adam Samec on Friday, November 29, 2019 - 14:06

Hello KE7ZUM,

what do you mean by getting the talot? Sorry, my English is not so good.

Kind regards

By Adam Samec on Friday, November 29, 2019 - 14:06

So what did you mean by your original comment? Did you mean that Apple had been able to reproduce the issue?

Regarding my communication with Apple, they have not been able to reproduce the issue so far.

By KE7ZUM on Friday, November 29, 2019 - 14:06

No I meant I get that unable to reproduce, or nothingn at all. I don't think I had a response for this issue as of yet even though I submited a sys diag when it happened.

Actualy I have not ben able to reproduce the issue ever since a few days ago but can't remember what I did to fix it besides restart my computer every day.

By Adam Samec on Friday, November 29, 2019 - 14:06

Hello,

I've just made a clean reinstall of macOS Catalina 15.1, and the issue still remains.

Kind regards