Microsoft adds new functionality to Paint

Microsoft gives the classic Paint application in Windows new accessibility features. With the release of the Windows 10 May 2019 Update, the drawing program will receive more extensive support for keyboard input and screen readers.

With the public release of the Windows 10 May 2019 Update later this month, Paint will gain the ability to process input through the keyboard. For example, users can then use the arrow keys to move the cursor and use the arrow keys to create a marquee with the spacebar pressed. Input via keyboard comes in addition to the existing input methods via mouse and drawing tablet.

In addition, Microsoft is adding improved support for screen readers such as the Windows Narrator. Screen readers speak texts on the screen so that people with a visual impairment can still use certain applications.

Microsoft announced two years ago that MS Paint would no longer be part of Windows but would appear as Classic Paint in the Microsoft Store. It seemed that the company would no longer add functionality because its successor, Paint3D, came in Windows 10. At the end of April it already appeared that Paint would remain in Windows 10 and now it is clear that the drawing application will also receive new functions.