Steps to reproduce:

1. Disable the use spelling functionality option.
2. Navigate to a control with a shortcut key, for example by pressing alt+f in Notepad.

Actual behavior:

Character mode commands are still sent to the synthesizer. This can cause issues with some older SAPI synthesizers that don't properly implement character mode support.

Expected behavior:

No character mode commands should be sent to the synthesizer.

NVDA logs, crash dumps and other attachments:

Log fragment with use spelling functionality off.
IO - speech.speech.speak (08:29:13.122) - MainThread (20000):
Speaking [LangChangeCommand ('en_US'), 'Installed apps', 'Alt, ', CharacterModeCommand(True), 'p', CharacterModeCommand(False), '1 of 18', CancellableSpeech (still valid)]

System configuration

NVDA installed/portable/running from source:

Installed.

NVDA version:

alpha-29490,2adb77cb.

Windows version:

Windows 11, Version 23H2 (OS Build 25951.1010).

Name and version of other software in use when reproducing the issue:

N/A.

Other information about your system:

N/A.

Other questions

Does the issue still occur after restarting your computer?

Yes.

Have you tried any other versions of NVDA? If so, please report their behaviors.

Yes, versions prior to #14900 being merged don't have this problem.

If NVDA add-ons are disabled, is your problem still occurring?

Yes.

Does the issue still occur after you run the COM Registration Fixing Tool in NVDA's tools menu?

Yes.