Sao Mai Braille Logo

Sao Mai Braille (SMB) is a free rich text editing and Braille translation software for Windows. We hope that this additional tool will help blind individuals/organizations for/of visually impaired people produce Braille materials quickly and less costly.

We are a small non-profit organization based in Vietnam, and we rely on donations and grants to continue improving, developing new assistive tools and providing free related services for visually impaired people. So, your giving a hand is highly appreciated and much thankful. Read more about us.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to:

The Overbrook-Nippon Network on Educational Technology (ON-NET) to provide fund to support very importantly initial development of the software since 2018.
The DAISY Music Braille project to support us to improve and develop many more new music Braille transcription features, as well as contribute Braille related features for the free open-source Musescore music notation software from Jan 2021-June 2023.

Main window of Sao Mai Braille

SMB main features:

Edit and translate rich text into Braille.
6-key input method with FDSJKL and VCXM,.
Translate into Braille with 134 built-in language tables by LibLouis library.
Work and translate into Braille correctly from print document types such as Microsoft Word, TXT, RTF and HTML. Open and save Braille document into rich-text .smb extension, Portable Embosser File .pef, Braille-Ready File .brf, unformatted Braille .brl, and Spanish Braille .bra.
Translate document written in multiple languages by selecting relevant correct Braille translation tables.
Mathematics: view/edit math equations; import/export LaTeX and MathMl; converting equations to speech and Braille, and navigation mode. MathCAT is used to provide speech and Braille.
Insert, edit and convert images into Braille tactile graphic (experimental).
Translating music scores into Braille (currently, supported MusicXML standard). SM Music Braille translation engine is considered among the most powerful tools to translate music into Braille with many custom options and unique features.
Highly customize Braille text format with a set of translation rules, and have frequently-used styles built in.
Software’s user interface is available in 36 languages, and designed to work friendly with screen readers like Jaws and NVDA.

Installation

SMB doesn’t have any special system requirements. It’s tested on Windows 10 and 11. However, it’s expected to run with older Windows versions as well.

Follow setup instructions to complete the installation. By default, SMB is installed on your system drive -> Program Files\SaoMai\SMB. And configuration files are saved in %appdata%\SaoMai\SMB

Please read the What's New in Sao Mai Braille's Releases to know more about new features, improvements and existing issues.

Read Sao Mai Braille user guide online here.