#Highlighted text to speech mac mac os x#
#Highlighted text to speech mac mac os#

So instead I have my MacBook Pro read it aloud to me as I follow along and listen for mistakes. ItвЂ™s all too easy to read what IвЂ™ve written on the screen and miss any spelling errors I might have made. Personally, I use it all the time for proofreading documents IвЂ™ve written. Text to Speech is a really great feature of the Mac operating system that more people would be using if they knew how it could benefit them. Either way, this will work in pretty much any application where you can select text. You should now be hearing the sound of your Mac speaking to you, including realistic pauses to take artificial breaths, which either makes you very happy or very creeped out. Select the text and press the keyboard shortcut you set in System Preferences. To test it out, open up a text document such as TextEdit or Word and type something. Click OK once youвЂ™ve entered your shortcut and youвЂ™re all done setting up Text to Speech. I always use Ctrl+S as my shortcut, but you can come up with your own as well.

Here you can choose your desired keyboard shortcut, which can be pressed after you select the block of text you want spoken to you. Now, to set up your keyboard shortcut, check the box next to вЂњSpeak selected text when the key is pressedвЂќ and click the Set Key button. If youвЂ™re running 10.5 Leopard, youвЂ™ll probably find the best configuration to be Alex as your voice and the speaking rate at just barely past the normal speed. Experiment with the settings that work best for you and press the Play button to test them out (Tip: make sure your volume is turned on so you can hear the voices).

You can choose the system voice, speaking rate, etc. It works pretty well out of the box, but a few settings need to be configured for this feature to work optimally. Open up System Preferences, click on the Speech button (under the System header), and ensure the Text to Speech tab is highlighted. Sounds great, right? HereвЂ™s how you can set up Text to Speech to be triggered by a simple keyboard shortcut: It takes all the work out of reading so you can just sit back and listen - essentially like a book on tape.

#Highlighted text to speech mac mac os#

If staring at a computer screen takes a toll on your eyes, if reading that long document is growing tiresome, or if youвЂ™re just plain lazy, Mac OS XвЂ™s built-in Text to Speech feature is perfect for you.

#Highlighted text to speech mac mac os x#

One of the coolest things to mess around with in Mac OS X is Text to Speech, which lets your Mac read any selected block of text aloud to you.