Reading is good, but you know what’s better? Listening. I get Windows 11’s various tools to read text out loud to me, so I can do other things simultaneously. Here’s how you can do that, too.
Make Windows 11 Read Any On-Screen Text Out Loud to You
Windows 11 comes equipped with an accessibility feature called Narrator. This feature reads anything on your screen out loud to you. You can get it to read app window contents, app menus, and so on.
To invoke Narrator, on your keyboard, press Windows+Ctrl+Enter. As soon as you press this key combination, the Narrator window will open.
Another way to launch Narrator is from Settings. To do that, open Settings (press Windows+i), choose “Accessibility” in the left sidebar, select “Narrator” on the right pane, and turn on the “Narrator” toggle.
To turn off Narrator, press Windows+Ctrl+Enter or disable the “Narrator” toggle in Settings.
Make Microsoft Edge Read Webpages Out Loud to You
I sometimes stumble upon interesting but lengthy webpages, and at those times, I utilize Edge’s Read Aloud feature to get the web browser to read the webpages out loud to me. This feature is built into Edge, so you don’t have to download or install anything.
To access it, open Edge and launch your favorite webpage. Right-click anywhere blank on the page and select “Read Aloud” (or More Tools > Read Aloud) from the context menu. Alternatively, press Ctrl+Shift+U.
Sometimes, I don’t want Edge to read the entire webpage for me; I only want it to read a specific piece of text. In this case, highlight the piece of text you want it to read, right-click it, and choose “Read Aloud Selection” (or More Tools > Read Aloud Selection).
Get Your PC to Read Text From Images and Videos
Sometimes, the text I want to listen to is in an image or video. In this case, I’ll extract the text from that item and then use Narrator or Edge’s Read Aloud feature to have that text read out loud to me.
To do that, download and install PowerToys from Microsoft Store on your PC. This is a free tool that contains many sub-utilties you can use to get various tasks done on your PC. After installing, launch PowerToys and turn on the “Text Extractor” option.
Access the image or video you want to read text in. If it’s a video, pause the video where the text is. Then, on your keyboard, press Windows+Shift+T to invoke Text Extractor. Using your cursor, select the area on your screen where the text is.
Text Extractor has copied the text from the selected area on your screen. To access this text, open a text editor like Notepad and press Ctrl+V. You can now use Narrator or Read Aloud to have this piece of text read out loud to you.
Make Narrator Use a Different Voice While Reading Text Out Loud
When I first invoked Narrator, I found its voice to be quite robotic. Luckily, I explored an option in Settings that allowed me to change the feature’s voice, and it even let me add natural voices.
If you want to do that, open Settings by pressing Windows+i. From the left sidebar, select “Accessibility.” On the right pane, choose “Narrator.” In the Narrator’s Voice section, click the “Choose a Voice” drop-down menu and select a voice.
On the same screen, you can customize other functionalities of Narrator. For example, you can use the “Speed” option to change how fast or slow Narrator reads text. You can also change the voice’s pitch using the “Pitch” option.
If you want to add a natural voice, next to Add Natural Voices, click “Add.” Select a voice on the list and choose “Download and Install.” Your system will download the selected voice and let you use it in Narrator.
Make Word or Outlook Read Your Documents or Emails Out Loud to You
Got any lengthy documents or emails? You can get Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook to read those items out loud to you.
To do that in Word, open your document with the app. In Word’s top bar, click “Review.” Then, choose “Read Aloud.”
Word will start reading the document from the current cursor location. You’ll see the controls to manage the playback on your screen.
To use the feature in Outlook, open the app and access an email. At the top, click the “Message” tab, and choose “Read Aloud.”
Outlook will start reading the current email.
And that’s how I get my ears busy while keeping my eyes free on Windows 11.