Hands-On Mac (Audio)

HOM 17: Getting Your Mac to Read to You - Mac Text-to Speech Accessibility Features

Listen Later
  • As usual, go to the Accessibility System Preference pane to see Speech option.
  • Select the "Speak selected text when the key is pressed" checkbox. By default, speaking is enabled when you press Option-Esc.
  • Choose a voice. Alex is the default but there are many others.
  • For full screen-reading capability (like JAWS) you can turn on voice over.
  • If you'd like to convert web pages and text tiles to recordings stored in Apple Music, open the Keyboard system preference pane and select the Shortcuts tab. Tap "Services" on the left and you'll see a variety of useful services you can add to the Services menu. On Catalina and later look for "Add to Music as Spoken Track" in previous versions of macOS it will say iTunes instead. You can even add a keyboard shortcut. Look for the Services entry under the Applications main menu. In the Text section, you'll find an entry to add the selected text to Music. You can also right-click on a text selection in some apps (the Services menu isn't always available as a right-click, however).
  • If you do this a lot or want to convert a number of files from text to speech at once, you can create an Automator app to do this, too.

    • Leo Laporte gives you helpful tips to get the most from your Mac every week on Hands-On Mac.

    Host: Leo Laporte

    Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-mac

    Discuss episodes in the TWiT Community.

    Sponsor:

    • GetRoman.com/HOM

      • ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store
      Hands-On Mac (Audio)By TWiT
      • 4.2
      • 4.2
      • 4.2
      • 4.2
      • 4.2

      4.2

      17 ratings

      More shows like Hands-On Mac (Audio)

      View all
      This Week in Tech (Audio) by TWiT

      This Week in Tech (Audio)

      3,009 Listeners

      Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting by Dave Hamilton, Pilot Pete & Adam Christianson

      Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

      827 Listeners

      Hands-On Tech (Audio) by TWiT

      Hands-On Tech (Audio)

      1,968 Listeners

      Security Now (Audio) by TWiT

      Security Now (Audio)

      1,968 Listeners

      Mac OS Ken by Ken Ray

      Mac OS Ken

      891 Listeners

      MacBreak Weekly (Audio) by TWiT

      MacBreak Weekly (Audio)

      2,013 Listeners

      Windows Weekly (Audio) by TWiT

      Windows Weekly (Audio)

      869 Listeners

      Intelligent Machines (Audio) by TWiT

      Intelligent Machines (Audio)

      735 Listeners

      Tech News Weekly (Audio) by TWiT

      Tech News Weekly (Audio)

      1,065 Listeners

      iOS Today (Audio) by TWiT

      iOS Today (Audio)

      545 Listeners

      Mac Power Users by Relay

      Mac Power Users

      1,280 Listeners

      This Week in Tech (Video) by TWiT

      This Week in Tech (Video)

      256 Listeners

      MacBreak Weekly (Video) by TWiT

      MacBreak Weekly (Video)

      331 Listeners

      Macworld Podcast by Foundry

      Macworld Podcast

      306 Listeners

      This Week in Space (Audio) by TWiT

      This Week in Space (Audio)

      137 Listeners