Question
What is ReadSpeaker TextAid?
What features does ReadSpeaker TextAid have?
Answer
What is ReadSpeaker TextAid?
ReadSpeaker TextAid document reader is a web-based tool that allows users to create a personal library where they can upload documents and use ReadSpeaker’s tools. You can find TextAid doc reader under Resources in D2L. To see the features of TextAid in action, see ReadSpeaker's How-to Video Library.
What Features Does TextAid Have?
Text Highlighting
- Text is highlighted as it is being read. This text can come from websites, emails, scanned documents, textbooks, PDFs, and more
Document and OCR Reading
- Upload documents in various formats, including scanned documents, images, PowerPoint, PDF, Word, EPUB, etc.
One-click Web Reading
- Read web pages with just one click of the "TextAid Web Reader" tool in the bookmark bar. Or add a free ReadSpeaker TextAid browser extension, available for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera One. They enable a toolbox in the browser, allowing you to listen to web pages, online PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Word Online pages, and emails in Gmail and Outlook online, and also offer writing assistance. You can also install the TextAid Chrome Extension centrally on all school Chromebooks.
Word Prediction and Auto-completion
- Learns from each individual user to predict and complete words.
Highlighter
- Highlight passages in various colors to later be collected as a summary of the text that may be edited, printed, or downloaded.
Download Audio Files
- Save an audio version of any text to any device or to Dropbox to access at any time, even while offline.
Text Selection and Word Lookup
- Select any part of the text and listen to only that section. Look up a selected word in the dictionary, look up selected text on Wikipedia, or perform a web search on Google.
Personalized Settings
- Customize TextAid for more comfortable reading. Choose your reading speed, text color, size, and font, including OpenDyslexic, and highlighting colors.
Annotations
- Draw or write text directly on any uploaded document. Use annotations to fill in the blanks in assignments or add notes to learning material. You can save, print, or email your documents with or without the annotations.
Screen Mask and Reading Ruler
- Focus on a part of the text, or on one line at a time, for easier reading.
Personal Text Library
- Save any document to your personal library and access it from any browser or device. Search and upload Bookshare e-books from a Bookshare account.
Translation
- Translate text into any of the available languages, then listen to the translation.
Text Read Back
- Text is read back as it is typed, per character, word, and/or sentence.
Spell Check
- Check your text for spelling errors and choose from the suggested corrections.
Dictation
- You can dictate any text: it is written out as you speak with speech-to-text technology.
For more information about Read Speaker, please reach out to the Digital Accessibility Team or the Center for Teaching and Learning.