I was recently asked by a sixth form student about text to speech, she wanted to have her coursework and essays read to her as she found this an easier way to make sure it all made sense than reading it back. I know what she  means, often when we read back our work we see it as we meant it to be rather than as it is, and fail to notice errors – particularly when it is on a screen rather than on paper.

As she and I were talking I realised how many ways there are to get text from a screen read aloud, and, actually, how easy it is.

For a start, all operating systems have a screenreader built in. InWindows this is ‘Narrator’ and it can be turned on and off by pressing Ctrl + Windows Key + Enter. On Macs, and iPads, they have ‘Voiceover’ which can be found in the Settings of the  device. These are designed for users with visual impairments, so will often read the entire screen, starting from the top with the document title in word-processors, such as MSWord, or the URL on a  webpage, which can be a bit disconcerting. They will also describe each action, such as opening a dialogue box, or clicking on formatting. It is more information than most users need, which is why it is often better to use an add-on or plug-in with a more limited purpose.

Last summer Microsoft added reading functionality to MSWord. If you have the most up-to-date version installed this will appear as a ‘Read Aloud’ button under the  Review menu in the ribbon. But even if you are not completely up to date you can add a ‘Speak’ plug in. From the  File menu choose Options, then Customize Ribbon and change ‘Popular Commands’ to ‘All Commands’ in the left hand  drop down menu. Find ‘Speak’ and choose to add it to the ribbon. (You may be asked to create a group to make this possible. This will appear as a folder in the right hand list, which you can select.)

They are both straightforward to operate by putting the cursor  at a point in the text, or highlighting some, then clicking the button in the toolbar.

In the online version of MSWord, in Office 365 a similar functionality can be found under the Immersive Reader button. This has a few more functions than simply reading aloud. (You can find out more about Immersive Reader here.)

Another option is to install a bespoke program that will read anything on the screen, usually a toolbar that sits on top of all open windows, such as WordqSpeakq or Read and Write Gold. Both of these offer support for writing as well, with predictors and speech to text available, too. They work well and offer flexibility in that they are always available, no matter what you are working on, whether it is an essay, a presentation or even an email. Although if you only want a screenreader they can be an expensive choice.

If what you are after is improved accessibility when online then there are add ons available for the browser. Like many people I use Chrome most of the time, and I have found the Read&Write plug-in very useful. It is turned on and off with a click in the browser bar, which opens a set of controls, including play/pause and skip forward or backward. 

You could also opt for ReadAloud which copies the text into a separate box on screen so you can focus on the section you want read.

Overall there are lots of choices, all of which can make revising and editing text easier and more accurate. What’s not to like?