Hear your text with Narrator (a text-to-speech program)

Posted by Mr. Spark (admin) in Windows Vista on 03 2nd, 2009 | one response

Narrator is a text-to-speech program (or basic screen reader) that is built into Windows Vista. Narrator reads menus without leaving the active window. Individuals who use Narrator will also find a more pleasant, natural sounding voice in Windows Vista.

There are two ways to start Narrator:

Start Narrator from Quick Access to common tools for use in the current session, or
Turn on Narrator so that it starts automatically each time you log on.

Start Narrator for the current session

Mouse actions

Keyboard actions

To open the Ease of Access Center, select:

Start.
Control Panel.
Ease of Access.
Ease of Access Center.

To open the Ease of Access Center, press:

Windows logo key +U.

Under Quick access to common tools, select:

Start Narrator.

Under Quick access to common tools, select:

Start Narrator by pressing ALT+N.

Screenshot of Ease of Access Center

Turn on Narrator so that it starts automatically each time you log on to your computer

Mouse actions

Keyboard actions

Under Explore all settings, select:

Use the computer without a display, by pressing TAB, then ENTER.

Under Explore all settings, select:

Use the computer without a display, by pressing TAB, then ENTER.

Under Hear text read aloud, select:

Turn on Narrator.
Select Save.

Under Hear text read aloud, select:

Turn on Narrator by pressing ALT+U.
Select Save by pressing ALT+S.

narrator

Narrator keyboard shortcuts

Use this keyboard shortcut	To do this
CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER	Get information about the current item
CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR	Read the entire selected window
CTRL+ALT+SPACEBAR	Read the selected window layout
ALT+HOME	Get information about the current item
ALT+END	Get a summary of the current item
INSERT+SHIFT+G	Read a description of the dependent elements of the currently selected element
INSERT+CTRL+G	Read a description of the non-dependent elements adjacent to the currently selected element
INSERT+CTRL+HOME	Enter Virtual Menu navigation mode, which allows you to access Narrator commands without switching from the program that you’re currently working with
CTRL	Stop Narrator from reading text
INSERT+Q	Move the text selection to the start of the previous text pattern
INSERT+W	Move the text selection to the start of the next text pattern
INSERT+E	Move the text selection to the start of the current text pattern
INSERT+R	Move the text selection to the end of the current text pattern
INSERT+F2	Select all of the text with the current text pattern
INSERT+F3	Read the current character
INSERT+F4	Read the current word
INSERT+F5	Read the current line
INSERT+F6	Read the current paragraph
INSERT+F7	Read the current page
INSERT+F8	Read the current document