• Reading short form (acronym) used in a text file

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    You have to use the spell tag in Text Speaker to read acronyms in your document. Open your document in Text Speaker. Select the acronym text and click on the Edit menu. Select the ‘Spell Selected Word / Phrase’ option. The text will be surrounded with the <spell> tag. Click on the Speak button to test the spell tag. Finally, convert the text file to audio to a mp3 file.
  • Turning off the word highlighting in Text Speaker

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    The default setting is to highlight words as they are spoken by Text Speaker. You can disable the highlighting option from the settings. Open the Settings dialog and uncheck the ‘Highlight words when reading’ option, then the click Ok button. Start reading the text document. Notice the text is no longer highlighted. [image: Settings.png]
  • Marking the text and listen to it later on

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    You can use the outline area feature in Text Speaker to mark the text for listening at another time. Open your document in Text Speaker and select the text which you want to mark. Right click and select ‘Outline Area’. Repeat this for all the text which you want to mark. Save the file. To listen to the marked text, open the file in Text Speaker. Go to the ‘Speak’ menu and select the ‘Speak Outlined Text’ option. [image: AudioOutline.png]
  • Pausing between sentences when reading dialogue

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    You can add pause intervals in Text Speaker. Open your document file in Text Speaker. Select the position between sentences for which you want to insert a pause. Go to the Edit menu and click on the ‘Insert Pause’ option. Choose the pause time from the list or use the ‘User Defined’ option to specify a time. Repeat these steps for all the other sentences. Listen to the text and when it sounds right, you can convert it to an audio file. You can also use the pause after reading a paragraph.
  • Using Text Speaker to read a French eBook

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    Yes, Text Speaker can read text in other languages. Supported languages are English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, and Romanian. You will need to use the correct voice for the respective language. You can download free 30 day evaluation voices here: https://www.deskshare.com/text-to-speech-voices.aspx Install a voice for the French language and you can start listening to your eBook spoken in a natural human sounding voice.
  • Reading text files at scheduled times using Text Speaker

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    You can use talking reminders in Text Speaker to read text files at different times. Create a talking reminder with your date, time and repeat interval values. Select the ‘Text File Containing Message’ option and browse for your text file. Note that the reminder will only read the first 1000 words from the file. Similarly add a new reminder for another text file and set a different time. Your files will be read aloud at the specified time. [image: ReminderDetails.png]
  • How to read arithmetic symbols out loud in Text Speaker?

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    You can change the way Text Speaker pronounces arithmetic words and symbols in your document. On the Pronunciation dialog, enter the ‘-’ sign in the Word text field and put the word ‘minus’ in the Pronunciation text field. Test the pronunciation and click apply. Now, if you start reading the document it will read the minus sign. Similarly, you can adjust the pronunciation for other arithmetic symbols. Once you finish adjusting the pronunciations, just convert the document file to audio format. [image: PronunciationMain12.png]
  • Start reading from the last read position in a long book

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    You can use the bookmark feature in Text Speaker to continue at the last read position. Add a bookmark to return to any point in your document. When you stop reading the book, add a bookmark by right clicking and selecting the add bookmark option, then save your document. When you are ready to continue reading, open your book in Text Speaker. From the Edit menu, select the ‘Go to Bookmark’ option and choose the bookmark you have added. Finally, start reading from current cursor position using Speak menu. [image: GotoBookmark.png]
  • Get spoken reminders even when Text Speaker is closed

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    A reminder in Text Speaker will run at the scheduled time, even if Text Speaker is not running. In this way, a reminder will help you avoid missing important tasks you need to do. To schedule a reminder, select the start date, the time and enter a message. The message will be read aloud when the scheduled reminder launches. [image: ReminderDetails.png]
  • Making a mp3 audio book containing multiple voices

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    Text Speaker gives you the ability to use multiple voices in a single audio. So, yes, each character can have their own voice! If there are many different characters in your book, it will help to make a list with two columns - the left will be the character name and on the right will be the voice name. We will be using voice tags before each character speaks. Open your book file with Text Speaker. To use a specific voice, select the text in the document and from the Edit menu click on the ‘Insert Voice Change’ option. Once you complete inserting the voices for each character, you can start the conversion to MP3 audio format. If you need additional voices, you can download them here: https://www.deskshare.com/text-to-speech-voices.aspx [image: ChangeVoice.png]
  • Directly reading text from the screen

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    Yes, you can read text anywhere on the screen and in almost any application without having to copy-paste. To begin, launch Text Speaker and set the hotkey combination you would like to use when reading text from other applications. To configure the shortcut key, go to ‘Settings’ from menu and then select the keyboard hotkeys tab. Set the key combination that's easy for you to remember and click OK. Now, you are ready to open up any application such as word or the browser. Select the text from the application and use the hotkey combination to start reading text. Text Speaker will start reading the content out loud. You can also pause, resume and stop Text Speaker from reading the text. [image: HotkeySettings.png]
  • Adding a pause after reading a paragraph

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    Yes, you can add a pause duration in Text Speaker. Put the cursor at the end of the paragraph. Go to the ‘Edit’ menu and select the ‘Insert Pause’ option. Choose the pause duration or select a user defined option to enter a value you want. You can also right click and select the ‘Insert Pause’ option from the context menu. After adding a pause, convert your text file to MP3 audio format.
  • Converting multiple text files to mp3 audio

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    A batch conversion of text to audio is supported in Text Speaker. Click on the ‘Open’ icon on the tool bar. Select all your text files and click on the open button. The files will be listed in the ‘File List’. [image: SelectMultipleFiles.png] Choose the files which you would like to convert to audio from the file list. Go to the ‘Speak’ menu and select the ‘Convert Selected Files to Audio’ option.
  • Read only a portion of text from a long document

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    Yes, you can do this in Text Speaker. Open your document, select the text, go to the Speak menu or right click and select ‘Speak Highlighted Text’. If you have many paragraphs in different parts of the document, then select the text, right click and choose the ‘Outline Area’ option for each paragraph. [image: AudioOutline.png] Do this for all the text you want to read. Finally go to the ‘Speak’ menu and select the ‘Speak Outlined Text’ option.
  • Adjusting the audio quality in Text Speaker

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    Yes, you can adjust the audio quality of the text to speech audio files generated by Text Speaker. Once you have your text file ready, click on the ‘Convert To Audio’ option on the tool bar. You will see the following window: [image: MP3Properties.png] Select the value for the audio quality from the drop down list. You can also set the values for audio frequency and bit rate. Generally, a higher bit rate will produce better quality. For more details see this link: https://www.deskshare.com/help/ts/SpeakingTextToFile.aspx
  • Changing the way words are pronounced in Text Speaker

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    Yes, you can adjust the pronunciation of words or a set of characters in Text Speaker. To adjust the pronunciation click on the ‘Pronunciation’ option on toolbar. [image: PronunciationMain12.png] Specify the pronunciation of the name, then click on Test to check the pronunciation. Finally, click on the Apply button. For more details on adjusting pronunciation refer this link: https://www.deskshare.com/help/ts/AdjustingPronunciation.aspx
  • Teaching spelling to students using Text Speaker

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    Text Speaker allows you to create audio files with the words spelled out. Select the words you want to spell. Go to the Edit menu and select the ‘Spell Selected Word/Phrase’ option. Once you have finished selecting your words or sections, click the ‘Convert To Audio’ option on the tool bar. You can create your audio files in mp3 or wav file format. [image: MP3Properties.png]
  • Automatically read a message out loud

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    You can read a message automatically using the Talking Reminders in Text Speaker. Click on the ‘Talking Reminders’ option on the tool bar and then click on the ‘Create’ button. [image: ReminderDetails.png] Type your text message in the message text area or choose the ‘Text File Containing Message’ option. Select your text document file using Browse button. Set date and time for your reminder. For more details on talking reminders: https://www.deskshare.com/help/ts/Reminders.aspx
  • Using bookmarks to find my place in a large document

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    You can do this using bookmarks in Text Speaker. You can add a bookmark to return to any point in your document. For more information on bookmarks see this link: https://www.deskshare.com/help/ts/Bookmarks.aspx
  • Reading chapter titles in my book with a different voice

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    Text Speaker allows you to use different voices within the same document. Select the text in your document. Right click to choose the ‘Insert Voice Change’ option and then select the required voice. Repeat the same procedure for chapter titles, just selecting a different voice this time. Here is an example showing the voice change: [image: ChangeVoice.png]