How to Activate Text to Speech in Mac OS X

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Last Updated: July 6, 2021

So you want your Mac to read something to you? Read more to find out how.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Setting The Voice

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Make sure that the volume is high.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

The Shortcut Way

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2
Check Speak Selected Text When Key is Pressed.
- A box will appear.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

The Right-Click Way

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Community Q&A

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Question

Can it read text in reverse?

Michael Everman

Community Answer

It probably can, but it won't sound like it would if it was reversed normally. Try recording it forward and rewinding the clip.

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Question

How to pause text to speech on Mac?

Mastermind91

Community Answer

Navigate to the text you wish to read, and VoiceOver will start to read it. Press Ctrl and the reading will pause.

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Tips

You can right click on the text and click Stop Speaking.

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You can press the key combination again to stop speaking.

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In the System Preferences window where you set the Voice and Key Combination you can also make the computer announce the time and warn you when a pop-up window appears.

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Warnings

Some people absolutely hate it when the Computer announces the time.

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Don't do this to someone else's computer, as it can be annoying.

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Do not set the key combination to anything that you already use, because it will be over written.

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How to Activate Text to Speech in Mac OS X

Steps

Setting The Voice

The Shortcut Way

The Right-Click Way

Community Q&A

Video

Tips

Warnings

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