Use Select to Speak

You can select items on your screen and hear them read or described aloud with Select to Speak.

Step 1: Turn on Select to Speak

Use your Googlebook settings

1. Open your Googlebook’s Settings app .
2. Select Accessibility.
3. Under “Display,” select Select to Speak.
4. Turn on Select to Speak shortcut.
   • The default shortcut is a floating button on the side of the screen.
5. Optional: To change your shortcut, select Select to Speak shortcut.

Tip: You can also press Action + Alt + S to turn on Select to Speak. You’ll need to confirm the shortcut the first time you use it.

Step 2: Use Select to Speak

Hear descriptions of things on your screen

1. Turn on Select to Speak with the floating shortcut button, Action + Alt + S, or another shortcut of your choice.
   • You’ll find a green border around the screen and audio controls at the bottom right corner.
2. To hear it read aloud, click or tap an item on your screen, like text or an image.
3. To hear multiple items, draw a box across the screen with the cursor or your finger.
4. To hear everything, select Play .
5. To turn off Select to Speak, select the shortcut again or the on-screen stop button.

Tip: When the player is open, use the buttons to pause or play, skip forward or backward, and increase or decrease the speed.

Read selected text aloud

Important: This feature only works on text that you can read, like text from a web page.

Your Googlebook can read text aloud on web pages and applications that support selected texts. You don’t have to turn on Select to Speak to use this feature.

1. Select the text you want to read aloud.
2. From the context menu, select Read aloud.
3. To open the context menu, you can:
   • Right-click the mouse
   • Tap the touchpad with 2 fingers
   • Select and hold the touch screen with one finger

Read in the background

You can do other things while Select to Speak reads in the background. For example, scroll down or switch to another app while Select to Speak reads.

To let Select to Speak read in the background:

1. Open your Googlebook’s Settings app .
2. Select Accessibility Select to Speak Settings.
3. At the top, turn on Read in background.

Get more help

For more Accessibility help, contact the Google Disability Support team.