How to get the read-aloud feature in chrome
If you have ever used Microsoft Edge, wow you have wasted half of your life on that slow browser xD. However, Microsoft Edge does have a ton of features that Chrome doesn’t. After all, it’s the native browser of Windows. And the one feature I like a lot in Microsoft Edge is the “Read aloud” feature. It allows us to sit back relax and sip the drink and, let the Microsoft voices(which actually suck!!) read the articles for you. So, in this article, I’m gonna show you how to get the read-aloud feature in chrome.
And don’t worry because this is going to work on both desktop and mobile!
Because hey, who uses Edge?
Microsoft Edge’s Read Aloud feature
So, if you aren’t familiar with the feature in Edge, believe me, it’s a great feature. You can either run through an article by yourself reading so fast that at the end you get nothing. Or just listen to creepy Microsoft voices read it for you.
But in chrome, the voices are more natural. And so, there goes the con!
Go straight to chrome read-aloud feature from here
Access the read-aloud feature in Microsoft Edge
So, if for some reason, you want to use it in Microsoft Edge. Lemme show you how to use it.
1. So first, go ahead and open Microsoft Edge. After that, go to the article you wanna read but will listen to.
2. After that, from the top toolbar, click on the book icon. This will take you to the Reading Mode.
*Note: If you don’t see the book icon for your article, select the text you want to be read aloud and then right-click on the selected text, you will get the read-aloud option.
3. Here, you will be getting some reading features, click on Read Aloud and now the article will be read for you.
Okay, so now let’s start the real thing.
Get read-aloud in chrome
Well, there is no native feature or hack to get this feature in chrome natively, not that I know of. But we will be using an extension to get the read-aloud feature in chrome.
This extension works just like Microsoft read-aloud feature and it has natural voices too.
The name of this extension is NaturalReader
So, you can get this feature in both chrome desktop and mobile
Get NaturalReader in chrome desktop
1. So first, go to the web store to download this extension.
2. Add the extension to chrome. After you add the extension, a page will open up. You can explore more about NaturalReader there.
3. Now, you will have the extension article in the toolbar. Now open up any article you want to be read to you.
4. Now, click on the extension from the toolbar and after clicking on it, you get the play and pause button. Click on the pause button and PAUSE THE WORLD!
5. So, after clicking on the play button it will start reading the article for you. You can change the voice by clicking on the settings icon. You can select your voice from free, premium or plus. Select the voice which makes you wanna leave everything and just listen to it.
*You also get to use the premium voice for 20min/day.
You can also select the text you wanna be read and right-click on it then click on Read selection.
And that’s it. That’s how you get the read-aloud feature in chrome desktop. Now, let’s talk about chrome mobile.
Get NaturalReader in chrome mobile
Yes, I do know that we cannot install extensions on chrome mobile. But hey, there’s a way to do it. Experimental chrome flags can be used in chrome mobile! Guess what…!
We are not going to use that either lol
So, NaturalReader also has this feature on their website, where you can copy and paste the text you wanna listen to.
1. First, open up the article you wanna listen to. If you have an age-old chrome version then first go update your app. When the article opens up, you will see a simplified view option at the bottom just above the toolbar. Click on it to enter the simplified reading mode.
2. When the simplified view opens up, press hold on any text and then tap on select all to select all of the text. Now tap on Copy to copy the text.
3. Head over to this link and then, first, click on the little cross icon and then paste the text you just copied.
4. After pasting, click on the play button to listen to the article.
*One major boost to use the feature on chrome is that you can even turn your phone’s screen off and the article will still be read aloud!
*You can even download mp3 versions of texts from the menu option in extension, or the website. So this is how you get the read-aloud feature in chrome mobile. Pretty easy right!
Read-Aloud feature in chrome
So, now I may just wrap up the article. These are the methods to get the rad-aloud feature in chrome desktop and mobile. Let’s just hope that someday Google will implement to read aloud feature in chrome mobile’s simplified views and chrome desktop as well.
Thanks for reading!
Originally published at https://www.graphicsed.com on December 29, 2019.