Windows has long offered a screen and text-to-speech reader called Narrator, which lets you hear every action you take in Windows spoken aloud. Narrator can also read aloud to you any text in a document or other file. It's designed for the visually impaired, but it can be used by anyone who wants the screen or text read aloud. Let's see how it works in Windows 10.
Click on the Start button > Settings > Ease of Access > Narrator. The Narrator pane appears.
Turn on the Narrator button. This also activates a Narrator Settings window, which by default is minimized on the Windows taskbar; more on that later.
First, let's look at the active Narrator window. As you scroll down and peruse the different settings, you'll find the following items that you can turn on or off or otherwise customize:
- Start Narrator automatically: Narrator comes to life as soon as you launch Windows.
- Choose a Voice: This allows you to select a voice to narrate (Microsoft offers several options) and alter the speed and pitch of that voice.
- Intonation Pauses: Enabling this causes the voice to rise and fall when appropriate, making it sound more realistic.
- Sounds you hear: The options in this section determine whether you'll hear hints for controls and buttons and hear characters and words you type. You can also set the volume of other apps to become lower when Narrator is on and play extra sounds when you perform certain actions on the screen.
- Cursor and keys: In this section, you can choose to highlight the cursor, have the insertion point follow Narrator, and activate keys on the touch keyboard when you lift your finger.
Those are the basics. Now let's look at the Narrator Settings window to see the full gamut of options. Click on the minimized Narrator Settings window on the taskbar to maximize it.
Click on the General section.
Some of the settings here we've already seen in the Narrator window from the Ease of Access section in the Settings app. But other settings are different, including enabling a shortcut to launch Narrator and locking the Narrator key. If you change any settings, click the link to Save changes at the bottom. If you wish to discard any changes you've made, click on the link to Discard changes.
From the main window, click on the Navigation section. Here you can change how Narrator interacts with your PC by using the mouse to read the screen or having the Narrator cursor follow the keyboard focus, and perform several other tasks that we've seen in the Narrator window in the Settings app. Again, click on Save changes or Discard changes.
Click on the Voice section. Here you can alter the speed, volume, and pitch of the voice as well as the voice itself. Save or discard your changes.
Click on the Commands section. Here you can view existing keyboard commands that work with Narrator and create your own custom commands. Save or discard your changes.
Click on the Minimize section to minimize the Narrator Settings window to the taskbar, or click on the Exit section to close down the window.
Beyond speaking aloud your screen elements and actions, Narrator also serves as a helpful text-to-speech reader. How can you enable this function? Move your cursor to the area in a webpage, document, or other file where you want Narrator to start reading. Press the Caps Lock Key + M. Narrator starts reading the text on the page to you. To stop Narrator's narration, press the Ctrl key.
Finally, you can stop Narrator from speaking completely by returning to the Narrator window in the Settings app and turning the Narrator option off.
For more, check out these other Windows 10 tutorials:
- How to Retrieve Folders, Files With Windows 10 Quick Access
- How to Run Windows 10 From a USB Drive
- How to Back Up and Restore an Image File of Windows 10
- How to Turn on Cortana by Voice in Windows 10
- How to Share More (or Less) Personal Data With Cortana
- How to Tweak Your Tiles in Windows 10
- How to Check Out Early Versions of Windows 10
- How to Customize, Control the Command Prompt in Windows 10
- How to Customize Your Default Apps in Windows 10
- How to Use and Tweak the Start Screen in Windows 10
- How to Find a Lost Windows 10 Device