Use Google Docs? Get Free Text-to-Speech!

Are you using Google Docs in school or on the job? TextHelp has released a free Google Chrome Browser app to aid people with reading and writing disabilities, Read&Write for Google Docs™.

Not to be confused with the full version of Read&Write Gold, this app provides text-to-speech and a few other features, such as Dictionary, Picture Dictionary, Fact Finder and Highlight Collector. This app, available at the Chrome Store works with the Documents application of Google Docs, and is currently not available in Presentation, Spreadsheet, Forms, or Drawing. After a quick installation of the app, a little toolbar appears when you start a new document and allows you to hear the any text, pasted or typed in the document, while the words are highlighted on the screen.

Besides the text reader, my two favorite features are the Picture Dictionary and Highlight Collector. When you highlight a word you do not understand, the Picture Dictionary will provide you with pictures to help you understand the word if it has them in its database. Highlight Collector extracts the phrases and words you highlight with the Google Docs’ Text Background Color button and allows for easy insert into other documents such as a book report or your class notes. A video by TextHelp provides a nice demonstration of this free product. What is your favorite feature?

3 Comments

Chris Smith on December 5, 2013 at 7:22 pm

Thanks for the tip! I was having trouble finding a reader for Google Docs that might support students by reading their sometimes illogical sentences back to them so they could try to evaluate their own work better.

IPAT on December 6, 2013 at 4:25 pm

Thanks for the comments, Chris! Word prediction has now been added since I wrote this post, and some other features; however, there is a fee for these features. Hreis more info: http://www.texthelp.com/north-america/readwriteforgoogle/
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