How to Activate Text to Speech in Mac OS X

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

1
Open System Preferences.
2
Click on Speech.
3
Click on the text to speech tab.
4
Click on system voice.
5
Click on More Voices.
6
Click on the voice that you would like to try out.
7
Click on the play button. Make sure that the volume is high.
8
Select the Voice that you like

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:
The Shortcut Way

1
Open System Preferences/Speech/Text to Speech.
2
Check Speak Selected Text When Key is Pressed.
- A box will appear.
3
Press the key-combination that you would like to use.
4
Select the text you would like to have read.
5
Press the key-combination that you have set.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:
The Right-Click Way

1
Select the text that you would like to have read.
2
Right Click on it and click on the sub-menu called Speech.
3
Click on Start Speaking.

Community Q&A

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.
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.

Warnings

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

Thanks!
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Don't do this to someone else's computer, as it can be annoying.

Thanks!
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Do not set the key combination to anything that you already use, because it will be over written.

Thanks!
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 11 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 234,199 times.

How helpful is this?

Co-authors: 11

Updated: July 6, 2021

Views: 234,199

Categories: Mac OS X