Single and Double Line Breaks

[sch529]

Hello, and Merry Christmas!

I am fairly new to TextAloud. I am using a voice which pauses at all line breaks(or carriage returns). I would like to know if there is a way to have TextAloud skip single line breaks (or carriage returns) but pause a specified time at double line breaks (or carriage returns). I have a PDF article with random line breaks mid-sentence which I would like to skip. But then there are double line breaks before and after headings and chapter titles which I would like to insert a 1 to two second pause. I've been experimenting with regular expressions and the automatic pause options and a combination of the both but can't seem to find a solution. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
Paul

[Jim Bretti]

Hi Paul

Sorry for the late reply. There are two 'speaking rules' in TextAloud 4 that might help with the problems you're having. Here is what to try:

Display TextAloud Settings, and in the left pane, click and expand the Speaking Rules entry. Under Speaking Rules, select Automatic Pauses. On this panel, configure a pause to be inserted at 2 or more newline characters

Then, also under Speaking Rules, click Text Filters. On the Text Filters panel, select the checkbox "Filter Newline Characters". This filter is actually to handle voices that pause at line breaks, and could be named better. The filter actually removes newline characters for lines that do not end with punctuation. So this rule *should* be able to work along with the rule to pause at 2 or more newlines.

Let me know if it doesn't work for you and we'll handle with pronunciation dictionary entries instead.

[sch529]

Hello,

Thanks for the response.

I configured the speaking rules the way you suggested. TextAloud ignores mid-sentence line breaks fine now. After double line breaks it inserts the pause only if there is punctuation. There is no pause when there is no punctuation.

Perhaps pronunciation dictionary entries will help?

Thanks,
Paul

[Jim Bretti]

Hi Paul

Would you please email me a sample of text where the speaking rules are not recognizing the double line breaks? To get the text sample, load a TextAloud article with the sample text and verify the double line breaks are not recognized. Then, from the TextAloud main menu click File -> Save Article As Text File, attach the file to an email, and send to me at jim@nextup.com. I'll take a look at it here and hopefully find what is causing the problem.

Also, please send a TextAloud problem report after emailing the sample text. From the TextAloud main window click Help -> Support -> Report A Problem, and just reference this issue briefly in the problem report text.

Thanks