I created the following text-based tutorial for a friend who recently purchased TextAloud. I am sharing it on this forum in case it helps someone.
This tutorial describes how to perform 3 useful tasks in TextAloud 3. Since I can not use a mouse, all instructions pertain to keyboard use.
Listening To Text
For me, the TextAloud toolbars are not of much use since I don't have vision to use them. Fortunately there is more than one way to accomplish the same task. Select text in the normal manner, i.e. shift-down arrow or shift-page down for larger blocks of text. When finished, copy text to clipboard via control-c. Open TextAloud and paste the text via paste command control-v. To speak it, press control-f3.
If you don't want to launch TA via the desktop or start menu every time, it's easy to create a keyboard shortcut to launch the program with one keystroke. Do the following:
1. Go to your desktop; press t until TextAloud is selected.
2. Press the Applications key, which should be on the bottom row of keys between the right Alt and Control keys. Press R for Properties or select it in the menu which pops up.
3. Press control-tab to switch between sections of the dialog until you reach the Shortcut section.
4. Press tab until you reach Shortcut Key.
5. Type the keyboard shortcut you want to use, i.e. control-alt-t.
6. Press enter or select OK. You may be prompted for administrator rights to confirm this change. Press continue and enter your Windows Administrator password if required for change confirmation.
Temporarily Changing Voices
It is relatively easy to set a default voice to use in TA via tools, Voice options. You may wonder, "What if I want to use a different voice temporarily to heara text?" There's a way to do that. Do the following after you have text to speak.
1. Press the Applications key. Its location is explained in the previous section of this tutorial.
2. Press V or select Voice Change in the menu that appears.
3. A list of installed voices appears, categorized by voice manufacturer.
4. Navigate through the choices and select a voice, pressing enter when done.
5. Press the speak text command control-f3. The voice you chose should speak the text.
Updating TextAloud
From time to time, new versions of TextAloud 3 are released. Updating TA 3.0 to the latest build is free to registered users. It will only be necessary to pay an upgrade fee if/when version 4 is released in future. You can ceck what build of TA 3 you have by going to Help, About. Example: I am currently running version 3.0.85. There are two ways to upgrade TextAloud 3 to the latest version when a new build is released.
1. By default, TA will notify you when an update is available.
2. If you prefer to update at your leisure, first turn off update notification. Go to Tools, TextAloud Options, Miscellaneous. Uncheck the option which reads "Automatically check for TextAloud updates." Tapping the spacebar should clear the checkbox. When you choose, visit the NextUp site and download the latest version.
It is important to note that TextAloud license information is saved in the Windows Registry. This means that when you upgrade the program to a new build of 3.0, the program will already know that you are a registered user.
Have fun using TextAloud!
TextAloud tips tutorial
Moderator: Jim Bretti