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Having TextEdit read a document out loud

TextEdit can speak the text in a document. It can speak all the text or only selected text.

Here are ways to have TextEdit speak text:

  • To speak all the text in the document, open the document, and then choose Edit > Speech > Start Speaking.

  • To speak only a portion of the text in a document, select the text, and then choose Edit > Speech > Start Speaking.

  • To make the speaking stop, choose Edit > Speech > Stop Speaking.

To change the computer’s speaking voice, open the Speech pane of System Preferences and click “Text to Speech.” Next, choose a voice from the System Voice pop-up menu.


Open

Open the Text to Speech pane of Speech preferences