Windows has a built-in voice that can read text from the screen: the Narrator.
The narrator?
The Narrator has been developed for people with a visual impairment. The Narrator’s voice reads text from the screen. Think of texts on buttons and the like and the content of windows and the text on the screen.
Turn on Narrator
Enable Narrator using the keyboard shortcut Windows Key+Ctrl+Enter. The Narrator also turns off with the same key combination. The voice immediately reads the windows that appear on the screen. He first tells the title of the relevant window, and then reads out the text in the windows. That takes some getting used to at first.
Operating the Narrator
The Narrator is controlled by key combinations. The fixed home key is Caps Lock. This key is located to the left of the ‘A’ on most keyboards. Press this key and then press another key to have the Narrator read out a particular part. The text in the blue frame is read aloud.
Change view
Narrator works with views: items (default), characters, words, lines, paragraphs, links, headings, tables, landmarks, and suggestions. Switch items like this:
- Press Caps Lock+Left Arrow or Caps Lock+Right Arrow.
On most keyboards, these arrows sit between the normal keyboard and the numeric section. The Narrator immediately moves on to another part of the active window. For example, it first tells the name of the window, then the name of the button on the screen, the shortcut to use it and then the contents of the window.
More explanation
Working with the Narrator takes some practice. There are a lot of possibilities. Those who can handle it well can operate the computer with Windows, despite a visual handicap. On Microsoft’s site it says an extensive manual.