Frequently Asked Questions - Windows Users

If have a technical support question, there's a good chance your answer is on this page. If not, or if you need further explanation, please contact our Windows Support Team.

Q. What does the program do?
A. AbleReader for Windows is a very simple Text-To-Speech program.  You enter text into the program, and by pressing the Speak button, you can hear the text spoken to you.

Q. How do I enter text into the window?
A. There are a couple ways to enter text.  You can enter text using your keyboard, use the Windows Clipboard to copy and paste text from other applications, or you can use File->Open to read in text files.

Q. What is the Windows Clipboard and how do I use it?
A. To use the clipboard, highlight some text in another application.  Press CTRL+C to copy the highlighted text to the clipboard (press both CTRL and C keys at the same time).  Then, switch back to AbleReader, and use the keys CTRL+V to paste the text.  You can then use the Speak button in AbleReader to hear the text.

Most application menus include “Copy” under their Edit menu.  So you can also copy to the clipboard using Edit->Copy, and paste the text using Edit->Paste.

Q. Can I use AbleReader to create audio files from my text?
A. AbleReader does not currently have this capability.  For this feature as well as many others, check out TextAloud at http://www.nextup.com

Q. The text in the window is too small, can I make the text larger?
A. Yes, the dialog displayed by the Font button lets you adjust the text size.

Q. What voices does AbleReader support?
A. The AbleReader application is currently bundled with AT&T Natural Voices, but it supports any voice engine that uses the Microsoft SAPI5 speech interface.  For more info on adding voices to AbleReader, visit http://www.ablereader.com/voices.html

Q. Will the AT&T Natural Voices work in other windows programs?
A. If you purchase AbleReader with AT&T Natural Voices, not only will these great voices work within AbleReader, but they will work in practically all other windows text to speech programs and functions (Natural Voices are SAPI4 and SAPI5 compliant, which covers almost all 3rd party speech programs as well as those speech functions built into windows).

Q. Is there a downloadable trial or demo version available?
A. Because of the size of the voices and legal restrictions, we aren't able to distribute a trial version.  However, there is an interactive demo of the voices available at http://nextup.com/nvdemo.html

Q. What other features are available?
A. AbleReader for Windows is specifically designed to be very simple to use, but have limited capabilities.  For a more feature rich product, please check out TextAloud at http://www.nextup.com .  Some of the features available in TextAloud include:

If you have additional questions, please email us at winsupport@ablereader.com  

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