How to Proofread Using Text to Speech on Your Computer
If you are a student, writer, or an editor, then you must have to proofread different written pieces in regular routine. Students have to proofread their assignments, writers have to proofread their articles and the editors have to check the quality of the word done by the writers.
It is really necessary to check for mistakes very carefully, in order to increase the overall quality of the work. For this purpose, you can use text to speech method, by which you can point out some mistakes that you may miss while proofreading visually. So, if you have Window XP or later installed in your computer, then you can easily convert your text into speech, and look for the mistakes in your work.
Instructions
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1
First of all, you need to make sure that your speakers are connected to the computer and are properly working. To test, you can play a music file on your computer and check if it is being played properly. If it does not, then you may have to check the volume control options, and speaker-computer connection.
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2
Once the speakers are properly configured, you can run the Text to Speech program, Narrator, on your computer. For that purpose, you will have to the “Start” menu and point your cursor over “Programs”. A new menu will appear on the screen, where you need to point your cursor over the “Accessories” option. From the list of accessories, you can select “Narrator”.
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You will now be able to adjust Narrator settings from the window that just appeared. Select the options that you want to use and click the “Voice” or "Voice Settings" button, depending on the version of Narrator you are using. A new window will appear, allowing you to set the speed, volume and pitch of the narrator’s voice. Click “OK” to continue.
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Narrator only works with specific text files, such as pdf and text. So, if you have written text in MS Word document, then you will have to copy it to the text file.
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To start the Text to Speech conversion, press Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar, and the Narrator will start reading the text. If you want the Narrator to read the title of the text file, then you can press Ctrl + Home button. To stop the Narrator, press the Ctrl alone.
