Read Aloud has two new features: a Reader Mode that turns cluttered web pages into a clean, easy-to-read article view, and support for Chrome's high-quality Google Natural voices. Here's how to try them.
Reader Mode
Reader Mode shows the text Read Aloud is reading in a clean article layout, right on top of the page. Ads, sidebars and pop-ups are out of the way, and the sentence being read is highlighted as it goes, so it's easy to follow along.
- Floating control bar. Play, pause, stop, rewind and forward are always at hand, wherever you scroll.
- Click to jump. Click any paragraph to start reading from there.
- Make it yours. Tap Aa to change the text size, switch between serif and sans-serif fonts, or turn on dark mode.
- Peek at the original page. Closing the reader while it's playing shrinks it down to just the control bar, so you can look at the page without stopping playback. Click the Read Aloud icon or the expand button to bring the reader back.
How to turn it on
- Click the Read Aloud icon in your toolbar, then click the gear icon to open Options.
- Under Text Highlighting, choose Show in reader mode.
- Go to any article and click the Read Aloud icon. The reader opens and starts reading. Click the icon again to pause or resume.
Your keyboard shortcut and the right-click "Read Aloud" menu open the reader too. To go back to the old behavior, choose Show in popup under Text Highlighting.
Google Natural voices (Chrome only)
Google Chrome includes a set of very natural-sounding voices, the same ones used by Chrome's own Reading mode. They run on your computer, so they're free and work without an internet connection once downloaded. Read Aloud can now use them.
There's one catch: Chrome only switches these voices on after you open its Reading mode, and Read Aloud can't do that for you. It only takes a few seconds, though.
How to enable them
- Open Read Aloud's Options, open the Voice list, and choose ✨ Enable Google Natural voices... (at the bottom of the Offline Voices group).
- A help page opens. On that page, press Alt+Shift+R (Option+Command+R on Mac), or right-click and choose Open in reading mode.
- Wait a few seconds while Chrome downloads the voices for your language. The help page tells you when they're ready, and then you can close it.
The new voices appear in the Voice list with names ending in "(Natural)". Read Aloud picks a Natural voice automatically when one is available for your language, or you can choose one yourself.
Want other languages? In Chrome's Reading mode, open the voice menu, choose Languages, and turn on the ones you want.
After restarting Chrome, the voices are switched off again. Your downloaded languages are kept, so just open Reading mode once on any page and they're back right away.
Note: Google Natural voices are only available in Google Chrome on Windows, Mac and Linux. They aren't available in Edge, Firefox, Opera or other browsers, and the option is hidden on Chromebooks, which already have their own built-in Google voices.
Tell us what you think
Give them a try and let us know how they work for you. Happy listening!