Mac Speak-Aloud Instructions

The quick way

If you haven’t changed your accessibility preferences (and don’t want to) speaking aloud is a simple two-step process:

1. Highlight the text you want to hear.
2. Press the Option and Escape keys at the same time.

By the way, this procedure works with any on-screen text, so you can get it to read your email or anything else on the screen.

If you want to customize things

You can change the type of voice, speed of speaking, and a lot of other things (including the key combination that starts the speaking).

1. Open “System Settings.” You can do this by finding the gear icon on the dock or dropping down the Apple menu in the upper left.
2. Click the “Accessibility” icon. It has a picture of a person in a blue circle.
3. Select “Spoken Content” in the left menu.
4. You can change a lot of settings now. (What kind of voice do you want to hear and how quickly do you want it to speak?)

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Ashland University.

Revised 12/23/22 • Page author: Curtis Allen • e-mail: callen@ashland.edu.