Text-to-speech browser extension button. Select text on any web page, and have the computer read it out loud for you by simply clicking the Talkie button.
Text-to-speech browser extension button
Talkie |
Talkie |
Developer option: use the source code directly.
How much does Talkie Premium cost? You choose how much you want to pay, depending on how much the additional features are worth to you. You can even choose to pay nothing. Afterwards, enable Talkie Premium in the Upgrade tab in Talkie's options.
Send your payment through PayPal or see more payment methods on the donations page. Payments are labeled as donations for open source software development.
New voices, languages, dialects can be downloaded for free for your operating system from for example Microsoft and Apple. Once installed correctly just restart your computer, and Talkie will auto-detect the voices.
Operating system | Where to look |
---|---|
Windows 11 | Settings → Time & Language → Language & Region → Add a language |
Windows 10 | Settings → Time & Language → Language → Add a language |
Windows 8 | Control Panel → Language → Add a Language |
Windows 7 | |
ChromeOS | Settings → Manage accessibility features → Text-to-Speech voice settings → Speech Engines |
macOS | System Preferences → Accessibility → Speech → System voice → Customize... |
There are several convenient ways to use Talkie.
The right-click menu also works in most PDF-files and some special types of web pages in the browser.
You can also right-click on the Talkie Premium button, or in an empty area of a website, and select read from clipboard.
A fast, easy, and convenient option is to use Talkie's configurable keyboard shortcuts.
Action | Edition | Windows, Linux, ChromeOS | macOS |
---|---|---|---|
Start/stop | Alt+Shift+A | ⌥+Shift+A | |
Start/stop and show menu | Ctrl+Shift+A | ⌘+Shift+A | |
Read text from clipboard in any program | Ctrl+Shift+1 | ⌘+Shift+1 |
If the shortcut key does not work, please check that it is not already in use by another extension or program.
chrome://extensions/
and the keyboard shortcut configuration with chrome://extensions/shortcuts
, but you might have to copy-paste the address manually.See also the official documentation on how to manage extension shortcuts in Firefox.
about:addons
, but you might have to copy-paste the address manually.Feature | Edition | Description |
---|---|---|
Ease-of-use | Just highlight the text you want to hear, and hit play. | |
Unlimited text | Listen to short snippets or entire articles without limits. | |
Automatic language detection | Picks the correct language from installed voices. | |
Keyboard shortcuts | Fast, easy, configurable. | |
Privacy aware | No unnecessary tracking or external services. | |
Choose your favorite voice | Great if you get tired of the system voice. | |
Choose speed and pitch | Adjust voices to your liking. | |
Read from the clipboard | Just copy text from anywhere in any program. | |
Warm, fuzzy feeling | Support open source software by independent developers. | |
Free | Free to use as much as you like. | |
Pay what you want | Pay what you want. |
Uses your browser's built-in Web Speech API for text-to-speech (TTS) known as Speech Synthesis.
Not all languages are supported; consult your browser's voice documentation.
The language detection is performed in four steps, where the first valid value is chosen. If no language was detected, a notice is spoken (in English).
lang="..."
attribute from the selected text's parent HTML elements.lang="..."
attribute from the HTML root element of the current page (or frame).The Web Speech API can use more than one voice per language (currently over 20 for en-US
in Google Chrome version 55), as well as modify speech rate (speed) and pitch. These options have been implemented in Talkie Premium as a paid feature.
The voices for each language are provided by your browser. For this reason the list may differ depending on your browser, browser version, operating system, and any other installed extensions/software.
To see the list of languages/voices available in your specific browser, as well as speak out sample text, check the Talkie options page after installation. This is a good start in figuring out why a certain language might not be read out loud as expected.
You can install additional voices to support new languages and dialects; see separate installation instructions for your operating system.
Talkie Copyright © 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Joel Purra. Released under GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPL-3.0).