Good Day! I cannot select a different voice using the Article Title and Voice Toolbar. Must I always select a different voice in the Settings Menu? Even if I manage to change the active voice using the toolbar, it reverts to the default voice selected in the Settings Menu for each new article. Any selection in the toolbar fails to change voice, or it does not stick for the next reading.
Sorry if I am missing something. (I could not find a discussion on this in the archive.)
THANK YOU - JR-
Voice Selection on Toolbar
Moderator: Jim Bretti
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Jim Bretti
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Re: Voice Selection on Toolbar
Hi JR,
Currently, changing the voice using the Voice Toolbar changes the voice only for the current article. You do need to change the default voice using the Settings dialog. A nice enhancement here would be to have an option and/or prompt to change the default voice when using the voice toolbar.
One thing you can do is assign system wide hotkeys to change the default voice. You can create multiple hotkeys, one for each voice you'd like to set as a default. From TextAloud Settings, expand Shortcuts and Hotkeys in the left panel and select Hotkey Setup. Click the New button, and for the Action, select "Change Default Voice". Set the caption to the voice you're going to use for the hotkey, then select the Default Voice in the voice dropdown.
Currently, changing the voice using the Voice Toolbar changes the voice only for the current article. You do need to change the default voice using the Settings dialog. A nice enhancement here would be to have an option and/or prompt to change the default voice when using the voice toolbar.
One thing you can do is assign system wide hotkeys to change the default voice. You can create multiple hotkeys, one for each voice you'd like to set as a default. From TextAloud Settings, expand Shortcuts and Hotkeys in the left panel and select Hotkey Setup. Click the New button, and for the Action, select "Change Default Voice". Set the caption to the voice you're going to use for the hotkey, then select the Default Voice in the voice dropdown.
Jim Bretti
NextUp.com
NextUp.com
Re: Voice Selection on Toolbar
Thank You for the prompt reply, JB.
Un ... er ... ahem ... (thinking aloud...)
While I understand the single-change-per-article aspect, that is not very handy and sorta, kinda misses the point of having it out front on the toolbar. I rarely want to change voice for just a single article, especially as I often highlight selected bits from a web page, or from a .pdf document - having the voice change back to the default voice every time I select another bit in a single reading session gets old pretty quick. Seems like it worked the way in Version 3. Having a pop up dialog box asking if I want to make the toolbar selection the default is OK, but adds a step to what could be a very convenient tool up front. Still, it would go a long way to making it quicker and make the toolbar item more functional.
While I get the point of inventing hot-keys to select different voices, that seems a bit complicated and adds multiple additional key combinations to an already large, heady set of hot keys used in other applications. For example, my word processor, speech recognition, photo processing, and ham radio applications already have more hot keys than I can remember, as I am an old retired guy with failing eyesight, and have difficulty remembering to take my daily bourbon based medicine . . . remembering more hot-keys is asking a lot
Finally, as this application is clearly intended to assist those with visual impairments, I suggest it would help if the toolbar worked as it did in version 3 - or - perhaps one could develop a single hot-key macro combination that toggled each voice on and off seriatim, allowing one to move from one to the next by repeating the same keystrokes until the desired voice is selected. That would add but one hot-key combination and repeated use would reinforce its use until it became second nature. I think.
THANK YOU again for your prompt and direct reply. It is often difficult to find such pointed answers on this type of help forum. Happy trails to you. JR
Un ... er ... ahem ... (thinking aloud...)
While I understand the single-change-per-article aspect, that is not very handy and sorta, kinda misses the point of having it out front on the toolbar. I rarely want to change voice for just a single article, especially as I often highlight selected bits from a web page, or from a .pdf document - having the voice change back to the default voice every time I select another bit in a single reading session gets old pretty quick. Seems like it worked the way in Version 3. Having a pop up dialog box asking if I want to make the toolbar selection the default is OK, but adds a step to what could be a very convenient tool up front. Still, it would go a long way to making it quicker and make the toolbar item more functional.
While I get the point of inventing hot-keys to select different voices, that seems a bit complicated and adds multiple additional key combinations to an already large, heady set of hot keys used in other applications. For example, my word processor, speech recognition, photo processing, and ham radio applications already have more hot keys than I can remember, as I am an old retired guy with failing eyesight, and have difficulty remembering to take my daily bourbon based medicine . . . remembering more hot-keys is asking a lot
Finally, as this application is clearly intended to assist those with visual impairments, I suggest it would help if the toolbar worked as it did in version 3 - or - perhaps one could develop a single hot-key macro combination that toggled each voice on and off seriatim, allowing one to move from one to the next by repeating the same keystrokes until the desired voice is selected. That would add but one hot-key combination and repeated use would reinforce its use until it became second nature. I think.
THANK YOU again for your prompt and direct reply. It is often difficult to find such pointed answers on this type of help forum. Happy trails to you. JR