EasyReader for Windows - Reader | Dolphin Computer Access

Navigate a book
Managing bookmarks
Search for words in a book
Adjust the appearance of the text
Adjust highlight colour and position
Simplify a book's layout
Focus on the current sentence
Adjust the reading speed
Change TTS voice
Turn off the recorded audio of a book
Fix TTS speech pronunciation errors
Play skippable content


Navigate a book

You can click, tap or use keyboard commands to navigate a book in the Book Reader. For a full list of keyboard commands and touch gestures please see Keyboard commands and touch gestures.

Here are some of the more popular keyboard commands:

Action Hot key

Play/Pause

F5 (or SPACEBAR)

Next synch point

DOWN ARROW

Previous synch point

UP ARROW

Select next word

RIGHT ARROW

Select previous word

LEFT ARROW

Go to headings list (repeat to close list)

CTRL + H

Next heading

H

Previous heading

SHIFT + H

Next heading on level 1

1

Next heading on level 2

2

Next heading on level 3

3

Previous heading on level 1

SHIFT + 1

Previous heading on level 2

SHIFT + 2

Previous heading on level 3

SHIFT + 3

10 seconds forward (only in books with audio)

CTRL + DOWN ARROW

10 seconds back (only in books with audio)

CTRL + UP ARROW

Go to start

HOME

Go to end

END

Go to page (if pages exist in the book)

CTRL + G

Scroll one page down (if at end of document, it will try and navigate to next document)

PAGE DOWN

Scroll one page up (if at the top, it will try and navigate to the end of previous document)

PAGE UP

Go to next page (if page numbers exist in the book)

CTRL + PAGE DOWN

Go to previous page (if page numbers exist in the book)

CTRL + PAGE UP

Managing bookmarks

Bookmarks allow you to mark places in a book for quick and easy access in the future. For example, you may wish to mark a favourite passage in a book or an important fact that you need to refer to at a later date. EasyReader allows you to add as many bookmarks as you require. EasyReader also allows you to add comments to a bookmark to help you remember the reason for the bookmark.

An icon indicates the position of a bookmark in the book. You can also indicate the presence of a bookmark with an audible chime. You can do this by selecting the "Play sound on bookmarks" check box in "Audio settings" ( icon ).

To add a bookmark:

  1. Go to the place in the book where you want to insert a bookmark.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Press B to add a standard bookmark. A standard bookmark will mark the position in the book without pausing the reading. Standard bookmarks do not include bookmark notes.
    • Press SHIFT + B to add a bookmark with notes. A bookmark with notes pauses the reading of the book so that you can type your notes into the bookmark edit box.
    • Right click to open the context menu and choose "Add / edit bookmark".

You can manage your bookmarks, including adding, editing and removing bookmarks from the "Bookmarks" tab ( icon ) in the Navigation Bar. You use the "Navigation" button ( icon ) to show or hide the Navigation Bar. You can also press CTRL + B to open the "Bookmarks" tab.

Search for words in a book

You can search for words in a book, newspaper or magazine.

To do this:

  1. Enter the words in the search box and select "Search" ( icon ). If the search box is not visible then select "Navigation" ( icon ) and choose the "Search" tab ( icon ). You can also press CTRL + F to go directly to the "Search" tab ( icon ).
  2. Select a match to move to that place in the book.

Adjust the appearance of the text

You can adjust the appearance of the text in the book by selecting "Text settings" ( icon ). The changes you can make include text size, font style, line height, letter spacing, margins and text colour.

The changes you make to the text settings apply to all the books you read.

Adjust highlight colour and position

EasyReader highlights the current line and word being spoken in a book. You change the highlight colour and how the highlight scrolls through "Text settings" ( icon ).

Note that word highlighting is only available when you read books using the Text to Speech (TTS) voice. Books that contain text and audio files are synchronized at source by the content provider.

Simplify a book's layout

You will find many of the books you read already appear in a simple layout. But, for those books that appear in a more complex layout, which can make them more difficult to read, you can select the "Remove styling" check box to improve readability. The "Remove styling" check box is in "Text settings" ( icon ).

Focus on the current sentence

As well as using highlighting to identify the current sentence being read, you can also choose to fade out all other content in the book to help you focus on the current text being read. The "Focus sentence" check box is in "Text settings" ( icon ).

Adjust the reading speed

You can change the speed of the reading voice by moving the slider in "Audio settings" ( icon ). The same slider controls the speed of the recorded voice and the TTS reading voice. If you choose a different TTS voice then the reading speed will change to the default value for the new TTS Voice.

You can also adjust the voice’s reading speed by using keyboard commands. You can use these keyboard commands during playback.

Action Hot key

Increase playback speed

CTRL + RIGHT ARROW

Decrease playback speed

CTRL + LEFT ARROW

Change TTS voice

You can change to a different TTS voice in "Audio settings" ( icon ). You can use any TTS voice available on the computer provided the voice is SAPI 5 or Dolphin SAM compatible.

To change TTS voice:

  1. Select "Audio settings" ( icon ).
  2. Open the "Voice" list.
  3. Select a voice.
  4. If you want to change to a different synthesizer, select "Change synth" and choose a synthesizer. After making your choice, you can go back to the "Voice" list to choose a different voice available with the new synthesizer.

Turn off the recorded audio of a book

If the book has pre-recorded audio as well as text, there may be times when you wish to turn off the recorded audio and use TTS to read the text instead.

You can turn off the recorded audio of a book by deselecting the "Use book audio (when available)" check box in "Audio settings" ( icon ). When you unselect the "Use book audio (when available)" check box EasyReader switches to using the TTS voice to read the book. This option will not be available if you are reading a text-only book.

Fix TTS speech pronunciation errors

You may find from time-to-time that the TTS voice may not pronounce some words correctly. You can correct this problem by adding the word into a lexicon.

To do this:

  1. Right click on the problem word. A context menu opens.
  2. Select "Correct word in TTS lexicon".
  3. Type in an alternative spelling of the word to improve pronunciation.
  4. Use the "Speak" button to review the new pronunciation.
  5. When done, select "OK".

If this is the first time you have created a lexicon then you will also be asked to give the lexicon a name. You may want to relate the name to the book, the subject or the TTS voice for easy reference in the future.

EasyReader allows you to create as many lexicons as you require. You may wish to create more than one lexicon if you need to resolve different pronunciation errors in different TTS voices or the particular subject you are reading contains abbreviations you wish to be read in full.

Lexicons are managed from "Audio settings" ( icon ). You can create, edit, import and export lexicons. You can also add, edit and remove words you have added to a lexicon from the available options.

Play skippable content

You can choose to play or ignore skippable content in a book. Skippable content includes items such as page numbers, footnotes, sidebars and notes added by the book’s producer. You can choose to play this skippable content by selecting the "Play skippable content" check box in "Audio settings"( icon ).