Talkie

Text-to-speech (TTS) browser extension button

Talkie

Talkie

Installation

• Install Talkie from Google Chrome Web Store when using:
  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Brave, Chromium, Vivaldi, etcetera.
• Install Talkie from Mozilla Firefox Addons when using:
  • Mozilla Firefox

Developer option: use the source code directly.

Talkie Premium

• Talkie: free to use as much as you like
• Talkie Premium: donate what you want for more options and features

You choose how much you want to donate for Talkie Premium, depending on how much the additional features are worth to you. You can even choose to donate nothing.

1. Install Talkie in your browser.
2. Enable Talkie Premium on the features tab in Talkie’s options.
3. Before you donate, make sure you are happy with all that Talkie Premium can offer.
4. Donate from the features tab in Talkie’s options.

Install additional voices

New TTS voices, languages, dialects can be downloaded for free from for example Microsoft, Google, Apple. Restart your computer after adding voices; afterwards Talkie should auto-detect and list them in the voice options.

You can test installed TTS voices in the live demo by Mozilla Developer Network (MDN).

Note that not all voices work with all browsers; you may try installing Talkie in another browser. In Microsoft Windows the TTS voice support is generally the best in Microsoft Edge.

Usage

There are several convenient ways to use Talkie.

Browser toolbar button

1. Select desired text on any web page.
2. Click the Talkie button in your browser toolbar ↗︎↗︎↗︎

Right-click menu

1. Select the text, then right click on it
2. Choose Talkie in the menu.

The right-click menu also works in most PDF-files and some special types of web pages in the browser.

Read from clipboard in Talkie Premium

1. Copy text to the clipboard from any program.
2. Use the “read from clipboard” shortcut key from anywhere.

You can also right-click on the Talkie Premium button, or in an empty area of a website, and select read from clipboard.

Shortcut keys

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.

How to check or change the Talkie shortcut keys in Google Chrome

1. In Chrome, click [**Extensions**](chrome://extensions/) in the **Window** menu. 1. Click [**Keyboard shortcuts**](chrome://extensions/shortcuts) in the left side menu. > 1. From the **Keyboard Shortcuts** window you can check or change keyboard shortcuts for all Chrome extensions and apps. You can also verify that there are no shortcut key collisions between extensions. > 1. You can also reach the extensions page in Google Chrome directly with [`chrome://extensions/`](chrome://extensions/) and the keyboard shortcut configuration with [`chrome://extensions/shortcuts`](chrome://extensions/shortcuts), but you might have to copy-paste the address manually.

How to check or change the Talkie shortcut keys in Firefox

See also the official documentation on [how to manage extension shortcuts in Firefox](https://support.mozilla.org/kb/manage-extension-shortcuts-firefox). 1. In Firefox, click [**Add-ons**](about:addons) in the **Tools** menu. 1. From the Add-ons page, click **Extensions** in the left side menu. > 1. At the top right of the extensions list, click **Manage Extension Shortcuts** in the **gear button menu**. > 1. From the **Manage Extension Shortcuts** window you can check or change extension shortcuts for all Firefox extensions. You can also verify that there are no shortcut key collisions between extensions. > 1. You can also reach the extensions page in Firefox directly with [`about:addons`](about:addons), but you might have to copy-paste the address manually.

Features

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.

Notes

Language detection

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). 1. Your browser's text language detection for the selection, using word and sentence analysis. 1. The first available `lang="..."` attribute from the selected text's parent HTML elements. 1. The `lang="..."` attribute from the HTML root element of the current page (or frame). 1. Your browser's page primary language detection. 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.

Acknowledgements

- Thanks to [Liron Tocker](https://liron.de/) for coming up with the name Talkie, the fancy icons, and promotional graphics (2016-12-31, 2017-04-09): - Thanks to [Miroslava Jovičić](https://www.miroslavajovicic.com/) for the fancy user interface redesign (2017-05-29), and promotional graphics (2017-07-30, 2017-08-01).

Talkie Copyright © 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Joel Purra. Released under GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPL-3.0).