The Windows Magnifier is an essential accessibility tool designed to zoom in on parts of the screen for users with low vision. However, starting in Windows 11, Microsoft secretly packed the Magnifier with an incredibly powerful text-to-speech engine. You can now use the Magnifier tool to highlight any text on your screen—whether it is a webpage, a PDF document, or an email—and have Windows read it aloud to you in a natural-sounding voice.
How to Activate the Magnifier Reading Tool
You do not actually need to zoom your screen in to use this reading feature; you only need to launch the Magnifier application.
- Press the Windows Key + Plus (+) on your keyboard to instantly launch the Magnifier tool.
- A small floating toolbar will appear on your screen, featuring a zoom percentage and several playback controls (Play, Previous, and Next).
- Click the Settings gear icon on the right side of the floating toolbar.
- In the settings menu, you can adjust the reading Speed using the slider, and you can change the text-to-speech Voice from the dropdown menu (Microsoft provides several different accents and genders).
How to Make Windows Read Text Aloud
Once the Magnifier is open and configured to your liking, you can use a simple keyboard shortcut to command it to read anything on your screen.
- Press and hold the Ctrl + Alt keys on your keyboard.
- While holding those keys down, Left-Click your mouse directly on the sentence or paragraph you want Windows to read.
Windows will instantly begin reading the text aloud. As it reads, it will draw a blue box around the specific word it is currently speaking, allowing you to easily follow along visually. The reading will continue automatically until it reaches the end of the document.
If you want to stop the reading at any time, simply click anywhere else on the screen, or press any key on your keyboard.