Whether you are trying to proofread a massive essay, have a visual impairment, or simply want your Mac to read a long news article out loud while you cook dinner, macOS includes a remarkably powerful, built-in text-to-speech engine. Known as “Spoken Content,” this Accessibility feature allows you to highlight any text in Safari, Pages, or Mail and have a high-quality digital voice read it back to you instantly.
How to Setup Spoken Content
First, we need to activate the feature and assign a keyboard shortcut to trigger it.
- Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner of the screen and select System Settings….
- Scroll down the left-hand sidebar and click on Accessibility.
- On the right side of the window, under the “Vision” section, click on Spoken Content.
- Find the toggle switch labelled Speak selection and turn it On.
- Click the small Information (i) button next to that toggle to customize the settings.
Customizing the Voice and Speed
Inside this menu, you can see the default keyboard shortcut (usually Option + Esc). You can also click the “System Voice” dropdown to change the accent (such as selecting a British or Australian voice) or adjust the slider to make the speaking speed faster or slower. Click OK when you are happy with the settings.
To use the feature, simply highlight any paragraph of text on your screen and press Option + Esc. Your Mac will instantly begin reading the text out loud. If you want it to stop, just press the exact same keyboard shortcut again.