These are a list sent from the Director of the Four Plus program of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies that can help you with reading documents out loud or extracting text from documents. Reminder: This is not to replace accommodation tools. This should be used as a supplement to in place accommodation.
Android
1. Google Lens (for document reading, text extraction, translation)
- Open Google Lens (app) or open the Camera
- Point the Camera at the document that you would want read to you
- If using Camera app, take a picture of the document and go into your Photos app
- Once in your Photos app, click on the Lens app
- Tap on the 'Text' icon and highlight the text needed
- You can copy the text or tap 'Listen' to have it read out loud
2. Using Keep Notes or Google Keep (for text extraction)
- Open Keep Notes/ Google Keep
- Use the + on the right to make a new note
- Use the + on the left above the keyboard to open your Camera
- Tap 'Take Photo' icon to take a photo of the document
- Once the photo is in the note, click on the photo
- Tap the three-dot menu and select 'Grab image text'
- The extracted text will appear in the note. Now you can copy it, or share it.
This Notes app can also read the text out to you
- After text extraction, highlight what you would like to be read out loud
- Tap the three-dot menu and select 'Read aloud'
3. Narrator's Voice (for text-to-speech)
- This is an app available on the Play Store that reads text files or pasted text
Android Built in Text-to-Speech abilities
After extracting text from any of the apps listed in this section, you can use the following steps to use built-in text-to-speech to read it out loud
4. Google Text-to-Speech
- To activate: Settings > Accessibility > Select to Speak shortcut
Apple
1. Live Text (iOS 15 or later) (for text extraction)
- Open the Camera app on your iPhone
- Point it at your document that you want to grab
- When the Camera detects the document, a yellow box will appear around the text
- Tap the 'Live Text' icon (a little text box icon in the corner)
- Select the text, copy it, and paste it into another app such as Notes or use Speak Selection (described below), VoiceOver (described below), or Apple's built in functions (see below) to read out loud
2. VoiceOver (for text-to-speech)
- Go to: Settings > Accessibility > Voice Over and toggle it on
Once this is toggled on, text extracted from apps like Live Text can have VoiceOver or built in options read it
To have VoiceOver activate:
- Open up any app (such as Notes) and paste the extracted text (from apps such as Live Text)
- Swipe down with two fingers on the screen and have VoiceOver read the text out loud
3. Built in Notes App (for text extraction)
- Open up the Notes app
- Tap the Camera icon and select 'Scan Documents'
- Make sure the document is in the screen frame and scan it
- After scanning, the document is saved as a note. Tap the scanned note and copy the text to have VoiceOver, built in text-to- speech function, or another text-to-speech app read it out loud
4. Speak Selection (for text-to-speak)
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content
- Toggle on Speak Selection and Speak Screen
Doing this gives your phone the ability to read extracted text from your Notes app (third-party app or any selected text) by highlighting your text and tapping 'Speak' to have it read out loud.
Using Dedicated OCR Apps
1. Microsoft Lens (formally Office Lens) (text extraction)
Microsoft Lens scans documents and converts them into editable text.
- Install Microsoft Lens from your app store
- Use the app to scan a physical document
- Choose 'Text' mode to capture and extract the text
- After extracting the text, use a text-to-speech app (like Google text-to-speech or VoiceOver or built in options) to read the text out loud
2. Adobe Scan (text extraction)
- Download Adobe Scan from your app store
- Use the app to scan the document
- After scanning, tap 'Recognize Text' to extract the text
- Export the extracted text to a file and use a text-to-speech app (such as VoiceOver or built in options)
Third Party Apps
1. Microsoft Lens (See steps above)
2. Prizmo (text-to-speech)
- Download Prizmo from your app store
- Open the app and scan your document
- After scanning your document, Prizmo can read out loud
