Narrator Hotkeys for Reading

If you do not want to install a new program on your computer running Windows Vista, here are some directions for using Narrator with WordPad in Windows Vista. Narrator will not read in MS Word or Works so the text will need to be copied to Word Pad or opened with Word Pad. The files that we provide in RTF can be opened in Word Pad. The following directions explain how to do this.

Open Narrator

1. Open the Ease of Access Center by going to the Control Panel or using the hotkey “Windows Key+U”
2. Double Click on Start Narrator or use the hotkey Alt+N and press enter.

Open Word Pad

1. Go to the StartMenu
2. Type WordPad in the search menu then press enter.

You can open RTF and text files in WordPad

Paste Text from Word Documents into Word Pad

1. Open your file from us in Works or Word
2. Hold Control and press A to Select All
3. Hold Control and press C to copy the text
4. Click on Word Pad in the Taskbar
5. Hold Control and press V to paste the text in to Word Pad
6. Use the commands below to read the text

Reading Hotkeys for Narrator

You can also use the up and down arrows to read line by line.

Narrator IS NOT VERY EFFECTIVE. It will not track down through the document while you read. So if you want to look at the text while it reads you need to use the arrow keys to read.

WordPad will not display all RTF files. Some files with more complex formatting will not display all of the formatting and graphics. The files that Disability Services scans have very simple if any formatting so they should open without much trouble.