Customize your reading experience on Chrome with Reading mode. This feature is conveniently located in the Side panel and helps you:
- Focus more easily on text.
- Reduce distractions from images and videos on screen.
- Select alternate typeface and font size.
- Adjust letter and sentence spacing.
- Choose background color.
If you’re using a Chromebook, you can hear the text you read with Read aloud.
Tip: The contents from general websites are shown and applied in the side panel.
Use & manage Reading mode & Read aloud
Important:
- Reading mode is available in Chrome.
- Read aloud is only available in Chromebook.
When you use Reading mode in the side panel, you can:
- Play, pause, rewind, or fast forward while you read.
- Change the playback speed.
- Select your preferred voice.
- Turn on or off text highlighting.
- Adjust the font settings.
To turn on and adjust reading mode:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- Go to a website with text that you’d like to read.
- At the top right, select More More tools Reading mode.
- Under "Reading mode," use the toolbar to:
- Adjust the font: Select Font .
- Adjust the font size: Select Font size .
- To decrease the font size: Select Decrease .
- To increase the font size: Select Increase .
- Change the Reading mode color theme: Select Color theme .
- Change the spacing between sentences: Select Line spacing .
- Change the spacing between letters: Select Letter spacing .
- To hear the text spoken aloud with Read aloud, select Play .
- On your keyboard, you can press K.
- Adjust your Read aloud settings:
- Play and pause while you read: Select Play or Pause .
- Adjust the playback speed: Select Playback speed .
- Jump to the beginning of the previous or next sentence: Select Previous or Next .
- To use your keyboard: Press Left arrow or Right arrow Enter.
- Select your preferred voice:
- To preview a voice:
- Through the toolbar:
- Select Voice .
- Next to the voice name, select Preview .
- Through your keyboard:
- Press Right arrow Enter.
- Through the toolbar:
- To select a voice: Select the voice you prefer.
- To add a language: Select Voice Languages….
- To search a language: At the search bar, enter the language.
- To add a language: Turn on the preferred language.
- To remove a language: Turn off the language.
- Turn on or off text highlighting:
- To turn on text highlighting: Select Turn on highlight .
- To turn off text highlighting: Select Turn off highlight .
- To preview a voice:
Tips:
- To pin Reading mode, at the top right of the side panel, select Pin to toolbar .
- At the top right of the browser toolbar, you can access Reading mode after you pin it. Select Reading mode .
- When you use Reading mode for the first time, natural voices for the page language are automatically downloaded.
- When there isn’t enough space for the toolbar options to fit, you can find the toolbar options when you select More .