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Relevant to: faculty, staff, and students
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What is Microsoft Immersive Reader?
Microsoft Immersive Reader is a tool that helps to make text more accessible to all students, including those with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD, and low-vision, or if they need text to be translated to a different language.
The software is a free, built-in tool in various Microsoft products, including Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Microsoft Teams. It is also included in D2L BrightSpace as an alternate format. It enhances reading comprehension and fluency by providing a customizable reading experience.
Key Features of Immersive Reader
Listed below are the features of the software:
- Text-to-Speech: This feature reads text aloud, helping students who struggle with reading to follow along. It allows users to adjust the reading speed and voice selection.
- Syllabification: Breaking words down into syllables can aid in phonetic understanding, particularly beneficial for those learning English or for learning how to pronounce industry specific vocabulary.
- Line Focus: This tool highlights one, three, or five lines of text at a time, helping students concentrate on small sections and reducing visual stress.
- Parts of Speech Highlighting: Different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives) can be highlighted in distinct colors, aiding grammatical understanding and sentence structure.
- Picture Dictionary: By clicking on a word, students can see a picture representation, which helps with vocabulary building and comprehension.
- Translation: Text can be translated into multiple languages, making it easier for non-native speakers to understand the content.
- Adjustable Text Preferences: Users can modify text size, spacing, and font to suit their visual needs. Background colors can also be changed to reduce visual strain.
How to Use Immersive Reader
In Word and PowerPoint:
- Activate Immersive Reader: In Word, PowerPoint go to the “View” tab and select “Immersive Reader.”
In Microsoft Teams:
- Access your message or chat: Open the chat or assignment you want to read.
- Activate Immersive Reader: Click the three dots (ellipsis) next to the message or assignment and select “Immersive Reader” from the more options menu.
In Microsoft Outlook:
- Open the email: Select the email you wish to read.
- Select the three dots to the left of the email and choose “Show in Immersive Reader” from the dropdown menu.
In D2L BrightSpace:
- Immersive reader is found in course web pages and embedded documents at the bottom. Click the “Alternative formats” button and select “Immersive Reader.” Please note: You need to be online for this function to work.
How to Activate Speech
Select Play to hear your document read aloud by a narrator and to see the text highlighted simultaneously. The narrator starts reading from the top of your page by default, unless you have selected a word, in which case it will start reading from the selected word. Choose Pause to stop narration.
Select Voice Options on the top right of the document to change the speed of narration.
Text Options for Readability
You can change the appearance of your document by using Text Options. Text options can help you focus on your content and remove visual distraction.
- Set Text Size, Spacing, Font, and Themes that suit your learning needs. You can increase or decrease text size and the amount of spacing between letters and words. The Theme color you select becomes the background color of the document.
- Switch on Show Source Formatting to retain formatting from the original text, such as bolding or underlining.
Parts of Speech in Grammar Options
You can select one or more of the following options:
- Syllables to break words into syllables.
- Nouns to highlight nouns in your document in purple.
- Verbs to highlight verbs in your document in red.
- Adjectives to highlight adjectives in your document in green.
- Adverbs to highlight adverbs in your document in yellow.
- Show Labels will use a text-based label instead of color to indicate these features.
Reading Preferences
You can select one or more of the following options:
- Line Focus enables readers to narrow the focus of their reading experience by highlighting sets of one, three, or five lines within their chosen material in Immersive Reader. Use the toggle to turn it on or off.
- Picture Dictionary gives you the ability to click on any single word to hear it read aloud and see a picture that helps define the word.
- Translate lets you translate your text into other languages by word or document.
- Reading Coach provides students with personalized and independent practice based on words that a student has mispronounced. Learn more about Reading Coach.
