How to read text aloud
Select text in any app and press ⌥⌘L on macOS, or Ctrl + Alt + L on Windows and Linux. Walkie reads it in a natural voice and shows a panel that highlights each word as it is spoken. Click any word — including one further ahead — to jump playback there. Press Escape to stop.
Read a selection
- Select text in any application — a web page, a PDF, an email, a document.
- Press the Read Aloud shortcut.⌥⌘L on macOS, Ctrl + Alt + L on Windows and Linux.
- A reading panel opens and playback starts.Each word is highlighted as it is spoken, so you can follow along.
Read a document
Drag a PDF, .txt, or Markdown file onto the Walkie window. The window darkens to show it will accept the drop, Walkie extracts the text, and lands you on its reading page ready to play. Pasting a wall of text does the same thing.
PDFs are cleaned up before reading: page numbers and repeated headers and footers are skipped rather than spoken aloud, and ragged line breaks from the PDF's layout are joined back into sentences.
Controls while reading
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Click any word | Jump playback to that word, even chapters ahead |
| Back 10s | Skip back ten seconds |
| Speed | Playback speed from 1× to 2× |
| Focus Mode | Dim everything except the line being read |
| Save audio | Export the reading as an MP3 |
| Escape | Stop reading |
Turning other apps down while it reads
Silence other apps while reading turns music, podcasts and video down while Walkie speaks, and puts them back exactly where they were. It is on by default, in Settings → Read Aloud.
Walkie lowers each app by a share of where you already had it, rather than to a fixed level — a podcast you were playing quietly does not get turned up to meet a target. How far they drop is next to it: a third suits most setups, quieter if Walkie still has to compete, gentler if the drop is jarring.
Where your reads are kept
Everything Walkie has read aloud is listed in the Read section, each on its own page with a player. You can reopen a read, switch its voice, change the speed, or save the audio without re-extracting the source.
Monthly limits
| Plan | Read Aloud per month |
|---|---|
| Walkie Free | 10 minutes |
| Walkie Pro | 2 hours |
| Walkie Work | 5 hours |
| Walkie Team | 5 hours |
The neural voices are generated in the cloud, so they need an internet connection. Walkie also has an on-device voice: switch Walkie to On-Device Mode, download the voice once from Settings → Read Aloud → On-device voice, and reads happen entirely on your computer. Both count toward the same monthly allowance.
Frequently asked questions about how to read text aloud
Does Read Aloud work offline?
Yes, with the on-device voice. Put Walkie in On-Device Mode and download the voice from Settings → Read Aloud → On-device voice (a one-time download). It reads without an internet connection and the text never leaves your computer. It sounds flatter than the cloud voices — that is the trade for privacy — and its speed depends on your computer: it runs on the processor, or on the graphics card of a Windows PC that has one.
Why does the on-device voice pause between sentences, or say the voice failed?
The on-device voice is made on your computer as it reads, so a slower processor takes longer to prepare each sentence and you hear a pause before it. If a graphics card cannot run the voice, Walkie switches to the processor for the rest of that read and remembers the choice, so previews and reads keep working (Walkie 1.7.5 or later). The cloud voices do not depend on your computer's speed.
Can I export what Walkie reads as an audio file?
Yes. Any read can be saved as an MP3 from the reading panel or from its page in the Read section.
Why did my reading stop partway through?
The most likely cause is running out of your monthly allowance. Check Settings → Read Aloud, which shows how much you have used this month.