VoicePicker V1.3
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I. All in two pictures
The standard window
The window with settings
The standard window
This global floating window is always visible, unless another choice has been made in the Preferences or by clicking the Moon/Sun icon.
The window with settings
Settings can be shown or hidden by clicking the gear at the bottom of the window.
Several ways to read a text Recommended reading!
Listen now or save as audio file
The current mode is indicated at the bottom of the window by the icon 
or 
.
Click on that icon (or use the Preferences) to switch from one mode to the other.
Format of the audio files created by the application
The current format is indicated at the bottom of the window with settings: .aiff or .m4a.
Click on it (or use the Preferences) to switch from one format to the other.
VoicePicker icon in menu bar
To show or hide it, click on the icon at the bottom of the application window (or use the Preferences).
This menu allows you to
- read the contents of the clipboard with the voice you want.
- choose between "Listen now" and "Save as audio file".
- stop the current speech.
- show VoicePicker window (in "sun" mode).
Visibility Recommended reading!
The window of VoicePicker being constantly visible, must be as unobtrusive as possible.
In its standard form (i.e. without the settings) it is already very small.
By clicking on the Moon/Sun icon in the window with settings (or by using the Preferences), you can choose to make it completely invisible ("Moon" mode):
then, it appears only when the alt and cmd keys (⌥ and ⌘) are both kept down.
So, you can prepare the text to read (select, copy or begin to drag), then make the window of the application visible just long enough to drop the text or to click on the voice.
For a comfortable use of VoicePicker Recommended reading!
Suggestion:
- Open the Preferences.
- In the Visibility section, choose the "Moon" mode.
- Press the mouse button on the icon of the application in the dock and select Options/Open at Login.
In this way, VoicePicker is always available and appears as soon as both keys are pressed.
To keep the main window visible, switch to "Sun" mode by clicking on the Moon/Sun icon.
Avoid closing the application: prefer to switch to "Moon" mode by clicking on the Moon/Sun icon to make its window invisible.
Keyboard shortcuts
| ⌥ + ⌘ | In "Moon" mode, the window of VoicePicker shows as long as these both keys are kept down. |
| ⌥ | If this key (and only this key) is held down while selecting a voice in a pop-up menu, the default title of the voice is its language instead of its name. |
About the voices of macOS
macOS includes a synthesizer of voice which is able to read texts. For that, it proposes a number of voices for many languages.
However, most of these voices (in particular for non English languages) are not installed by default, or are installed only in their "Compact" form (low quality). They may need to be downloaded.
Downloading a voice is free but may take some time because a voice is a rather heavy file.
To download a system voice
• Choose Apple menu/System preferences/Accessibility/Speech*.
(If the system version is earlier than Sierra, choose Apple menu/System preferences/Dictation & speech/Text to Speech*.)
• In the System voice pop-up menu, select Customize... * (last line).
• In the list that appears, check the name of the voice.
Theses instructions can be displayed in the window of VoicePicker by selecting Other (last line) in any pup-up menu.
Using VoicePicker does not modify the system preferences.
Is it possible to use voices of third party with VoicePicker?
Yes, it is possible to use any voice of third party, provided that this voice is installed on your computer and is recognized by macOS Speech Synthesizer.
Third party voices appear with system voices in the pop-up menus of VoicePicker.
In what order are the voices arranged in the pop-up menus of the application?
Languages are arranged alphabetically.
Within each language, voices are arranged alphabetically.
Why do the menus and the help-tags of VoicePicker often seem to be unavailable?
The window of this application is global floating that is to say, it is always visible and operational even when other applications or windows are used.
As soon as an other application comes to front, for instance when selecting a text to read, it is this application that controls the menus, the pointer shape etc... Under these circumstances the menus and the help-tags of VoicePicker are not available.
To make them available again, just bring VoicePicker to the front by clicking its icon in the dock.