Kurzweil Support & Resources
To learn more about Kurzweil Read The Web:
To learn more about Kurzweil's iPad App:
For troubleshooting and technical support:
Kurzweil Read The Web
Kurzweil Read The Web is a Chrome extension you can add to your Google Chrome web browser that can read web pages out loud. To access Kurzweil Read The Web, you should first add Kurzweil Read the Web to your Google Chrome browser.
To open Read The Web, select the puzzle-piece icon on the top right of your browser, then select the Kurzweil cube icon to activate the extension. A small pop up window will appear at the top of the web page. Click the down arrow on this window and sign into Kurzweil using your Kurzweil username and password. If you are not sure of or don’t remember your login credentials, please contact the DRC Adaptive Technology team at adaptivetech@pdx.edu.
Read The Web: Reading
After logging in, a toolbar will appear at the top of the web page with the tools that will support you in reading the web page.
To begin reading, click anywhere within the accessible text of the web page, and a green cursor should appear. Select the play button icon from the Read The Web toolbar, and Kurzweil will begin reading. To stop reading, press the pause button from the Read The Web toolbar, or click anywhere on the web page where there is no text. If you do not want the audio playing back while Kurzweil reads, select the blue speaker icon from the Read The Web toolbar to mute the sound.
While Kurzweil reads, a portion of the text will be highlighted in yellow (typically a sentence) and individual words will be highlighted in green. This feature should make it easier to visually follow along with the reading.
To customize how Kurzweil reads to you, navigate to the left side of the Read The Web toolbar and select the gear icon. You can customize the following settings:
- Voice: You can only use Kurzweil voices with Read The Web. Select the dropdown located under “Voice” and select a name to change the voice. If you are on a web page in a language other than English, you can select a voice that corresponds to the language that you need.
- Reading Speed: You can change the playback speed and make it faster or slower by using the up and down arrows.
- Reading Units: Reading units are the portion of text that is highlighted in yellow as Kurzweil reads. You can change it to highlight a word at a time, a line at a time, a sentence at a time, or more. If you have your reading mode set to “Self-Paced”, it will stop reading after each unit level that you have selected. To change the reading unit, select the option you would like, and it should highlight in green.
- Reading Mode: There are two reading modes that you can choose that will determine how Kurzweil will read the document as a whole. To change the reading mode, select the option you would like, and it should highlight in green.
- Continuous: Kurzweil will read until it reaches the end of the document. This is the option we usually recommend using.
- Self-Paced: Kurzweil will stop reading after each reading unit. This mode can be helpful if you want Kurzweil to stop reading after each sentence or each paragraph so you can take notes.
- Word-by-Word: Kurzweil will stop reading after each word. This option is typically good for spelling lists or vocab words.
If you would like alternative text for images to be read, checkmark the corresponding box in the settings menu.
Read The Web Study Tools
In addition to reading web pages, you can also use Read the Web to look up words you might be unfamiliar with, translate a webpage, and export a specific section of text into your kurzweil3000.com account. You can locate these tools on the right side of the Read the Web toolbar.
- Dictionary: To look up the definition of a word, highlight a word on the web page, then select the purple dictionary icon from the Read The Web toolbar.
- Translate: To translate a word or phrase, highlight a word or phrase on the web page, then select the yellow translate icon from the Read the Web toolbar. Select a language from the dropdown menu and the translated text will appear.
- Capture a Screenshot: To export a section of text to your kurzweil3000.com account, select the orange capture icon from the Read The Web toolbar. Your cursor should change into a crosshair. Click and drag the left mouse button over the web page until the frame encloses the area you want to export, then release the mouse. A new web page will automatically open to kurzweil3000.com with the screenshot that you captured.
Kurzweil iPad App
Kurzweil has a mobile app that is only available for iPads that you can download on the App Store. The app allows for limited reading features and has no available writing features.
When you open the app, you will need to sign in using your Kurzweil username and password. If you are not sure of or don’t remember your login credentials, please contact the DRC Adaptive Technology team at adaptivetech@pdx.edu.
iPad App: Opening a Document
You can open PDF, EPUB, RTF, Daisy, PNG, and JPG files in the Kurzweil app. If you need your course materials in a compatible file type that you can open in Kurzweil, please read the student section on the Alternative Formats web page to learn how to request alternative formats and receive compatible course materials.
To open a file in Kurzweil, tap the three dot icon on the top left of the screen. You can then choose to open a document from your camera, photo library, or Google Drive.
- Camera Import: Take a picture with your iPad’s camera and Kurzweil will convert it into a readable format (Note: This feature has some limitations. You will have to take pictures of flat pages from directly above with no shadows for the best results).
- Photo Library Import: Open a previously-taken or saved photo from your camera reel.
- Google Drive: If you receive digital course materials from the DRC, you can open these from the “Import from Google Drive” option. If there are files on Canvas that you would like to open in Kurzweil, you can download these files onto a computer and then upload them to Google Drive. You will then have access to open these Google Drive files from the Kurzweil app on your iPad.
The document might take a few minutes to open as the app processes it. Kurzweil runs Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software so that the document text can be read out loud. Due to the amount of time the conversion process can take, we do not recommend opening an entire textbook at once within Kurzweil unless it has already been saved in a “.kes” format. The longer your document is, the longer it will take Kurzweil to open and convert it. It is generally best to open a chapter of a textbook at a time.
Note: All the documents you open on the iPad app will be saved to the Universal Library, which is Kurzweil’s cloud. This means you will be able to access these same documents on the software and web browser version of Kurzweil. You will be able to find these saved files in the “recently_opened_local_files” folder located within the folder with your name on it.
iPad App: Navigating & Visual Settings
You can navigate from page to page by either swiping to the left or right using your finger, or you can use the scroll bar located at the bottom of the screen. The page number will appear on the bottom right of the screen. As you go from page to page, it is normal for it to take a minute for the page to load.
You can zoom in and out on the document by pinching two fingers together and spreading them apart while touching the screen. To navigate to the next page by swiping, you will need to zoom back out on the document.
If you need to rotate your document, you can do this by tapping on “Options” on the top right of the screen. At the bottom of the dropdown menu, select one of the options next to “Rotate Page” to fix the orientation of the document.
iPad App: Reading
After you have opened a document in Kurzweil, press the play button at the top of your screen to have Kurzweil read from the beginning of the document. You can also select where you would like to begin by tapping once with your finger on a word. A gray, transparent box will appear where Kurzweil will start reading.
While Kurzweil reads, a portion of the text will be highlighted in yellow (typically a sentence) and individual words will be highlighted in green. This should make it easier to visually follow along with the reading.
To customize how Kurzweil reads to you, navigate to the top right of the screen and select “Options”. A dropdown menu will appear, from which you can change the following:
- Pace: You can change the playback speed and make it faster or slower by using the scroll bar.
- Voice: You can only use Kurzweil voices on the iPad app. Scroll through the list located next to “Voice” to change the voice. If you have a document in a language other than English, you can select a voice that corresponds to the language that you need.
- Reading Units: Reading units are the portion of text that is highlighted in yellow as Kurzweil reads. You can change it to highlight a word at a time, a line at a time, a sentence at a time, or more. If you have your reading mode set to “Self-Paced”, it will stop reading after each unit level that you have selected. To change the reading unit, select the option you would like, and it should highlight in blue.
- Reading Mode: There are two reading modes that you can choose that will determine how Kurzweil will read the document as a whole. To change the reading mode, select the option you would like, and it should highlight in blue.
- Continuous: Kurzweil will read until it reaches the end of the document. This is the option we usually recommend using.
- Self-Paced: Kurzweil will stop reading after each reading unit. This can be helpful if you want Kurzweil to stop reading after each sentence or each paragraph so you can take notes.
iPad App: Note Taking & Study Tools
There are a limited amount of note taking tools in the Kurzweil iPad app, but these tools can still support you as you read and study.
- Highlighters: To use the highlighter, tap and hold a word on the screen, then drag the sides of the highlight to cover the area you would like to highlight. Once you have positioned the highlight, tap “Highlight” from the pop-up options, then select a color. We usually recommend using any color besides green and yellow, since those colors are what Kurzweil uses when reading out loud. To erase a highlight, tap and hold, adjust the highlight to fit the area you would like to erase, select “Highlight”, then select the “Clear” color.
- Dictionary: To look up the definition of a word, tap and hold a word on the screen, then select “Define” from the pop-up options. To navigate back to your reading, select the “Back” button on the top left of the screen.
- Translate: To translate a word or phrase, tap and hold a word on the screen, then drag the edges to highlight what you would like to translate. Select “Translate” from the pop-up options, select a language from the scroll menu, then select “Done”. To navigate back to your reading, select the “Back” button on the top left of the screen.
- Text notes: Text notes are plain text contained in a white textbox. To add a text note, tap the addition sign icon on the top right of the screen, then select “Add Text Note”. Type in your note, then tap “Done”. You can reposition the note by double tapping the note then holding and dragging the purple rectangle above the note.
- Sticky notes: Sticky notes are plain text with a yellow background. To add a sticky note, tap the addition sign icon on the top right of the screen, then select “Add Sticky Note”. Type in your note, then tap “Done”. You can reposition the note by double tapping the note then holding and dragging the purple rectangle above the note.