I can't seem to find a way to do this. I don't want Narrator to read
everything on my screen like dialog boxes! I just want it to read my
texts in Notepad, Word, web browsers' web pages, etc. I can do this
easily in macOS and iOS.

Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
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Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

> I can't seem to find a way to do this. I don't want Narrator to read
> everything on my screen like dialog boxes! I just want it to read my
> texts in Notepad, Word, web browsers' web pages, etc. I can do this
> easily in macOS and iOS.

Can you select the text in Notepad that you want Narrator to verbalize?
However, my assumption is you use Narrator because you're blind, so
selecting text would be a chore or impossible. But then maybe you want
to listen to Narrator while watching muted TV.

https://www.boia.org/blog/why-do-screen-reader-users-avoid-microsoft-narrator

Some Narrator basics mentioned at:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/complete-guide-to-narrator-e4397a0d-ef4f-b386-d8ae-c172f109bdb1

Pretty much the non-OS extras that Microsoft gives you for free (well,
included with their OS) have much better alternatives, like editors and
word processors that far exceed what Notepad or Wordpad can do, or photo
editors that far exceed what MS-Paint can do. Likewise, Nuance's Dragon
Naturally Speaking might do what you want, and a lot more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_NaturallySpeaking

There's a feature comparison matrix at:

https://www.nuance.com/content/dam/nuance/en_us/collateral/dragon/feature-matrix/fm-dragon-naturally-speaking-en-us.pdf

I don't think it's free, and as payware it isn't cheap, like $200 for
their Home edition. Alas, looks like they discontinued their Home
edition, so now you have to pay $700 for their Pro edition.

https://www.nuance.com/dragon/dragon-for-pc/home-edition.html
"Dragon Home has been discontinued."

There is, I believe, a 30-day money-back guarantee, but it could you
that long, or longer, to figure out how to install and test if it meets
your criteria.

If Narrator is too limp for your needs, and Dragon is too expensive, you
could hunt on alterative screen readers.

https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+narrator+alternatives

VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
> Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

> > I can't seem to find a way to do this. I don't want Narrator to read
> > everything on my screen like dialog boxes! I just want it to read my
> > texts in Notepad, Word, web browsers' web pages, etc. I can do this
> > easily in macOS and iOS.

> Can you select the text in Notepad that you want Narrator to verbalize?
> However, my assumption is you use Narrator because you're blind, so
> selecting text would be a chore or impossible. But then maybe you want
> to listen to Narrator while watching muted TV.

> https://www.boia.org/blog/why-do-screen-reader-users-avoid-microsoft-narrator

I can see why it sucks. :(

> Some Narrator basics mentioned at:
> https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/complete-guide-to-narrator-e4397a0d-ef4f-b386-d8ae-c172f109bdb1

Yeah, it is SO complex. I just wanted to highlight texts, in Notepad as an example,
just to read outloud from Narrator. I can do this easily with Apple's macOS and iOS.

> Pretty much the non-OS extras that Microsoft gives you for free (well,
> included with their OS) have much better alternatives, like editors and
> word processors that far exceed what Notepad or Wordpad can do, or photo
> editors that far exceed what MS-Paint can do. Likewise, Nuance's Dragon
> Naturally Speaking might do what you want, and a lot more.

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_NaturallySpeaking

> There's a feature comparison matrix at:

> https://www.nuance.com/content/dam/nuance/en_us/collateral/dragon/feature-matrix/fm-dragon-naturally-speaking-en-us.pdf

> I don't think it's free, and as payware it isn't cheap, like $200 for
> their Home edition. Alas, looks like they discontinued their Home
> edition, so now you have to pay $700 for their Pro edition.

> https://www.nuance.com/dragon/dragon-for-pc/home-edition.html
> "Dragon Home has been discontinued."

> There is, I believe, a 30-day money-back guarantee, but it could you
> that long, or longer, to figure out how to install and test if it meets
> your criteria.

> If Narrator is too limp for your needs, and Dragon is too expensive, you
> could hunt on alterative screen readers.

> https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+narrator+alternatives

Someone told me to try NVDA, from https://www.nvaccess.org, but it also has the same
problem with Narrator. I just want to highlight texts to read outloud. That's it. :(

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Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

> VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
>
>> Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
>
>>> I can't seem to find a way to do this. I don't want Narrator to read
>>> everything on my screen like dialog boxes! I just want it to read
>>> my texts in Notepad, Word, web browsers' web pages, etc. I can do
>>> this easily in macOS and iOS.
>
>> Can you select the text in Notepad that you want Narrator to
>> verbalize? However, my assumption is you use Narrator because you're
>> blind, so selecting text would be a chore or impossible. But then
>> maybe you want to listen to Narrator while watching muted TV.
>
>> https://www.boia.org/blog/why-do-screen-reader-users-avoid-microsoft-narrator
>
> I can see why it sucks. :(

I've never used Narrator. Have you looked in its settings? I just
looked in its settings to see:

Narrator
Change what you hear when reading and interacting
Default = 3 - All controls

Have you tried changing to "1 - Text only"?

VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
> Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

> > VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
> >
> >> Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
> >
> >>> I can't seem to find a way to do this. I don't want Narrator to read
> >>> everything on my screen like dialog boxes! I just want it to read
> >>> my texts in Notepad, Word, web browsers' web pages, etc. I can do
> >>> this easily in macOS and iOS.
> >
> >> Can you select the text in Notepad that you want Narrator to
> >> verbalize? However, my assumption is you use Narrator because you're
> >> blind, so selecting text would be a chore or impossible. But then
> >> maybe you want to listen to Narrator while watching muted TV.
> >
> >> https://www.boia.org/blog/why-do-screen-reader-users-avoid-microsoft-narrator
> >
> > I can see why it sucks. :(

> I've never used Narrator. Have you looked in its settings? I just
> looked in its settings to see:

> Narrator
> Change what you hear when reading and interacting
> Default = 3 - All controls

> Have you tried changing to "1 - Text only"?

Yes. I only want Narrator to read my highlighted texts only like in
Notepad. That's all. macOS and iOS does this easily. :(

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Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

> VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
>> Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
>
>>> VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> I can't seem to find a way to do this. I don't want Narrator to read
>>>>> everything on my screen like dialog boxes! I just want it to read
>>>>> my texts in Notepad, Word, web browsers' web pages, etc. I can do
>>>>> this easily in macOS and iOS.
>>>
>>>> Can you select the text in Notepad that you want Narrator to
>>>> verbalize? However, my assumption is you use Narrator because you're
>>>> blind, so selecting text would be a chore or impossible. But then
>>>> maybe you want to listen to Narrator while watching muted TV.
>>>
>>>> https://www.boia.org/blog/why-do-screen-reader-users-avoid-microsoft-narrator
>>>
>>> I can see why it sucks. :(
>
>> I've never used Narrator. Have you looked in its settings? I just
>> looked in its settings to see:
>
>> Narrator
>> Change what you hear when reading and interacting
>> Default = 3 - All controls
>
>> Have you tried changing to "1 - Text only"?
>
> Yes. I only want Narrator to read my highlighted texts only like in
> Notepad.

Guess you'll have to look at 3rd-party solutions.

> That's all. macOS and iOS does this easily. :(

Yeah, you've said repeatedly. Different products, different features.
Perhaps you'll have to read aloud the text using those products instead
of trying to flail a dead horse on Windows.