Text-to-Speech
Why won't Read and Write for Google Read a PDF that I've shared with my students?
This would be similar if you uploaded a worksheet as an image in the background of a Google Slide to have students complete (common from TPT).
If Read&Write will not read a particular PDF, it is possible that the PDF has not undergone the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process.
By default, PDF files are IMAGES, which have to go through this OCR process in order to be read by assistive technology software such as Read&Write.
What does it look like when you open a document that has not gone through OCR?
In the GIF to the right, you can see that the text is NOT HIGHLIGHTED when the curser is dragged over it.
Text is NOT HIGHLIGHTED when the highlighter is selected either.
This tells you that the document DID NOT go through the OCR PROCEESS.
Where do I get an OCR document or How do I create an OCR Document?
When it comes to teachers and sharing documents with our students (and parents), it is OUR responsibility to make sure that everything that we share with them meets the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division ADA Requirements for Effective Communication. This means that all documents! So how do we access them?
Many times when we use digital curriculum, the resources that are provided to us from the vendors have already gone through the OCR process. If you get a document from one of our digital vendors, odds are - it's already OCR compliant.
If you are sharing a Google Document that you created, you can click on FILE ➡ Download ➡ PDF Document (.pdf)
This will create a document that is text-searchable. *There are other OCR requirements as well, check the District's OCR page for more information.
The final option would be to take the document through the OCR Process yourself. One option is shown below.
How do we take a document through the OCR Process? Hint: We can use Kami
When you open a Non-text-searchable (Non-ORC) document in KAMI, you'll see the message that
"This seems like a scanned PDF. Would you like to add the text?"
After seeing the message above, click on Run Text Recognition.
Then the page will refresh and you'll see that Kami is "Running Text Recognition..." (bottom of the screen)
The page will then refresh and you'll then be able to select the text.
You can then SAVE the document back to your Google Drive.
When you (or the student) opens the PDF in OrbitNote, you'll now be able to select the text, highlight the text, and have the text read via text-to-speech.
There is something to consider about this method. The text will appear strangely, and might make the text hard to read while text-to-speech is reading aloud.
What does an OCR and Non OCR Document Look Like?
The above is an example of a OCR'd PDF.
Below is what the text looks like when it's highlighted and read using Read&Write for Google.
The above is example of a text-recognized PDF. It went through the OCR Process - but was not originally created that way...
Below is what the text looks like when it's highlighted and read using Read&Write for Google.
What's the Difference between OCR and Non OCR Documents?
The following YouTube video shows what it looks like using an image as the background of a Google Slide.