TEXTHELP READ AND WRITE 8
QUICK START GUIDE
Introduction
TextHELP Read and Write is software designed to assist people with Dyslexia in reading
and writing text. This Quick Start Guide is an introduction for new users.
Prerequisites
This document assumes that you are familiar with the use of a computer keyboard and
mouse and have a working knowledge of Microsoft Windows
Contents
1.
Introduction
2
2.
Reading Text in Word
5
3.
Changing the Reading Settings
5
4.
Using the Screen Reader
12
5.
Reading text on web pages
13
6.
The Spell Checker
14
7.
Spell checking as you type
17
8.
Word Prediction
17
9.
Using the Dictionary
19
10.
Using the word wizard
23
11.
Using the Sounds Like (homophone) facility
25
12.
Using Help
29
About this Document
This document assumes the user will be using a mouse. For information on how to use
TextHELP without a mouse please contact Barbara Denton, Disability IT Support:
B.Denton@bbk.ac.uk Tel: 020 7079 0717
Words in bold
Will need to be typed or chosen from a menu
or window
Capitals – e.g. ALT
Indicate keys that you press

Are guidelines on how to perform a task
Bulleted lists
Press KEY1 + KEY2
Press both keys together
Press KEY1, KEY2
Press each key consecutively
Click
Click the left mouse button once
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1. Introduction
TextHELP is designed to work alongside other programs to make them easier to
use. It has a variety of functions including:
1.
2.
3.
4.
reading text aloud
spell checking
study skill tools
a dictionary
It will work alongside a range of programs including MS Word, Internet Explorer and
MS Outlook (e-mail).
1.1
Starting TextHELP
TextHELP is installed on all of the PCs in the ITS managed workstation rooms and
on many library PCs. To Start TextHELP:





Select Start button (Press WINDOWS KEY, or click on the Start button at
the bottom of the screen)
Choose Programs
Choose TextHELP Systems
Choose TextHELP Read and Write 8
Choose TextHELP
Tip: You can start TextHELP before or after you start your other programs e.g. MS
Word.
1.2
The TextHELP toolbar
Starting textHELP produces a Toolbar on the screen.
When you first start TextHELP you will be asked how you would like this Toolbar
to look. The above Toolbar shows Small Icons with Text.
1.3
Moving the toolbar
The Toolbar may be sitting in the middle of the computer screen obscuring other
programs.
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Place the mouse pointer on the blue highlight bar, hold down the left mouse
button, and drag the bar to the top of the screen. The Toolbar will anchor
itself into place at the top and the blue highlight bar will disappear.
Release the mouse. Your application e.g. Word, will move down so that it is
not obscured by the Toolbar.
To un-anchor the Toolbar from its position at the top of the screen
click on the anchor symbol at the right hand end of the Tool bar.
TIP: You can choose where to leave your toolbar. It will anchor at the top or
the side of the screen, or you can leave it unanchored if you prefer.
1.4
Understanding the toolbar
The toolbar controls all of textHELP's functions. Clicking with the left mouse button
on any toolbar button will start the function.
For example clicking on this button starts the spell checker.
Some functions can be customised to work in the way that you prefer. To
customise a function click on the down arrow next to the button.
For example click on the down arrow next to the spell check button
to change the spelling options.
1.5
Customising the toolbar
When you start using TextHELP you may find that some of the buttons that you
want to use don’t fit on the toolbar. You can customise the toolbar to contain the
buttons that you use most frequently.

Click on the down arrow to the right of the TextHELP button on
the TextHELP toolbar

Select General Options
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The General Options Dialogue box appears:
TIP: The Display tab should be open showing the Display settings. If one of
the other tabs is open (Hotkeys, Similar or Autotext) Click the Display tab
so that the display options are visible.
Toolbar buttons visibility contains a check box for each button that can appear
on the toolbar. If the checkbox next to the button is checked then the button will be
visible on the textHELP toolbar. If the checkbox is unchecked then the button will
not appear on the toolbar.


Ensure that the buttons that you required are checked by clicking in the
check box
Uncheck any buttons that you are not going to use regularly. In the example
above the Word Wizard and Show homophones in MS Word buttons
will not appear on the toolbar
Toolbar icon settings changes the size and appearance of the buttons on the
toolbar.
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The Select an icon set allows a choice between Fun or Professional icons
(pictures) on the textHELP toolbar.
 Click on the down arrow to see the options and click on the icon set that
you prefer.
To change the size of the icons and whether they appear with or without text:
 Click on your preferred radio button
 Click OK to save the options that you have selected
2. Reading Text in Word
textHELP will read text out to you with a synthetic voice. There are 4 buttons on
the toolbar that are used for reading text aloud.
2.1
Reading Text in MS Word





Ensure you have a document open in Microsoft Word
Click in the document on the sentence that you want to hear read aloud
Click on the Play button. The sentence will be read out to you.
Click on the Forward button to read the next sentence
Click on the Rewind button to read the previous sentence.
Notice that the text is highlighted as it is read out to you.
TIP: If you cannot hear the voice:
1. Check that you have speakers or headphones attached to your PC
2. Check the Volume is turned on in Windows: go to the task bar at the
bottom of the screen:

Click on the icon of a speaker.

Uncheck the muting check box and slide the volume control until
the speech output is at the right volume.
3. Changing the Reading Settings
3.1
Changing the Reading Voice
If you find the voice difficult to understand you may want to change the voice
settings.
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Click on the down arrow the right of the Play
button
The speech menu appears.

Select Speech Options…
The Speech Options dialogue box appears.
The Speech Tab is on top (other Tabs are Say Like, AutoRead and Highlight).
To try some different voices:

Click on the down arrow to drop down the Select a voice list
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A number of different voices are displayed:

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
3.2
Click on a different voice to select it
Click on the Test voice button to hear the new voice
Change the speed of the voice by dragging the slider on the speed control
Keep experimenting and testing the voice until you are happy with the result
Click on the OK button to save your choice.
Changing from reading a sentence at a time to reading a word or
a paragraph
TextHELP reads a sentence at a time by default. To read either a paragraph at a time
or a word at a time:

Click on the down arrow the right of the Play button
The speech menu appears. At the top of the speech menu Read by word, Read by
sentence, Read by paragraph are listed, and Read by Sentence has a dot by it to
indicate that it is the current option.


3.3
Click on Read by word if you would like only one word read aloud at a
time
Click on Read by paragraph if you would like to read a paragraph at a time
Reading a document automatically


Click on the down arrow the right of the Play
button
Select Automatically read next block of text
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Click on the Play button
TextHELP will read the document continuously starting at the line containing the
cursor or highlight.

Use the Stop button to stop the
document being read aloud, the Rewind
button to move back, the Forward
button to move forward, and the Pause button to pause reading.

To turn the automatic reading off again select Automatically read next
block of text (which is ticked) on the menu on the Play button.
3.4
Changing the colours of the highlighted text that is being read

Click on the down arrow the right of the Play button
The speech menu appears. Select Speech Options…
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The Speech Tab is normally on top.
 Click on the Highlight Tab
The options on this Tab allow you to change the way the text appears whilst it is
being read out.
Speak with highlight in document: this is the default. The entire sentence being
read is highlighted; the word currently being spoken is highlighted in a different
colour. The colours are shown in the sample.
Speak with highlight in Text Reader: Text will be read in the Text Reader
window, not directly in the application. The Text Reader is provided by TextHELP
and pops up when this option is selected. The font type and size of font can be
selected.
Speak using one word display: Text being read appears one word at a time in
the middle of the screen, using the highlight shown in the sample. The font style and
size can be chosen.
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Speak with no visual display: Speaks text without highlighting or changing the
appearance of the text on screen.

Click in the radio button for the option that you require then adjust the
colours as shown below:
Speak with highlight in document:

Click on the down arrow to the right of Choose the highlight colours

Click on the preferred colour
combination
View the selection in the sample box
Click OK to select that option and go
back to the document.


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Speak with highlight in Text Reader:





Select the preferred font by dropping down the list of fonts under Font
name and clicking on the one required
Change the font size to the one required by dropping down the Font size
and selecting the preferred size
Choose the highlight colours by dropping down the list box
View the selection in the sample text
Click OK when the preferred highlight has been selected.
Speak using one word display:






Select the preferred Font name
Select the preferred Font size
Select the preferred Word colour
Select the preferred Sentence
colour
View your choices in the sample box
Click OK once you are happy with
the choices.
4.
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4. Using the Screen Reader
The screen reader reads out menus, dialogue boxes and screen contents (not text in
documents – the Play button is used for document text) that you may have difficulty
reading.
Turning on the Screen Reader:
 Click on the down arrow the right of the Play button
The speech menu appears.
 Click on Use Screen Reading



Screen Reading is turned on
Hover the mouse over any menus and the menu item will be read out.
To disable Screen Reading select Use Screen Reading (which is now
ticked) and this will turn the Screen Reading off again.
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5. Reading text on web pages
Turning on the Screen Reader:
 Click on the down arrow the right of the Play button
The speech menu appears:







Select Web Highlighting
Open your Internet Browser e.g. Internet Explorer
Find a web page that you wish to read
Hover your mouse over the area of text until it is highlighted
You will hear the text read aloud.
The speech buttons on the TextHELP
toolbar can be used to stop, pause, read
next and previous parts of the webpage if
required.
To disable Web Highlighting select Web Highlighting (which is now ticked)
and this will turn the Web Highlighting off again.
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6. The Spell Checker
6.1
Starting the spell checker
 Have a Word document open that you wish to spell check
Click on the spell check button on the textHELP toolbar, the
Spelling Helper window appears.
6.2
The Spell Checker window
The text box at the top of the screen shows first the misspelt word (highlighted in
red) in the document.
Directly below is Spelling Helpers suggested alternative for
the misspelt word – in this case pray.
A list of other possible alternative words/spellings appears
below the suggested alternative.
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Spelling Helper also gives a definition for the suggested alternative in a text box on
the right of the dialogue box.
TIP: To have the
definition read aloud
click on the definition
(which becomes
highlighted) and then
click on the Play
button on the
textHELP toolbar.
There is check box on the dialogue box:
Ensure that this is ticked to move through the entire document checking all misspelt
words.
At the bottom of the dialogue box are a number of action buttons:
6.3



Spell checking a document:
Look at the misspelt word
Look at the suggested alternative (you can look at the definition to help you)
Look at the list of other possible choices
To leave the misspelt word unchanged in your document:

Click on the ignore button
To select a word in the list possible alternatives:

Click on the word, and it will appear in the suggested alternative box
To change the misspelt word to the word in the suggested alternative box

Click on the Change button
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If you have misspelt this word more than once in your document and wish to
correct all of them at once:

Click on the Change All button
If the misspelt word is spelt correctly, but the Spelling Helper doesn’t recognise it
e.g. Birkbeck, you can add the word to a custom Spelling Helper dictionary.

Click on the Add Custom button to add a word to the dictionary
Spelling Helper will then always know (in all documents) that the word is spelt
correctly.
TIP: be careful not to add any misspelt words to your custom dictionary or they will
not be picked up by the Spelling Helper in future.
6.4
Closing the Spelling Helper
The Spelling Helper will move through your document until all spellings have been
corrected. When it has finished checking the document a message appears to tell
you that the Spell Check is completed.

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If you wish to stop the Spelling Helper before you reach the end of the document:

Click on the close box in the top right hand corner of the dialogue box
7. Spell checking as you type
The Spell Checker can be set to automatically appear immediately when you type a
misspelt word.

Click on the down arrow to the right of the Spell Check
button

Select Spell as I Type
With this option selected the Spelling Helper appears when you misspell a word.

To disable Spelling as I type select Spell As I Type (which is now ticked)
and this will turn the Spell As I Type option off again.
8. Word Prediction
Word Prediction puts a list of words onto the screen which are most likely to be
the word that you have begun to type. You can then use a word from the list instead
of having to type the full word.

Open a blank document in MS Word

Click on the Prediction button on the textHELP toolbar
A prediction text box appears on screen just below the Word cursor:
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Start typing
As you type a list of possible words appears in the Word Prediction text box. In the
example below I enj has been typed into MS Word, and the Prediction text box has
2 suggested words: enjoyed or enjoyment.


To put a word from the Prediction text box into your document either click
on it, or press the suggested Function key. In this instance pressing F1 will put
the word enjoyed into the Word document
Begin to type the next word.
The Word Prediction text box also offers additional help. Hovering the mouse over
a word in the list shows a symbol of a dictionary.
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Click on the dictionary symbol
The Dictionary window appears showing the definition of the Word. The Dictionary
is explained more fully in section 8.

To close the dictionary click on the cross in the top right hand corner.
The Prediction Text Box also shows words that are homophones – words that
sound the same but can be spelt in different ways, each different spelling having a
different meaning. Homophones are shown by the symbol of an ear.
In this case the homophones for by are buy and bye. Check the dictionary
definition if you are unclear if you have the correct word.

To stop using the Prediction facility click on the Prediction button on the
textHELP toolbar
9. Using the Dictionary
9.1
Checking the meaning of a word in a document, on a web page or
in an e-mail.


Highlight a word that you want to check in the Dictionary (this can be from a
web page, in MS Word or in your e-mail).
Click on the Dictionary button on the textHELP toolbar
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The Dictionary Definitions window opens:
The highlighted word (Happens in this case) is shown in the original word text box
at the top of the dialogue box. Definitions are show in a text box.



9.2
Click on one of the definitions. It becomes highlighted. The panel to the right
now shows Inflections and Synonyms.
Click on the Play button on the textHELP toolbar to hear the definition read
aloud
To close the Dictionary click on the cross in the top right hand corner.
Using the Dictionary to find similar words
To find words similar in meaning to a word, you need to use the Advanced
Definitions Window.

Click on the drop down menu to the right of Dictionary
button

Select Advanced Definitions
From now on the Dictionary Definitions Dialogue will be for Advanced Definitions.
TIP: To change back to basic definitions select it from the menu.
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
Highlight the word that you wish to find similar words for
Click on the Dictionary button on the textHELP toolbar. The Dictionary
dialogue box opens (note the title bar: Dictionary – Advanced Definitions)
Click on the Advanced button

Select Words related to
A list or definitions for the word appear in the list box


Select the first of these definitions by clicking on it (it becomes highlighted)
Look at the words listed in the Inflections/Synonyms box on the right
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Click on the word that you wish to use to replace the original word
Click on the Replace button, your original word will be replaced with this
one
Searching for web definitions
To use the web to search for a word definition:

Click on the drop down menu to the right of Dictionary button


Select the Web Definition menu option
Now when you click on the Dictionary button the web definitions window
will appear
Type in the word that you are searching for
Click the OK button


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Your browser will open and display the Dictionary.com website with the list
of definitions for your word.
To exit your browser click on the cross in the top right-hand corner
Remember to change back to either Basic or Advanced Definitions if you
want to by going to the Dictionary button drop down list
10. Using the word wizard
The word wizard is similar to the Dictionary, but uses a step by step approach to
find a definition.


Highlight the word in your document that you want to look up
Click on the Word Wizard icon on the toolbar
The Word Wizard window appears:
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TIP: You can also start the WordWizard by clicking on it, and then type a word into
the edit box

Click on the Next button

Select a part of speech (note this screen does not always appear, it depends
on the word you are looking up). Select All, noun, verb etc. by clicking on
the radio button. If you don’t know what part of speech you want then click
on All
Definitions for the Word are displayed.


Click on a definition and click on the play button on the textHELP toolbar to
hear the definition read aloud.
Click on the Cancel button to close the Word Wizard, or click on the
Back button to try out a different part of speech.
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11. Using the Sounds Like (homophone) facility
Homophones are words that sound the same but which are spelt differently and
have different meanings e.g. there and their. The homophone facility checks a
document for homophones in a similar way to a spell checker.
11.1

Starting the Homophone Checker
To start the homophone checker click on the
Sounds Like button on the textHELP toolbar
Any homophones in the document are highlighted in blue and the Same Sounding
Words window appears:
The checker works through the document starting with the first word in blue. In this
example it is There.
The sentence, including the blue highlighted word, appears in the top text box.
Below is a list of all of the words that sound like the word highlighted in blue – in
this case Their, There and They’re.
The first one is highlighted and the definition appears in the text box on the right.

To read the definition of the highlighted word aloud click on it and click on
the play button.
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To see the definition for any word in the list click on it and the definition will
appear on the right hand side.
Possible actions:

If the word in your document is correct click on the Ignore
button.

If the word you require is in the list of alternatives Click on
it to select it. Click the Replace button.

If the word in your document is not a word that you have trouble
with, and you never want it to be picked out by the checker again,
then click on the Always Ignore button.
11.2
Changing the Highlight Colour of the words MS Word
You can change the highlight colours for the homophones in Word using the
Options dialogue.

Click on the Options button when the Homophone
Checker is open

or select Edit Homophones from the Sounds Like
drop down list
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The Options Window appears.

To adjust the colour of the highlight
in Word click on the Highlight
colour in MS Word button
The Homophone Highlight Colour box appears


Click on your preferred colour and then click on the OK button
To exit the General Options Window Click on OK to save your changes, or
Cancel to exit without saving changes.
For help with other options in this dialogue use the textHELP Help option (see
Section 12 of this manual or contact Disability IT support: 0207 079
0717, disit@bbk.ac.uk.
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Exiting the Homophone Checker
When all Same Sounding Words in your document have been checked the checker
closes automatically

11.4

If you want to close the checker before all of the words have been checked
click on the cross in the top right hand corner of the dialogue box
Hiding any highlighted words left in your document
You will be left with highlighted words in your document if you
close the checker before it has finished. To remove the highlight
click on the Hide button
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12. Using Help

Click on the Help button on the textHELP toolbar
TIP: If you can’t see the Help button on your toolbar there may be to many
buttons for it to appear. Click on the double arrows on the toolbar and you
should see the Help button
Help Opens
The left hand panel has 4 Tabs: Contents, Index, Search and Glossary.

Click on the Tab that you would prefer to use
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The Contents tab
The Contents work in the same way as a manual, with chapters and headings.

Double Click on a Chapter Heading (shown as a closed book) in the left hand
panel. The book opens to show the contents of the chapter.

Click on the heading with a question mark Icon next to it in the left hand
panel.
The instructions are shown in the right hand panel.

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12.2
Using the Index
The index is an alphabetical list of help items, like an index in a book




Click on the keyword in the list to select it, or type a keyword into the edit
box
For some items there is more than one related topic, for example under
Spelling Options there are 7 different Help items. These are displayed in a
Topics Found box.
Click on the item that most closely matches the help that you require
Click on the Display button. The Help will appear in the text box on the
right.
12.3
Using the Search facility
TextHELP will search for words entered into Help and will retrieve relevant topics.
The effectiveness of the search facility is dependent on using a term that textHELP
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recognises. If the Search facility does not produce an effective result try using the
Index or the Contents.


Click on the Search tab
Type the Search word into the edit box

Look at the list of topics that have been found and Click on the most relevant
topic
Click the Display button
The Help information will appear in the panel on the right


Choosing how the search is done:
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You can select how you wish the search to be carried out by Clicking in the
check boxes at the bottom of the screen: Search previous results; Match
similar words; Search titles only. More than one box can be ticked at
once.
The help panel
At the top of the help screen is a panel indicating where the page currently being
displayed appears within Help. In the example above the page Setting up the Auto
correct facility (highlighted) is a sub-section within Setting up General
Options, and has subsections within it, including Viewing and Clear…
 Click on any item on the help panel to move quickly to that help page
 Click on the Previous and Next buttons to move through the help pages
sequentially
12.4

Exiting Help
To exit Help Click on the cross in the top right hand corner
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