Use Reading mode in Chrome

Customize your reading experience on Chrome with Reading mode. This feature helps you:

Focus more easily on text
Reduce distractions from images and videos on screen
Listen to the text you read
Select a voice and change voice speed
Select alternate typeface and font size
Adjust line and letter spacing
Choose color theme

Important: These settings only apply to the text you want to read in the side panel. They won’t apply to any other content in Chrome or to general websites.

Turn on Reading mode

On your computer, open Chrome.
Go to a website with text that you’d like to read.
Right-click the page.
Select Open in reading mode.

Tips:

To make the panel bigger, slide the panel border to the left.
To pin Reading mode, at the top right of the side panel, select Pin to toolbar .
At the top right of the toolbar, you can access Reading mode after you pin it. Select Reading mode .

Use Reading mode to make reading easier

When you use Reading mode, you can adjust font settings for easier reading.

In the toolbar, you can:

Adjust the font size: Select Font size .
- To decrease the font size: Select Decrease .
- To increase the font size: Select Increase .
- To reset to default font size: Select Reset.
Adjust the font: Select Font .
Change the Reading mode color theme: Select Color theme .
Change the spacing between lines: Select Line spacing .
Change the spacing between letters: Select Letter spacing .

Listen to the text you read with read aloud

When you use Reading mode, you can listen to the text on a website.

To turn on read aloud and listen to the text on a website, under "Reading mode," select Play .

While in read aloud, use the toolbar to:

Play and pause while you read: Select Play or Pause .
Jump to the beginning of the previous or next sentence: Select Previous or Next .
Adjust the playback speed: Select Playback speed .
Select your preferred voice:
- To preview a voice:
  - Through the toolbar:
    1. Select Voice .
    2. Next to the voice name, select Preview .
  - Through your keyboard:
    1. To put keyboard focus on the voice you want to preview, in the menu, press Arrow up and Arrow down.
    2. Press Right arrow Enter.
- To select a voice: Select the voice you prefer.
- To add a language: Select Voice Languages....
  - To search a language: At the search bar, enter the language.
  - To add a language: Turn on the preferred language.
  - To remove a language: Turn off the preferred language.
Select your preferred highlighting mode:
1. Select Voice highlight.
2. To turn on text highlighting: From the dropdown menu, select one of the following:
  - Adaptive highlighting
  - Word
  - Sentence
3. To turn off text highlighting: From the dropdown menu, select Off.

Tips:

When there isn’t enough space for the toolbar options to fit, you can find the toolbar options when you select More .
Reading mode automatically downloads Google natural voices for your current language. If download fails, the system voice for your language will be used instead.

Using screen readers without read aloud

If you’re using a screen reader, you can access the text content in the side panel.

To navigate through the text content:

MacOS: VO + Left Arrow or VO + Right Arrow
Windows or Linux: Up Arrow or Down Arrow or Alt + Up Arrow or Alt + Down Arrow
ChromeOS: Search + Up Arrow or Search + Down Arrow

Related resources

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