Tip of the Day - Start Speaking

[Michael73]

Over the many years that I've worked in an office and also owned my own company I've consistently been complimented for my well-written and well-thought out emails. This doesn't just happen by accident and I've found a simple tool in OS X that can help everyone.

Before you send that important email, highlight the text and go to Mail > Services > Speech > Start Speaking Text. You'll probably be amazed to hear missing and misspelled words that your own proofreading missed or even juxtaposed words and phrases. I've also found that while this service isn't available per se in MS Word for example, you can copy and paste the text into a new mail message and get the same benefit.

Good luck!

 

[iShater]

Never thought of doing that to proof read. Thanks for the tip.

 

[uaecasher]

nice tip!

Thanks

 

[Michael73]

Just to take this concept one step further, if you find yourself using this all the time I suggest going into Keyboard and Mouse Preferences and creating at keyboard shortcut

 

[Shunnabunich]

It bears mentioning that this is a system-wide service, available in many other applications besides just Mail (i.e. you could just as easily paste it into TextEdit).

You can also set a system-wide key combo that triggers this by opening System Preferences, selecting the "Speech" icon, and, in the "Text to Speech" tab, enabling the checkbox labeled "Speak selected text when the key is pressed". A small sheet will slide down, prompting you to choose a key combo; just use whichever one you think you'll remember (that isn't already taken).

 

[xUKHCx]

I also use this tool , it is great for me as I'm dyslexic and even with proof reading I often find missing words a couple of days later when reviewing work.

It wasn't fun listening to my 20,000 word dissertation and 10,000 word research project, but definitely made for a much more polished project in the end.

I don't use it for writing on the forums though so I'm sure you could easily find tons of miss words in my posts here.