Troubleshooting and FAQ
Almost everything that goes wrong has one of a handful of causes. Here they are, with what to do about each.
Nothing happens when I press play
- Nothing was selected and the page has no articleA search results page, a dashboard or an app screen has no article to find. Select the text you want, or use the pick button.
- The tab was open before you installed or updatedReload the tab and try again.
- Word OnlineIt needs a selection. Press Ctrl+A inside the document if you want all of it.
There is a highlight, but no sound
The highlight and the audio come from different places, so seeing one without the other is informative: the text was found, and the voice failed.
- Check the tab is not mutedChrome mutes per tab, and a muted tab shows a small crossed-out speaker on it.
- Try a browser voiceIf a browser voice works and a Microsoft, Gemini or OpenAI one does not, the problem is the connection or the key rather than the extension.
- A local voice that was never downloadedOpen its tab in Settings, Languages and voices, and check the row offers Remove rather than a download size.
The word highlight drifts out of time
Some voices report where they are as they speak, and some say nothing at all. For the silent ones the highlight is paced from the reading speed and the length of each word, which drifts on a long sentence. Switch to a Microsoft or Kokoro voice if exact word timing matters to you: those report every word. The sentence highlight is accurate whatever the voice.
A voice or language is missing from the list
- It may be switched offSettings, Languages and voices lists every language, with the hidden ones dimmed rather than removed. The same is true of individual voices inside a language.
- Browser voices come from the operating systemAdding one is done in Windows speech settings, macOS spoken content, or ChromeOS text-to-speech, and Chrome needs a restart before it sees a newly installed voice.
- Microsoft voices are per localeA language offers the voices Microsoft lists for its own locales, so a language with few of them has a short tab.
It kept reading, but the voice changed
That is the daily allowance running out. Everything except browser voices shares 20,000 characters a day. When the last of it goes, the sentence in progress finishes in the voice it started in, and the next sentence continues in a browser voice, so a read never simply stops. The allowance resets the next day, and the Premium section removes it for $5 a year or $15 once.
The arrow keys scroll instead of skipping
They skip a sentence only while that tab is reading. If the read has stopped rather than paused, they go back to being the browser's own keys. Shift and the other modifiers are never taken.
Pages it cannot read
Chrome does not let any extension run on its own pages, so chrome:// pages, the Chrome Web Store and other extensions' pages are out of reach. This is a browser rule, not a Readalix one. Copy the text somewhere else if you need it read.
Questions
- Does my text leave my computer?Only with a cloud voice. Browser, Piper and Kokoro voices are produced on your own machine and send nothing. Microsoft, Gemini and OpenAI voices are sent the sentence being read so they can speak it. The privacy policy has the detail.
- Where are my API keys kept?On the device where you pasted them. They are not synced to your other machines and never reach Readalix.
- Do I need an account?No. Nothing asks you to sign in unless you choose to pay or to save files to Google Drive.
- Does it work offline?Yes, with browser voices, and with Piper or Kokoro voices once they are downloaded.
- Can I use it in another language than English?The interface is translated into 52 languages, and the language it reads in is separate from the language it speaks to you in. Both are set in Settings, Languages and voices.
- How do I clear the stored audio?Settings, Reading, Manage cache, then Clear cache. Individual clips can be deleted from the same list.
- Something elseWrite to support@readalix.com with the version number from Settings, About.