Tech Tip – How to use the immersive reader in Microsoft Outlook

There is a feature built into Microsoft Outlook called The Immersive Reader, which is primarily to help people with Dyslexia, but it is also a very powerful tool that anyone can use to process emails.  It is especially useful if you have long emails to get through or if you get emails written in another language.

You can use the immersive tool to read emails aloud, allowing you to listen to them rather than read them and you can use it to translate emails in real time, allowing you to focus on the content of the email rather than getting lost in the text.

To use the immersive email reader, do the following:

• Open Microsoft Outlook
• Browse to the email you would like to listen to rather than read
• Open the email and click on the three dots "more actions" menu that looks like (...) that is typically at the top of the message 
• Select "Show in immersive reader"
• This opens a new window, with the text of the email in a dyslexia friendly format
• At the bottom of the screen, click on the play button (that is a right pointing triangle) to read the contents of the email aloud. 

Note: You can click on the picture of a speaker to adjust the voice and the playback speed

Give it a go and see how easy it is for Microsoft Outlook to read emails aloud for you rather than finding yourself adrift in a sea of words.

If you would like more information about what the Immersive Reader can do, click here to go to Microsoft's website about this Outlook feature.