Adobe Reader remembers where you last viewed part of a document

Posted on February 11, 2013 by E.A. Draffan

“I found it useful when revisiting lectures notes for exams to use Adobe Reader. It can remember the last view of a document and when I re-opened it I am able to start revising from where I left off without having to look for items or remember the particular slide or page again.”

To check you have set up the settings for this to happen

Go to Edit > Preferences.
Choose Documents.
Check the box marked, Restore last view settings when reopening documents.

The same is possible if you are using Foxit Reader Just select Edit > Preferences > General, and then enable Restore last view settings when reopening.

Free Dictionary on the iPad and Dictionary.com app

Posted on February 8, 2013 by E.A. Draffan

“I like the way on the iPad the dictionaries are available from different apps but I also use the free Dictionary.com and Thesaurus app as it works offline and gives me the pronunciation of words.” Andreas

There are advertisements supporting the free version of the app. These disappear if you pay £2.99 for the ad free version of the Dictionary. The iPad version also appears to work on an iPhone OS 6 as can be seen in the image and you can say the word using speech recognition.

Butterscotch.com have provided a YouTube video about the Dictionary.com app and mentions that you need to be online to use the audio pronunciation.

Microsoft Office and OneNote hidden text to speech command!

Posted on January 14, 2013 by E.A. Draffan

A freely available way of using text to speech in Word, PowerPoint and OneNote and even
Excel is possible thanks to the Microsoft Office ribbon command menu. You can select text and have it read back. This idea does not offer all that specialist programs can provide such as text highlighting, pausing etc. but it is a quick way to hear how a word, phrase or sentence sounds when you want a quick check.
Adding speech in Word

If you go to Quick Access Toolbar in the ribbon you customise it by choosing More Commands – select ‘Quick Access toolbar’ from the menu on the left > Then go to the top of the right hand window and make sure you drop down the command list to ‘All commands’ otherwise you will not see ‘Speak’ in the list – Add it and return to your document.

When you have typed something or have a file to read – highlight the text and select the new speech bubble that appears in your Quick Access toolbar. The text will be read aloud in any voice you have chosen from the Control Panel > Speech recognition > text to speech.

This comes thanks to Jean

iPhone dictionary so easy to use.

Posted on December 15, 2012 by E.A. Draffan

“I like the iPhone’s dictionary – if you don’t know the meaning of a word on a website you just have to tap on it to get its meaning. So simple and easy.” Anibul

The dictionary was added for iOS 5 and it is important to just tap and hold on a single word to see the ‘Define‘ menu appear beside ‘Copy, Select All and Speak’. It does not work in all applications. In messages the complete message is highlighted on tap and hold but you can use Copy and use Speak.

Google Scholar for research material

Posted on December 11, 2012 by E.A. Draffan

“I use Google Scholar to search for materials and useful information for my studies and find this can lead to reading other papers as a result of the links to similar articles. It also helps when you want to cite a paper as it gives you the layout for the citation.” Katherine

Google translator for unknown words

Posted on November 20, 2012 by E.A. Draffan

English is not my first language so I use Google translator to help me quickly find the translation for unknown words. It is not always right but you can use the dictionary and there is way of listening to the word. I sometimes put the word back into the left side to see what happens – Google can be set to automatically recognise the language you want and remembers your choice so when you return to the page it is very quick.

You can also add Google translate as a bookmark just for your language.

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Category Archives: Reading