Skip to main content

How to Read Text in Embedded Lessons

Try Embedded reading to hear selected lesson text with Helperbird. Learn how to turn on the beta, choose a passage and troubleshoot unsupported lesson content.

  • features
  • reading

What This Does

Embedded reading lets Helperbird try to read text selected inside an embedded lesson. This is content displayed in a smaller page within the main website, such as a course activity.

The feature is a beta and is off by default. Support depends on how the lesson is built. Turning it on does not make every learning platform compatible.

Step 1: Turn On Embedded Reading

  1. Open Helperbird Settings.
  2. Open Beta features.
  3. Turn on Embedded reading.
  4. Return to the lesson. If it was already open and does not respond, refresh that tab.

The Embedded reading switch in Helperbird's Beta features settings

You can turn the same switch off at any time. It does not enable voice typing or word prediction inside every embedded editor.

Step 2: Select a Passage

Click inside the lesson and highlight a short passage. Choose visible, selectable text rather than an image of words.

If several activities are open on the page, select the text in the activity you want to hear just before using Helperbird.

Step 3: Read the Selection

Open the floating toolbar and press Play. It uses your Text to Speech voice.

If Helperbird cannot read the selection, it asks you to select text again. It should not substitute text from a different activity or the surrounding course page.

Press Stop, or collapse the toolbar, to end the reading.

Troubleshooting

Nothing can be selected: The lesson may use a picture or canvas to display its words. This beta does not perform image recognition. Try Screenshot Reader where available.

The selected text is not read: Refresh the lesson, select a shorter visible passage and try again. Some embedded content restricts extension access and remains unsupported.

The lesson changed pages: Make a fresh selection. Selections from a removed or replaced activity cannot be reused.

It still does not work: Turn the beta off and contact support with the platform name and steps you tried. Support can vary between activities on the same platform.

Need Additional Help?

See beta features or contact Helperbird support.

Printed from the Helperbird Help Center · Updated September 13th, 2026

Questions? We are happy to help — helperbird.com/support

Reviews from the Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons and G2

Join over 1,000,000 people who use Helperbird every day.

declutter a page

It's easy to use with every webpage since it's just an extension. You can access lots of different functions to declutter a page (show only the relevant text and not ads, for example). You can add post it notes to annotate, and it has things like text-to-speech.
Harmony M.Program Manager
Helperbird has helped me with school work.
Heather ZunigaHelperbird user

supporting a range of learning di...

Helperbird is an excellent extension supporting a range of learning differences. Aside from providing many evidence-based dyslexia-assistive tools, the extension also functions as an easy-to-use, feature-rich web experience customization tool suitable to support a wide range of cognitive differences (i.e., color blindness and ADHD-related focus concerns, among others). Also, the developer is a very good person who supports the various learning-different communities in many ways, including by designing the free version of Helperbird to provide enough functionality to be beneficial to people who cannot afford to subscribe to the full-function version.
Kirk SmithHelperbird user
Helperbird logo: a stylized owl with large round yellow eyes and a beige face.

Download Helperbird

Text to speech, dyslexia fonts, reading rulers, color overlays, and 43 more.

Free to add, and the everyday tools stay free. Works in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.