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How to Use Helperbird Offline

Learn how Helperbird works offline without an internet connection. Most Helperbird features continue to work when you are not connected to the internet.

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Does Helperbird Work Offline?

Yes. Helperbird is a browser extension that runs locally on your device. Most features work without an internet connection. Once the extension is installed and activated, it does not need to contact a server to apply your settings or run most tools.

Features That Work Offline

These features work fully offline because they run directly in your browser:

  • Dyslexia-friendly fonts (OpenDyslexic, Lexie Readable, etc.)
  • Font size, letter spacing, line height, and word spacing adjustments
  • Background color, font color, and link color changes
  • High contrast themes
  • Reading ruler and reading guide
  • Overlay and tint
  • Text alignment and column width
  • Cursor size and color changes
  • Hide images and GIFs
  • Paragraph spacing and margins
  • Auto-scroll
  • Print page tools
  • Zoom and magnification
  • Accessibility profiles
  • Text-to-speech
  • Voice typing (speech-to-text)
  • Word prediction

Features That Need Internet

A small number of features require an internet connection because they rely on cloud services:

  • Translation (uses Google Translate)
  • AI-powered text simplification and summarization
  • OCR (reading text from images)
  • Dictionary and picture dictionary lookups

Any of these features can be disabled by your school admin through Google Admin Console using managed JSON policy. For details, see How to Disable Helperbird Features Using JSON Policy.

If you lose your connection while using one of these features, the rest of Helperbird continues to work normally. When your connection returns, these features become available again automatically.

How It Works

Helperbird is cloud-based for deployment and licensing, but the extension itself runs locally in the browser. Your settings are stored in the browser and applied on every page load without needing to contact a server.

When the extension is force-installed via Google Admin or Microsoft Intune with a managed subscription key, the license is cached locally. Students do not need to be online to have their Helperbird settings applied.

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Need Additional Help?

If you have any questions or run into any issues, please contact the Helperbird support team. You can reach us at Helperbird support. We are happy to help you get the most out of Helperbird.

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What People Are Saying

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Read All Reviews

It was helpful at all times for me! I love this tool!

Heather Shepard

Heather Shepard

Helperbird user

I got this tool as an extension to try out first of all. I was amazed at what it can do in terms of accessibility. I have shown my friends and brother who suffer from dyslexia and they have all downloaded the extension. Great step forward from a company looking to help people!!

Luke Pottinger

Luke Pottinger

Helperbird user

Helperbird does so many things that are game changing for me! By far the two most important are the font changes and the highlight ruler. I can change fonts to something dyslexia friendly. The ruler helps me stay on the line I'm trying to read. These two things change the blur into words! Tech support has been great when I have had problems!

Firefox user

Firefox user

Helperbird user

My son has dyslexia and has been struggling with parts of distant learning over the last year. We recently discovered this software and he is loving everything about it, especially with the ease of following directions and completing his assignments! We have used several other tools but this has everything a dyslexia person needs all in one bundle! The upgrade is definitely worth it to make our daily struggles, on the computer, run much smoother. I also greatly appreciate customer support (helpdesk). They went above and beyond to make sure we were all set up on the computer for my son to most successful.

Melissa Motz

Melissa Motz

Teacher

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 Smith

Kirk Smith

Helperbird user

I found this extension on a whim to help myself. Suffering with post concussion syndrome symptoms and working remotely is really hard! This extension basically saved my job. It gave me back productivity and the ability to read the screen. This extension has so many neat features I never even knew I needed. I love this and you will too! You don't need to be dyslexic or have dyslexia for this extension to benefit you. Do yourself a giant favor and get it! I highly recommend it!

Catherine Contillo

Catherine Contillo

Helperbird user

Helperbird logo: Stylized owl with large yellow eyes and a beige face, against a green background.

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