How to Use the Tools Menu in the PDF Reader
Learn how to reach Immersive Reader, Translate, Summarize and Screenshot Reader from inside the Helperbird PDF Reader, without leaving your document or opening the extension.
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- features
- reading
What is the Tools Menu?
The Tools menu sits in the toolbar at the top of the Helperbird PDF Reader. It holds four of Helperbird's reading tools, so you can use them on your document without closing the reader or opening the extension.
The four tools are Immersive Reader, Translate, Summarize and Screenshot Reader.
Who is This For?
This is helpful for:
- Anyone reading a PDF who wants it read aloud without leaving the document
- Students working through a PDF in a language they are still learning
- People who want the gist of a long document before reading all of it
- Anyone working with a scanned PDF, where the text is really a picture
Step 1: Open Your PDF
Open your document in the PDF Reader first. You can open the PDF Reader from the Helperbird popup, or click the green Click to open PDF in Helperbird button that appears at the bottom of any PDF you view in your browser.
Step 2: Highlight Text (Optional)
Decide how much of the document you want to work with:
- The whole page. Do nothing. Helperbird uses all the text on the page you are reading.
- One passage. Highlight the sentence or paragraph you want with your mouse before you open the menu. Only the highlighted text is used.
Highlighting is useful when you only need one section, or when a page is too long to send all at once.
Step 3: Open the Tools Menu
In the toolbar at the top of the reader, click the round button with the dots grid icon. It is the last button in the group, and it is labelled More options.
Step 4: Pick a Tool
The menu opens underneath the button with the four tools listed.
Click the one you want. The menu closes on its own once you choose.
What Each Tool Does
Immersive Reader opens the page, or your highlighted text, in a clean reading view. You can have it read aloud, change the text size and spacing, and use the picture dictionary. See how to use Immersive Reader.
Translate opens the same text in Immersive Reader with translation already switched on, in the language you have saved. There is nothing to set up inside the reader. See how to translate PDFs.
Summarize gives you a short summary of the text so you can see what a long document covers before you read it. See how to summarize text.
Screenshot Reader pulls the text out of a picture. Use it when your PDF is a scan, so the page looks like text but cannot be selected or read aloud. See how to use Screenshot Reader.
These are the Same Tools as in the Extension
These four tools also live in the Helperbird popup, and they behave exactly the same way in both places. They share the same settings too, so the voice, speed and translation language you have chosen are used whichever route you take.
The menu is here so you do not have to leave your document. If you are already reading a PDF, using the toolbar is quicker than opening the extension.
Troubleshooting
"Open a PDF first" means the reader is still empty. Open a document with the Open PDF button in the top-right of the reader, then try again.
"Select some text first" means Helperbird could not find any text on the page. This almost always means the PDF is a scan rather than real text. Use Screenshot Reader from the same menu to pull the text out first.
A "text too long" message means the page is longer than the free plan allows in one go. Highlight a smaller passage and try again, or upgrade to Pro for longer documents.
The menu will not open. Click directly on the dots grid button rather than beside it. If the menu opens and closes straight away, you have clicked twice.
Related Features
- Open the PDF Reader - Get to the reader from the Helperbird popup.
- Immersive Reader - Read anything in a clean, distraction-free view.
- Translate PDFs - Read a PDF in your own language.
- Summarize Text - Get a short summary of long text.
- Screenshot Reader - Pull text out of scans and images.
- Text to Speech - Have text read aloud with your chosen voice and speed.
Video Tutorial
Coming soon
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.
