Customize how Excel workbooks appear while you read and edit by using Immersive Reader. Immersive Reader provides options for a comfortable and easy-to-process experience by allowing you to listen to the text read aloud or adjust how text appears by modifying spacing, color, and more.
Use Immersive Reader in Excel for the web
- Select a cell that has text in it.
- On the ribbon, select View > Immersive Reader. Your document opens in a full screen format.
Use Immersive Reader
After your workbook opens within Immersive Reader, you can do one or more of the following, depending on how you want to focus on the content in your document:
- To hear the paragraphs read to you, select the Play button.
- To listen from a certain point on your page, select that word.
Voice selection
Select the gear icon to open Voice Settings.
Use the Voice Speed slider to control the playback speed of the reader. Select Voice Speed, then drag the control to the right or left.
- To move the Voice Speed controls by using the keyboard, select the left key button to reduce voice speed and the right key button to increase voice speed.
Select your preference of Male or Female voice.
Select Play to hear your workbook read aloud.
Text preferences
You can change the appearance of your document by using Text Preferences. The choices you make in text preferences can help remove visual distraction and improve text readability.
The Text Preferences menu lets you:
- Change text size
- Reduce crowding between letters
- Change the font
- Change the background color
Grammar options
The Grammar Options control grammar highlighting and help readers understand complex sentences.
Choose what to highlight:
Syl·la·bles splits words by showing small dots between syllables.
Under Parts of speech, turn on Nouns, Verbs, or Adjectives or Adverbs to highlight every noun, verb, or adjective on the page in a color that corresponds to the color of the label.
- Turn on Show labels to display abbreviated Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, or Adverbs on the page in the corresponding color of the label.
Reading preferences
- Line Focus helps you narrow the focus of your reading experience by highlighting sets of one, three, or five lines within your chosen material in Immersive Reader.
- Picture Dictionary gives you the ability to click on any single word and view visual support. You can also hear the word read aloud.
- Translate allows you to view a selected word or the entire document in your preferred language.
Shortcut keys for Immersive Reader
Use keyboard shortcuts to navigate Immersive Reader.
- Up and Down arrow scroll line by line in Line Focus mode. Without Line Focus mode, these keys scroll the page up and down.
- Esc key closes the reader or menu.
- Tab advances to the next control in Immersive Reader settings.
- Space selects the current tool.
Close Immersive Reader
Select the back arrow icon at the top of page or press Esc on your keyboard to exit Immersive Reader.
