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Readwave

Getting Started

This guide takes you from install to your first read in a few minutes.

What Readwave does

Readwave reads selected text aloud, anywhere in Windows. You stay in whatever app you're using — browser, PDF reader, terminal, email client, code editor — select the text you want to hear, and press a global hotkey. A neural voice reads it. Press the same hotkey again to stop.

System requirements

  • Windows (64-bit).
  • A working audio output device (speakers or headphones).
  • WSL is not required. Readwave runs fully native on Windows. You can leave WSL off.

Install

  1. Run the Readwave installer.
  2. Launch Readwave from the Start menu (or it opens automatically after install).
  3. On first launch, the app starts its built-in speech engine in the background. This takes a moment — see the engine note below.

Antivirus prompt? The speech engine is a bundled native executable. Some antivirus tools flag unfamiliar executables on first run. If yours does, allow Readwave and its engine. See Troubleshooting → Antivirus flags the engine.

A note on the first launch

Readwave includes a local neural text-to-speech engine that runs on your machine. The app starts and stops this engine for you automatically — you never launch it yourself. The first time you read something, the voice model "warms up," which can briefly use extra CPU and add a short delay. Every read after that is fast. This is normal. See Troubleshooting → High CPU on the first read.

The hotkey

The global hotkey is the heart of Readwave.

  • Default: Ctrl+Alt+R
  • Start reading: select text, then press the hotkey.
  • Stop reading: press the same hotkey again.

The hotkey works system-wide — you do not need the Readwave window focused or even visible. You can change it any time in Settings → Shortcut.

Read your first text

  1. Open any app with text — a web page, a PDF, an email, a document.
  2. Select the text you want to hear (click and drag, or Ctrl+A to select all).
  3. Press Ctrl+Alt+R.
  4. The selected text is read aloud in the current voice.
  5. Press Ctrl+Alt+R again at any time to stop.

By default, Readwave reads your selected text. You can change what it reads (selection, clipboard, or both) in Settings → What to read. If you set it to read the clipboard, copy text with Ctrl+C first, then press the hotkey.

What gets read

Readwave reads the text you selected, with two optional clean-ups you can turn on in Settings:

  • Skip links — don't read out URLs and link text.
  • Skip code — don't read code blocks.

See Settings → Skip links & code.

Your custom pronunciations are applied automatically to everything you read.

The now-playing player

When Readwave is reading, a player bar appears in the app showing what's playing now:

  • Title / source of the current read.
  • Play / pause and stop controls.
  • A progress indicator / waveform showing how far along the read is.

You can control playback from this bar, or just use the hotkey to stop. Closing or minimizing the Readwave window does not stop playback — the hotkey and player still work.

Where to go next