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EasyReader for Windows

EasyReader is a free, accessible reading app for Apple, Android and Windows devices, designed for people with print disabilities such as blindness, low vision, or dyslexia. It is currently used by Blind Low Vision NZ, Vision Australia, RNIB, CELA, and other international blindness support agencies for their members to access their library collections, as well as international providers of electronic texts, like BookShare. The Windows for PC version has some additional features in that you can download content and export content to another device. For example, you can copy a book to an Envoy Connect.

Getting Started

Before you start, you will need.

  • A Windows PC, laptop or tablet
  • An Amazon account

Download EasyReader for Windows PC

Got to https://yourdolphin.com/EasyReader-App to download the EasyReader for Windows PC app. Simply select the file to install onto your device.

Add the Blind Low Vision NZ Library

  • Select the Goto menu (Alt-G) and select Manage Libraries.
  • In the list of libraries, check the checkbox by Blind Low Vision NZ. This will make the Blind Low Vision NZ library visible in your list of libraries in the side menu.

Note: This only needs to be done once, it will remember that you have selected this option.

Login to Blind Low Vision NZ Library

If you have not done so already, call Blind Low Vision NZ (0800 24 33 33) to link your Amazon account with our library service. If you don’t have an Amazon account, please register one with http://amazon.com.au

  • Open the EasyReader for Windows PC app
  • Select the Goto Menu (Alt G).
  • Select the Manage Libraries sub menu
  • Press the arrow down key and select Blind Low Vision NZ library.
  • Your default internet browser will open to an Amazon page to login. This is required as the Blind Low Vision NZ library content is stored with Amazon to work with our other library services such as the Amazon Alexa.
  • Follow the prompts to fill out your Amazon username and password.
  • Setup is now complete. You can now search through the Blind Low Vision collection of books, magazines and newspapers.

In the Blind Low Vision Library there are six options.

  • My Library Where your downloaded and borrowed books are available
  • My Books A list of book subjects to help search for a book
  • Recommended Books A list of recommended books based on reviews of library users
  • EPUBs A small collection of EPUB (text only) books
  • Magazines A list of international and local magazines available for download as audio
  • Newspapers A list of local newspapers in text format.

Finding a Book

There are various ways you can find content using the EasyReader. To find books in the Blind Low Vision NZ library, you can type your search criteria in the edit box at the top of the screen. You can Search by title, author, and subject. You can also browse by subject and access a list of recommended books.

Search by Title

  • Type the title in the search field at the top of the screen.
  • It will then display a list of results in order of relevance.
  • Press down arrow to move through the results.

Search by Author

  • You can also search by the author, type the name in the search field.
  • It will display a list of results in order of relevance.
  • Press down to move through the results.

Browse by Subject

  • To browse by subject, select Books.
  • You will then come to a list of subjects in order when they were added to the library. Newest books are at the top of the list.
  • Select the subject
  • You can search within this subject category

Search by Book Number

Recommended Books

  • You can browse books that are recommended by our library readers.
  • Select Recommended Books.
  • You will then come to a list of subjects in alphabetical order.
  • Select a subject to go to a list of books in that subject in order of popularity.

 Download a Book

In your search results, select the book you wish to download, a book information dialogue box will open. Select the Download button to download the book.

Playing a Book

To play a book simply select a downloaded book from the list, this will open the player screen, and the book will be ready to play. The following controls in the player screen are listed in ‘tab order’. That is, the order that screen readers read the controls when pressing the tab key.

Descriptions and functions of player screen controls

My Books

Description: Arrow pointing left.
Returns you back to the My Books screen

Book Navigation

Description: 6 horizontal lines representing text.
Opens a screen where you can navigate by headings pages and bookmarks. Chapters are usually listed in headings.

Description: Magnifying glass
Search function for any text in the current opened content. Note this will not search through audio content.

Text settings

Description: Capital A
Adjust text settings such as text size, line spacing and using alternate colour themes. These settings only apply to text content such as Newspapers.

Audio Settings

Description: Speaker with 3 waves
Adjust audio settings such as audio speed.

Options

Description Three dots in a column
Contains the following settings:

Sleep timer

  • Where am I?
  • Book information.
  • EasyReader Help

When in Newspapers, there is the option to switch to screen reader view so you can use JAWS or NVDA to read the text rather than the EasyReader voices.

Chapter Information

Text showing the title and what chapter is currently playing and how many chapters in total.

Bookmarks

Icon Description: Piece of ribbon
Add a bookmark to mark a point you wish to refer to later. You can navigate bookmarks by using the Book Navigation button

Previous

Navigates to the previous book default. When reading a book, this will go to the previous chapter Note this can be modified using navigation settings

Play / Pause

Plays the book. Also pauses the book if content is playing.

Next

Navigates to the next book default setting. When reading a book, this will skip to the next chapter. Note this can be modified using navigation settings

Page Number

Text showing the current page number if available.

Navigation settings

Icon Description: Compass
Various settings that can change the way the navigation buttons operate.

  • Simple navigation layout on/off
  • Full screen on play on/off
  • Navigation mode settings
  • Set progress bar settings
  • Show position settings

Additional Settings

These settings are available when simple layout is set to off in Navigation settings

Navigation slider control

Allows user to swipe up and down to navigate a chapter using a slide control. Duration and time left are announced after the slider control.

Extra previous and next buttons

Extra previous and next buttons to navigate by heading. These controls are in addition to the simple layout previous and next controls so you can navigate in two different increments. For example, you can navigate by heading and by 5 minutes. These controls are to the left and right of the existing previous and next controls in tab order.

Remove a Book

To remove a book from your device, go to My Books then press the delete key. A remove book dialogue box will open asking if you are sure you want to remove the book. Select yes to remove the book from your device.

Importing Books to Devices

Importing

With EasyReader for PC you can import documents to take advantage of its reading tools. In EasyReader you can import MS Word documents, PDF files, EPUB books and DAISY format audio books. Note Importing text only documents will not generate synthetic audio.

  • From the File menu select Import book.
  • Navigate to and select the file you would like to import in the Open Dialogue box.
  • The document will now be available in the My Books

Transfer to Envoy Connect

With EasyReader on PC you can transfer files to USB Storage (such as a memory stick) to copy to other devices in DAISY format. You can also export directly to an Envoy Connect device.

  • From the book you wish to export press F9 to open the send device dialogue box
  • Select the device you want to send it to and then select OK.
  • A dialogue box will pop up notifying you when the transfer is complete.

Note: It may take a while to copy some books as the audio files can be quite large for longer books

Transfer to Victor Stream

There are multiple ways to download books from the Blind Low Vision NZ library to a Victor Stream player. The easiest method is to use EasyReader for Windows app to download the book and then use the HumanWare Companion app to transfer them to the Victor Stream.

What you will need

  • EasyReader for Windows
  • HumanWare Companion App
  • Victor Stream Reader

With EasyReader you will need an account setup with access to the Blind Low Vision NZ library. After you have downloaded the book to a computer, you can then transfer it to a Victor Stream.

Instructions

  1. Download book in EasyReader
  2. Plug in Victor Stream
  3. Open HumanWare companion App
  4. Change the folder of the “PC Talking Books on PC” location to the EasyReader Downloads Folder (Select Browse PC button to change if required).

To find the location of the EasyReader downloads folder, go to Settings in the Goto menu in EasyReader. The location is displayed in the field “Download books to:”

  1. In the HumanWare Companion App, select the books you want to transfer by checking the checkboxes.
  2. Then select “Transfer / remove selected books” button to transfer the books.
  3. Remove Victor Stream.

Keyboard Commands

General

  • Help: F1
  • Go back to the book list: ESCAPE
  • Refresh online content and folder monitors: F5
  • Move to the next main window pane: F6
  • Go to Settings: F7
  • Send to (if available with the currently selected book): F9
  • Open the About dialog box: F12
  • Delete book (if deleting is available): DEL
  • Open from clipboard: CTRL + V
  • Import from computer: CTRL + O
  • Open the Sort menu: CTRL + S
  • Go to Search box (if available): CTRL + F
  • Book information: CTRL + I
  • Open context menu: SHIFT + F10

Reader

  • Play/Pause: F5 (or SPACEBAR)
  • Next synch point: DOWN ARROW
  • Previous synch point: UP ARROW
  • Select next word: RIGHT ARROW
  • Select previous word: LEFT ARROW
  • Next heading: H
  • Previous heading: SHIFT + H
  • Next heading on level 1: 1
  • Next heading on level 2: 2
  • Next heading on level 3: 3
  • Next heading on level 4: 4
  • Next heading on level 5: 5
  • Next heading on level 6: 6
  • Previous heading on level 1: SHIFT + 1
  • Previous heading on level 2: SHIFT + 2
  • Previous heading on level 3: SHIFT + 3
  • Previous heading on level 4: SHIFT + 4
  • Previous heading on level 5: SHIFT + 5
  • Previous heading on level 6: SHIFT + 6
  • Increase playback speed: CTRL + RIGHT ARROW
  • Decrease playback speed: CTRL + LEFT ARROW
  • 10 seconds forward (only in books with audio): CTRL + DOWN ARROW
  • 10 seconds back (only in books with audio): CTRL + UP ARROW
  • Go to start: HOME
  • Go to end: END
  • Toggle focus between document area and the play/pause button: F6
  • Go to headings list (repeat to close list): CTRL + H
  • Go to page (if pages exist in the book): CTRL + G
  • Scroll one page down (if at end of document navigate to next document): PAGE DOWN
  • Scroll one page up (if at the top navigate to the end of previous document): PAGE UP
  • Go to next page (if page numbers exist in book): CTRL + PAGE DOWN
  • Go to previous page (if page numbers exist in book): CTRL + PAGE UP
  • Search: CTRL + F
  • Go to search list (repeat to close list): CTRL + S
  • Set bookmark: B
  • Set bookmark + notes: SHIFT + B
  • Go to bookmarks list (repeat to close list): CTRL + B
  • Book information: CTRL + I
  • Text settings: F7
  • Audio settings: F8
  • Increase font size: CTRL + PLUS
  • Decrease font size: CTRL + MINUS
  • Reset font size: CTRL + ZERO
  • Select all text: CTRL + A
  • Copy selected text: CTRL + C
  • Spell selected word: S
  • Add selected word to TTS lexicon: L