WebOutLoud Help

WOL Help / iPhone

Topics


Using Reader Mode

Reader Mode is available in the in-app browser. It shows up in the toolbar when you have a website loaded. Reader Mode does not apply to Text Documents or PDFs.

A Web Article with Reader Mode OFF
A Web Article with Reader Mode ON

Use Reader Mode to extract text from web pages to create a distraction-free reading experience. Reader Mode aims to exclude as much irrelevant content as possible, such as ads, webpage navigation elements, and references to other website content.

Reader Mode works great on most web pages although, since every website is different, it's not perfect. The philosophy behind Reader Mode is to minimize the exclusion of relevant content. As such, its algorithm is more inclined to include irrelevant content than to exclude relevant content. Fortunately, the algorithm is adept at identifying the beginning of an article, thus irrelevant content is more likely to appear at the bottom of the page, where it is easy to skip or ignore.

Permissive Text Extraction

If you find that reader mode is excluding too much content on a particular website, you can invoke "Permissive" text extraction which is less strict and more permissive when deciding whether to include a given bit of text. However, it is more likely to include irrelevant content.

Long press the Reader Mode button on iOS (or right-click it on a Mac) to reveal the Permissive Text Extraction option.

Invoke Permissive text extraction in cases where the default Reader Mode algorithm is excluding too much content.

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Editing Saved Web Pages

While in Reader Mode or when viewing a saved web page, an Edit button will appear, allowing you to mute or unmute the current paragraph. Additionally, there is an option to mute or unmute the selected paragraph along with all remaining content. This second option is useful for excluding unwanted text, like comments or suggested content at the end of an article or web page.

The edit control appears next to the selected paragraph in reader mode and saved web pages.
Use the "Mute/Unmute rest" control to exclude unwanted content that often appears at the end of articles.

Muted content is displayed with a strikethrough. When using text-to-speech, muted content will be skipped automatically; however, you can still access it manually using touch assist or by navigating with the previous/next controls.

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Using WebOutLoud to Save a Web Page from Safari on iPhone

When browsing the web with Safari, you can use the WebOutLoud share extension to extract the content from a web page and save it to your "Saved Content" or open the page in WebOutLoud's in-app browser.

  1. When you find some content that you'd like to save, simply tap the share button pictured below.

  2. Choose WebOutLoud from the iPhone share menu to save the contents of the web page to your "Saved Content."

  3. You should then see a screen with 3 options like the one below.

    Press Open in Reader button to open the web page content in reader mode. Pressing Open in Browser will open the web page in WebOutLoud's in-app browser. Pressing Listen Now will open the web page content in reader mode and immediately begin reading it out loud.

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Using WebOutLoud to Listen to an Email on iPhone

To listen to the contents of an email:

  1. Open the email then long-press anywhere in the body of the email to trigger the context menu then press "Select All."

  2. After selecting the text, a new context menu will appear. Select "Share..."

  3. After pressing share, the iPhone share menu will appear. Find WebOutLoud then tap the icon.

  4. You should then see a screen like the one below confirming that the content of the email has been saved to WebOutLoud.

    Tap Open in Reader to view the contents of the email in the WebOutLoud app. Tap the Listen Now button to open the email in WebOutLoud and immediately begin playback of the email.

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Using WebOutLoud to Listen to a Text Message on iPhone

You can use WebOutLoud to listen to the contents of a text message on iPhone as follows:

  1. Find the text message that you'd like to listen to then Long Press the text message.

  2. Then press Copy

  3. After copying the text, switch to the WebOutLoud App then press the "New Text Document" button.

  4. Tap the Paste button

  5. Finally, tap Save.

    The app will begin reading the contents of the text immediately. Additionally, the text will be saved to your "Saved Content".

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Importing PDFs and EPUBs into WebOutLoud

Import Documents from The In-App Browser

First of all, you can browse directly to any EPUB or PDF document using WebOutLoud's in-app browser. You can listen directly in the browser, or save them to your Saved Content using the download button (pictured below).

The arrow on top points to the web address of the pictured EPUB. The arrow on the bottom points to the download button. Press the download button to save the current document to your Saved Content.

Import Documents From Other Apps

In addition to other apps, you can import PDFs and EPUBs into WebOutLoud from the Files App on iPhone. Simply look for the share button.

Import Documents from WebOutLoud's Saved Content Screen

Additionally, you can import content into WebOutLoud from the "Saved Content" screen.

  1. Go to the Saved Content Screen then tap Edit.

  2. Then tap the "Add" button.

  3. Then tap "Add Documents." You will then be taken to the Files app where you can select documents to import. WebOutLoud supports PDF and EPUB documents and more.

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Organizing your Saved Content into Collections

To create a collection, go to the Saved Content screen then tap Edit. Then, tap the Add button, then select New Collection.

After creating a collection, you can add items to it using drag and drop. Initiate drag & drop by long-pressing an item and dragging it on top of the collection you'd like to move it into.

You can move an item out of a collection by long-pressing the item and dragging it on top of the back button which will trigger a navigation back to the previous screen. Then, dropping the item on the title text will conclude the move.

The following depicts an old version of WebOutLoud but sufficiently demonstrates how to organize items into collections: