How Narrator works
Learn what Narrator can read, where each voice runs, and what Epilude keeps in your narration library.
Narrator turns written text into audio on your Mac. Start with selected text, a document, a web page, copied text, or an image, then listen in the voice and speed you choose.
What Narrator can read
Narrator reads text from inside Epilude or from the app already in front of you. Select text in any Mac app and press ⌥⌘N, or open Narrator → New narration to choose a source.
The source picker accepts:
- PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, HTML, and RTF files
- Public web pages
- Text you type or copy
- Images and screen captures with readable text
Narrator extracts the words before it starts playback. Images and screen captures use text recognition on your Mac.
What goes into your library
Files, links, typed text, and images become entries in your narration library. Each entry keeps its title, text, source, and listening progress on your Mac, so you can stop and continue later.
Text you read with ⌥⌘N, the selection panel, Services → Narrate with Epilude, or Narrate clipboard becomes a library entry too, so you can resume or share it later. Reading the same text again straight away uses the same entry instead of adding another.
Word, RTF, HTML, and Markdown files and web pages keep their headings and paragraphs; PDFs and plain text come in as paragraphs. A document with at least two headings also gets chapter links in its More menu.
Where the voice runs
Narrator offers two kinds of voice. The EP-1 voice runs on your Mac. Cloud voices send the narration text to Epilude to make the audio and need an internet connection. New installs start with a cloud voice; Pay Once, which has no cloud voices, starts with the EP-1 voice.
The EP-1 voice has no listening limit once its voice files are downloaded. Cloud voices use the cloud voice minutes included with your trial or Pro plan.
What leaves your Mac
Text read by the EP-1 voice stays on your Mac during playback. Text read by a cloud voice is sent to Epilude for speech generation.
With the EP-1 voice, a web page you import is fetched and read by your Mac, and its address stays there. With a cloud voice, Epilude's server fetches the page for you, so it receives the address.
Putting a narration on the web is a separate action. Share and Keep on the Web upload the narration text and audio only after you choose them. Narrator explains this before the first upload. Learn how to share a narration and control who can open it.
What Narrator needs
Reading selected text from another app needs Accessibility permission. Grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
Cloud voices, web-page imports, and narration links need an internet connection. The EP-1 voice needs an Apple Silicon Mac and a one-time download; on an Intel Mac, Narrator reads with cloud voices.