Troubleshooting Narrator
Fix missing selected text, silent playback, failed imports, unavailable sharing, and cloud voice limits in Narrator.
Most Narrator problems come from Accessibility permission, the chosen audio output, an unreadable source, or a voice that needs a connection or download. Start with the symptom that matches what you see.
Selected text is not read
Grant Epilude access in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, then select the text again. Narrator needs that permission to read a selection from another app.
If the same selection is already loaded, ⌥⌘N pauses or resumes it. Select different text before pressing the hotkey to start something new.
Playback is silent
Check the Mac's volume and selected output in System Settings → Sound → Output. Then open Settings → Audio and check which Speaker plays Narrator audio.
If a EP-1 voice stays on Preparing, open Settings → Models and finish its download. A cloud voice needs an internet connection.
A file or image has no readable text
Open the source and confirm it contains visible text. A scanned PDF can hold page images with no text layer; capture the page as an image so Narrator can recognize the words. Text recognition reads English for now, so text in another language may come out empty or garbled.
For an image, use a larger or cleaner copy. Tight crops help when the image contains several columns, labels, or unrelated text.
A web page will not import
Open the address in a browser and confirm it loads without a sign-in. Narrator can import public pages, but it cannot use your browser session to enter a private site.
Some pages block automated reading or load their article only after scripts run. Copy the article text and choose New narration → Create text when the page itself cannot be imported.
A cloud voice stopped
Cloud playback stops at the end of the current sentence when the allowance is empty. Choose the EP-1 voice to continue from the same place, or upgrade from the card shown in Narrator.
The voice picker and Settings → Billing & Usage show the remaining allowance. Cloud voice minutes explains what counts.
Playback paused on Reconnecting…
A cloud voice makes its audio a little ahead of what you hear. When the connection drops, Narrator plays what it already has, then pauses at the start of the next sentence and shows Reconnecting… while it tries again. When the connection comes back, it continues from that sentence.
If the connection does not come back, the player offers Retry, and Continue with EP-1 voice when the EP-1 voice is on your Mac. Continuing makes the EP-1 voice your Narrator voice until you change it back. Narrator does not skip a sentence it could not read.
Share or export is unavailable
Audio export works with the EP-1 voice and with cloud voices. The EP-1 voice needs its voice files downloaded. A cloud voice needs an internet connection for any part you have not heard yet, and that part counts toward your cloud voice minutes.
Sharing also needs a signed-in account and an internet connection. If an upload is interrupted, open the narration's More menu and try again after reconnecting.
The floating player is missing
Turn on Show Narrator player in Settings → Narrator → Player. The player stays hidden when there is no active narration or after its automatic hide delay has passed.
Still stuck?
Contact support with your macOS version, Epilude version, the voice you chose, and what you tried.