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Reading Flow, Filters, and Navigation - Personal Version

Control reading flow, skip or filter text, navigate long documents, and use shortcuts for a smoother listening experience.

Kim Smith avatar
Written by Kim Smith
Updated this week

Click Menu

Click or tap on any sentence in the document to bring up a menu of quick actions.

Available options:

  • Read – Start reading from that sentence.

  • Copy – Copy the sentence to your clipboard.

  • Highlight – Apply an annotation. You can optionally add a note.

  • Translate – Translate the sentence into another language.


Text Filter

The Text Filter settings give you more control over what NaturalReader reads aloud, especially in uploaded documents.

To open:

  • On web: Click the menu (three dots) > Text Filter

  • On mobile: Tap the menu (three dots) > Text Filter

By default, it opens to the Skip Text tab. You can also access AI Filter (PDF) or Margins (PDF) here depending on your needs.

Skip Text

Use this to skip specific types of text during reading:

  • Text inside round brackets ()

  • Text inside square brackets []

  • Text inside curly brackets {}

  • URLs

  • Superscripts and subscripts

  • Vertical text

Toggle each option on or off as needed.

AI Filter (PDF)

This tool uses layout-based AI to identify and optionally skip structural elements within uploaded documents:

  • Header/Footer/Footnotes – skip running headers, footnotes, and repeated footers

  • Figure – skip figures or images

  • Figure Caption – skip captions related to images or figures

  • Table – skip tables, charts, and graphs

  • Table Caption – skip captions for tables, charts, or graphs

  • Formula – skip mathematical formulas

These filters are especially useful for academic papers, research articles, or slides.

Margins (PDF)

If you’re still getting unwanted text read aloud, you can manually define reading margins.

  • Set custom margins (top, bottom, left, right) as percentages.

  • Text outside the defined margins will not be read.

If adjusting margins alone doesn't work, click Try margins with OCR (requires subscription). This will:

  1. Use OCR to capture a snapshot of the page.

  2. Let you choose a page range (up to 50 pages).

  3. Re-convert only the content within your specified margins.

This method helps exclude decorative content or complex layouts that regular detection might miss.


Reading Flow

These controls help manage how reading progresses and how you stay oriented during playback.

Autoscroll
NaturalReader automatically scrolls the screen to follow the sentence being read aloud. This feature is on by default.

To toggle Autoscroll on or off:

  • On web and mobile: Go to the menu (three dots) > More > Autoscroll.

Back to Reading
If you scroll away from the currently read text, a Back to Reading button will appear. Tap or click it to jump back to the sentence being read.

Resume Reading
When you reopen a document from your Library, it will open to the page you last left off.


Document Navigation

Use the navigation icon (on the left side of the top toolbar) to quickly move through your document. This is available on both web and mobile.

Thumbnails – Scroll through small previews of each page. Click or tap a thumbnail to jump directly to that page.

Annotations – View, edit, export, or delete any highlights or notes you’ve added to the document.

Contents – See a list of headings or chapters if available. Click or tap to jump to that section. This feature depends on whether headings are detected in the file.

Bookmarks – View all bookmarks you’ve placed. Press the play button to go to the bookmarked section or delete them if needed.


Shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts are available on web:

  • Spacebar — Play / Pause

  • ← (Left Arrow) — Skip backward

  • → (Right Arrow) — Skip forward

  • R — Rotate the uploaded document clockwise by 90°


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