Reviewed 4 November 2026 · ROP product team · Draft
Quick answer
In the ROP private desktop test, select a short paragraph on an ordinary webpage, right-click and choose the private read-aloud menu. Check the captured words, choose a voice and press Read aloud.
Try the browser option first
Chrome on a computer has a reading mode with a read-aloud option on supported pages. Right-click a text page, choose Open in reading mode, then look for Play. Availability depends on the page and your browser. This is a separate Google feature, not ROP.
Load the private ROP extension
Unzip the package into a folder you can keep. Open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, choose Load unpacked and select the folder containing manifest.json. This is a private test, not a Chrome Web Store release. Downloaded builds do not update automatically.
Select, check and listen
Open a public article. Highlight one paragraph and use the extension's private read-aloud context menu. In the reader, check that only the intended passage appears. Choose an available voice, start at 1× and press Read aloud. If selection misses the words, paste the exact passage instead.
Try the controls
Pause midway, resume, then press Stop. Check that audio ends. Start with public text so feedback screenshots do not expose private messages. Do not assume that saved reading history or reliable resume after closing the reader is available.
Know the limits
Image-only text, protected browser pages and some embedded documents need a different method. Pasting does not recognise words in images. The desktop extension and mobile paste reader are separate tests; phone browser-extension support is not claimed.
Common questions
Does ROP read scanned PDFs?
The current private test does not establish OCR or scanned-PDF support. Begin with selectable text on an ordinary webpage.
Do I need to pay for this private test?
The separate family test requires no account or card. The public paid trial is not open.
Source: Google Chrome reading-mode help · checked 4 November 2026.
Keep exploring
Explore the labelled voice sampleThe website sample uses device voices, not the Kokoro experiment.