Sometimes it is easier to listen to a passage than to keep reading it on screen. TextHalo is a macOS menu bar app that reads selected text aloud, so you can listen to an article, a draft, or a long email without moving your work into another app.

This guide covers the basic setup and reading loop. It assumes TextHalo is installed and running in your Mac’s menu bar. If you have not installed it yet, download the current macOS release from the TextHalo website.

Choose a voice

Open TextHalo settings and choose an engine in Voice. Apple system voices are available immediately. Kokoro and Chatterbox are local AI speech engines; their model files need to be downloaded before you use them.

Starting with an Apple voice is the quickest way to confirm that the app is working. After that, you can preview available voices and decide whether you want to download an AI model. Model downloads take storage space and require an internet connection, while synthesis runs on the Mac once the model is ready.

Select text and start listening

  • Select a passage in the app you are already using.
  • Press TextHalo’s default shortcut, Command–Shift–S, to start reading.
  • Use the floating player to follow playback or stop when you are done. Command–Shift–X is the default stop shortcut.

If TextHalo cannot capture a selection in an app, open Settings → Capture and review the available capture methods. Accessibility-based capture requires permission in macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility. Copy-based capture is available for apps that do not expose selected text through Accessibility.

The Accessibility route lets the app ask the frontmost app for its selected text. Some apps do not expose selection text consistently; for those cases, the copy-based option can be a practical fallback. Choose the capture setting that works with the apps you use.

Keep the workflow comfortable

Try a shorter passage first, then adjust the voice and speaking rate to suit the material. You can change the shortcuts in Settings → Shortcuts. TextHalo is designed to keep playback controls close while you continue working on your Mac.

For a long document, select one section at a time. That keeps listening sessions easy to pause and makes it simple to return to the original paragraph if you want to reread a sentence. To stop speech, use the floating player or press the stop shortcut.

Text-to-speech can make reading more flexible, but it is not a replacement for every assistive technology. If you rely on a screen reader or another accessibility tool, keep using the setup that meets your needs and check how TextHalo behaves alongside it.