Available Software

UC Davis has the following software available to students:

PC Software

ClaroRead Suite

ClaroRead is a multi-sensory software solution to provide support of reading and writing for struggling learners and ESL students. Features such as text to speech, word prediction, spell check and more are available!

ClaroRead can speak on-screen text out loud and is integrated with Microsoft Word to provide additional features. A wide range of visual tools are included to color, highlight, and focus on text as it is spoken by the computer. ClaroRead improves written accuracy with an enhanced spell check, homophone check, thesaurus and speaking dictionary. Words can also be spoken back as they are typed. ClaroRead works in virtually any program that you are interacting with, but does not have all the same features available as Word.

Additional programs come bundled with ClaroRead such as:

ClaroView - Provides a color overlay to change the color of the screen and the opacity of the tinting. This allows for better viewing of the PC screen for some, making browsing and reading easier.
ScreenRuler - A tool to assist with focus and reading with 3 possible modes. One mode provides a reading ruler across the screen, shading out above and below the ruler for focus and easier viewing. The second mode provides a line across the screen, while the third mode provides a full screen color overlay (Similar to ClaroView).
ScreenMarker - Provides reading and tracking capabilities using markers. Multiple markers can be used and placed on the screen using a mouse.
ClaroCapture - Provides the ability to collect text, audio and images from any document or web page, grouping it as a project. The project can then be sent to Word, PowerPoint, or ClaroIdeas. Also has the ability to extract highlighted text from word documents for review.
ClaroIdeas - Provides users the ability to visually capture ideas, pictures, research notes, web page links, audio and video files within a program to focus thoughts and organize concepts. Idea maps can be converted into Word or PowerPoint presentations, accessible PDF's or transferred to most mobile devices.

ClaroRead is available to UC Davis students at no charge, please contact the SDC for more information. Additional voices are available in over 20 languages and can assist those learning an additional language. ClaroRead has a youtube channel for PC tutorials where users can become more familiar with the product, or review other playlists for additional tool tutorials.

JAWS

JAWS is a screenreader used by visually disabled users to read content displayed on computers aloud to users. JAWS has been installed on all campus lab computers and can be activated by pressing CTRL+ALT+J.

Dragon Naturally Speaking Pro 12.5

Dragon Naturally Speaking is a voice recognition program which can be used to dictate your voice into text and makes it easier to interact with your computer without the need to use a keyboard or mouse. In the case of mobile disabilities, or temporary mobility impairments, Dragon can be used to dictate papers or exams, surf the internet, and perform simple office related tasks with little training involved. Upon approval of accommodations, the SDC will demo and assist students with setting up a microphone, usage of the software, creation of a profile student usage and saving the profile to a cloud service to be used on other Dragon installations. The SDC uses box.com, a UC Davis service, as a cloud service.

Due to limitations of licensing, this can only be found on a lab machine within the CAT lab, and a few lab machines within the SDC to accommodate students with mobility or temporary mobility impairments. Students must purchase their own copies to be used on personal machines. Please see an SDC Specialist for more details.

Windows Speech Recognition

Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) is the voice recognition program available on all PC's with Windows Vista or higher installed. Like Dragon, WSR provides users with the ability to vocally dictate papers and perform simple commands to control your computer. Users will go through a short tutorial on microphone placement, basic commands, and general usage of the program on first start. Please keep in mind that the built-in microphone will not be suitable for voice dictation!

In order to find this service, click on the start menu and type Windows Speech Recognition within the search field to quickly locate and start the service.

To get started, users can visit Windows Speech Recognition Set up and start their own profile.

To manage your speech profile, to be used on other computers, visit and download the Windows Speech Recognition Profile Tool

To create your own custom commands, users can visit and download the Windows Speech Recognition Macros.

Mac Software

ClaroRead Suite

ClaroRead can speak on-screen text out loud and is integrated with Microsoft Word and Pages to provide additional features. A wide range of visual tools are included to color, highlight, and focus on text as it is spoken by the computer. ClaroRead improves written accuracy with an enhanced spell check, homophone check, thesaurus and speaking dictionary. Words can also be spoken back as they are typed. ClaroRead works in virtually any program that you are interacting with, but does not have all the same features available as Word.

Additional programs come bundled with ClaroRead such as:

ClaroView - Provides a color overlay to change the color of the screen and the opacity of the tinting. This allows for better viewing of the PC screen for some, making browsing and reading easier.
ScreenRuler - A tool to assist with focus and reading with 3 possible modes. One mode provides a reading ruler across the screen, shading out above and below the ruler for focus and easier viewing. The second mode provides a line across the screen, while the third mode provides a full screen color overlay (Similar to ClaroView).
ClaroCapture - Provides the ability to collect text, audio and images from any document or web page, grouping it as a project. The project can then be sent to Word, PowerPoint, or ClaroIdeas. Also has the ability to extract highlighted text from word documents for review.

ClaroRead is available to UC Davis students at no charge, please contact the SDC for more information. Additional voices are available in over 20 languages and can assist those learning an additional language. ClaroRead has a youtube channel for Mac tutorials where users can become more familiar with the product, or review other playlists for additional tool tutorials.

VoiceOver

VoiceOver is the built-in screenreader on Macs for users who require, or would prefer, to hear their content read aloud. Pressing Option+F5 (or Option+Fn+F5 on laptops) you can toggle VoiceOver on and off.

Dragon Dictate

Dragon Dictate for Mac is the Voice Recognition program which users can use to dictate their voice into text. Like the PC version, licensing allows us to install the software on one machine (located in the CAT lab) where users can create a Dragon profile and try out the software. Created profiles can be saved and uploaded to cloud services, such as box.com, to be used on other machines with Dragon installed.

Speakable Items & Dictation and Speech

Speakable Items is the built-in voice recognition application for controlling your computer, with the ability to create custom commands for programs that you most often use. To use Speakable Items, you will need to hold down the listening key (Escape by default) when issuing commands. The Speakable Items icon will always be present on the desktop once activated, and can be minimized to the dock by double clicking on the icon. Speakable Items can be found under Accessibility within System Preferences.

Create spoken commands for Speakable Items in Mountain Lion.

Create spoken commands for Speakable Items in Mavericks.

Dictation & Speech is the voice recognition application for dictating speech into text editable areas, which must maintain an online connection in order to use in Mountain Lion and earlier releases. For these older versions, voice input is limited to 30 seconds at a time. Users who have upgraded to Mavericks may use Enhanced Dictation, which downloads the software required to use dictation offline and allows for dictation longer than 30 seconds. Dictation and Speech can be found under Dictation and Speech within System Preferences.

Learn about Dictation in OS X Mountain Lion and later.

iOS

ClaroPDF

ClaroPDF is an iOS app which provides user friendly PDF viewing, reading, and annotating capabilities. View searchable PDF files and listen to them read aloud with high quality voices and visual highlighting features. Speak in Background features allows users to multi-task, interact with other apps while listening to PDF content. The Claro store allows users to purchase additional voices and languages, with over 40 voices and 27 different languages at a low cost.

ClaroPDF provides mark up of PDF files with annotation tools to add notes and other comments. Features such as highlights, underscores, notes, free drawing, shapes, and inserting of images are available and can be viewed in other popular PDF programs. ClaroPDF also has navigation and search capabilities available to users. Navigate the chapters within a Tagged PDF, create bookmarks, and track annotations by page quickly and easily.

ClaroPDF syncs with Google Drive and DropBox, and can open files within other apps by long pressing on the file and selecting ClaroPDF to open the file with.

ClaroSpeak

ClaroSpeak is an iOS app that provides text-to-speech capabilities which reads text from documents aloud to students using high quality voices and visual highlighting features. ClaroSpeak can also convert the text into audio, saving directly to a mobile device to be listened to at a later time. Documents such as searchable PDF's, Word, Pages, and other text based files are compatible. The Claro store is available to purchase additional voices and languages, with 40 voices and 27 languages available, as well as a plugin to perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on images taken from your camera (limited to one picture).

ClaroSpeak provides users with word prediction and spell check features for editing text using a keyboard or the voice recognition technology built-in to newer iOS devices. The app syncs with DropBox for ease of access to course materials, and can open attachments from emails (long press on attachment and choose app of choice).

ClaroSpeak syncs with DropBox and can open files within other apps by long pressing on the file and selecting ClaroSpeak to open the file with.

Web Portal

SensusAccess

SensusAccess is a web portal for submitting inaccessible materials to be converted into accessible formats of your choice. A 3 step process is required to determine which formats you would like to convert your content to (audio and braille included) which will be delivered to your email account as an attachment or as a download, depending on the size of the attachment. Please note that the service will only allow UC Davis emails to be used and will display errors if other email types are entered.