Hello, Between Safari, Chrome and Firefox, which is a better document for reading google docs?
I find chrome totally comfortable for sheets and slides. But when it comes to google docs, It is not reading correctly, often breaking words and sometimes reading with line breaks instead of sentence.
Is this a known behaviour?
ON the same topic, Can some one tell me how to correct typos?
I have this problem majorly in google docs but also elsewhere. For example when I am typing this post, I may make mistakes. I here "mis spelled " but after doing vo + shift + m on the word I don't see corrections.
Can some one please point me to the right way of doing this?
By kk_macker, 16 May, 2025
Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
Comments
Misspelled is broken…
Misspelled is broken everywhere. Do you mean reading with Voiceover reading until the end or movement with arrow keys? I personally stick with chrome. There are too many issues with safari and I haven't tried firefox yet.
I do extensive reading of docs
So I often need to red reports and I may start from beginning or from the middle and expect to read continuously. I also navigate line wise which does not seem to be a problem with Chrome and VO. It's the continuous reading which is a real pain.
Tips for reading
I don't use continuous reading in Google Docs. VO+A doesn't work (no surprise). Docs has its own shortcut for continuous reading, and it's Control+Command+A, Control+Command+R. But every time I've tried to use it, it begins reading at some random location. I do all my Google Docs reading using Option+Down arrow to read by paragraph.
You could export to MS Word and try reading in Pages, but, in my experience, continuous reading is broke there as well. You need to press VO+A for every page. Docs might let you export to another format, such as RTF. This would let you read in an RTF editor where, presumably, continuous reading works. Or you could move the MS Word file from your Mac to your iPhone and read it with any reading app. Voice Dream Reader would work.
I recommend Google Chrome over Safari for Google Docs and Drive. Some time back, Apple broke Google Docs in Safari and has never bothered to address the issue.
I wrote a blog about Google Docs and Google Drive. Take a look. It covers how to spell check.
Untested, Possibly Try Full Screen
Hi,
You might want to try full screen in Chrome with Docs to see if that helps. If the key stroke for that is the same as with PC, it is F11.
Pages may be a good option but how to read document?
So I have been trying to open document in pages.
I manage to open the document but can't read it at all.
It only keeps telling me about formatting and nothing else.
I always try doing vo + a but nothing works.
Are there some steps to follow differently?
I had assumed that just like any word processor, I could start reading right away.
On the topic of using pages...
In case a normal document with just formatted textm it reads ok.
But in case of tables, I find it rather difficult to navigate.
On the chrome and google docs side, I have similar problems reading it with Orca On ubuntu Linux.
So it seems more a chrome problem.
So full screen works to a good extent
Yes puting google docs in full screen worked for me. Thanks for that suggestion. Not that I am getting complete perfection with VO + a, but command + control + a then r reads consistently.
The only problem is that I have to take efferts to get the cursor to the right plase, else it always starts from the top.
The only big improvement is that it does not start at randum locations.
More observations
Firstly thanks PaulMartz
The blog did really help.
I have a few more observations..
VO + te does not report all attributes in details.
Using roter to jump to a header does not help reading from that current location.
And lastly, I experimented with VO + a.
It reads all right but words at the end of line often brake.
As in Bre ake.
I don't know if this is apple or chrome at fault.
I did not have a good read all experience on Linux with Orca and chrome as well.
Got lucky once with read from cursor
Hello all.
Now this is getting even more mesterious.
I for once got the read from cursor, command + ctrl + a r to do exactly what I wanted.
I used the down arrow a few times to go to a certain line and then did read from cursor.
This actually worked!
I then moved to a different heading and did the same.
Works fine again, meaning it started fromt he heading.
But when I opened another document, I am back to the buggy always reading from top behaviour.
I got success on a document I myself created.
It only had two headings and a few bullet points.
wondering if the structure of the document is to do with this?
Any ideas or suggestions?
More insights, perhaps some ideas
So this is what I found out.
Reading using arrows does not move the VO cursor.
I confirmed this using VO + f3 after moving around.
Another insight is that the keyboard cursor always stays on top.
If I find a way to move this rijid VO cursor and then move the keyboard cursor to VO vy command VO f4, then it may work.
Not VO shift M
Answering your question about correcting wrongly spelled words.
When you have a misspelled word in the document simply press command ; the word will be highlighted
When it’s highlighted, press VO shift M a menu will open up where the suggested words are displayed.
If you have multiple mistakes in the document, continue to press command ; it will jump from the first misspelled word to the last one within the document. If you want to correct any of them, simply press VO shift M to open up the menu and press enter on the right word.
Hope
this helps .
BTW I have never heard of the issue you are experiencing in Google Drive
Google Drive has been working perfectly for me on the Mac.
handed in many assignments with it
This is good
@AppleFan:
Thank you.
So this very much resolves the spelling correction issue.
The issue with read all remains unsolved though. But I feel it is more of a google docs and chrome issue rather than mac vo.