The browser version of Kurzweil is accessed through kurzweil3000.com. It is similar to the Windows software version of Kurzweil, but it has fewer features overall. When you use the browser version, you can listen to your readings, make notes, and use the writing features.
In the browser version of Kurzweil, you have access to open documents from and save to the Universal Library. The Universal Library is Kurzweil’s cloud storage for your Kurzweil files. If you save to the Universal Library, you can access your files across different devices through kurzweil3000.com and the software version of Kurzweil.
Kurzweil Support & Resources
To learn more about Kurzweil:
- Kurzweil Academy is Kurzweil’s collection of how-to videos and materials. Depending on your learning style, this resource can be really helpful.
- Read the Using Kurzweil 3000 for Web Browsers Guide.
- Visit the Help menu in your online Kurzweil 3000 account.
- Attend one of our Adaptive Technology for Reading & Writing workshops that covers the basics of how to use the software version of Kurzweil. See our Events page for information about upcoming workshops or schedule an appointment or send you a link for a recorded video version of our Adaptive Technology for Reading & Writing workshop.
For troubleshooting and technical support:
Kurzweil3000.com Reading Software
Opening a document
To open a document in the browser version of Kurzweil, log in to kurzweil3000.com with your Kurzweil credentials. If you don’t remember your username or password, please contact us at adaptivetech@pdx.edu. Once you have logged in, navigate to the “Universal Library” tab at the top of the Kurzweil Home webpage. You can then open a document (PDF, EPUB, RTF, JPG, PNG, DOC, etc.) from many different sources, but the main ones you will probably open from are the Universal Library, your computer, and Google Drive.
- Opening from the Universal Library: On the left side of the Universal Library web page, there will be a menu with a folder with your name. You can navigate within these folders to find the document you have saved to the Universal Library.
- Opening from your computer, Google Drive, or another source: On the top right of the Universal Library webpage, there are links to open from Google Drive, One Drive, Bookshare, and your computer. Select the option you would like to open your document from and navigate to find the document you would like to open, and then select it. If you wish to place a document in a specific folder (such as the Private or Public folder) select that folder, then click the Upload button. Navigate to the document that you wish to upload and it will appear in the folder that you selected.
Due to the amount of time the conversion process can take, we do not recommend opening an entire textbook at once within Kurzweil unless it has already been saved in a “.kes” format. The longer your document is, the longer it will take Kurzweil to open and convert it, and the higher risk for Kurzweil crashing. It is generally best to open a chapter of a textbook at a time.
Once you select the document you would like to open, Kurzweil should automatically begin loading the document. Depending on the length of the document, Kurzweil might take a few minutes to open it because it converts the document into a format that is readable by Kurzweil.
Tip: After the document is done opening, save the document by going to the floppy disk icon in the top menu. You can save it to the Universal Library, to Google Drive, or One Drive. When you save the converted .kes file, you don’t have to wait for Kurzweil to run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and convert your document each time you open it.
Navigating & Visual Settings
After opening a document in kurzweil3000.com, it will leave you on the first page of the document. You can use the large arrow icons to the left and right of the document to navigate from page to page. You can also input the page number you would like to navigate to on the bottom left of the webpage and select “GO”.
You can change your viewing preferences by navigating to Document View, which you can find by hovering over the icon in the top toolbar that has a paper with a magnifying glass. By default, the “Fit Width” box will be check marked. If you would like to change the zoom on the document to a different value, uncheck this box and use the slider to select the zoom you would like for the document.
Reading with Kurzweil3000.com
After you have opened a document, press the play button at the top of your window to have Kurzweil read from the beginning of the document. You can also select where you would like to begin with your mouse. A red cursor will appear where Kurzweil will start reading.
A portion of the text will be highlighted in orange (typically a sentence) and individual words will be highlighted in green as Kurzweil reads them. This makes it easier to visually follow along with the reading. If you want to keep the highlighting but do not want the audio playing back, select the speaker icon at the top to mute Kurzweil.
To customize how Kurzweil reads to you, navigate to the Audio Options on the top left of the webpage, which is an icon with a gear and speaker. A dropdown menu will appear, from which you can change the following:
- Voice: You can only use Kurzweil voices on the browser version of Kurzweil. Select the dropdown menu under “Voice” to change the voice. If you have a document in a language other than English, you can select a voice that corresponds to the language that you need.
- Multi-Language Voice Preferences: If you have a document in a language other than English, you can change the language voice preferences by selecting “Multi-Language Voice Preferences”.
- Reading Speed: You can change the playback speed and make it faster or slower by using the left and right arrows.
- Unit: Reading units are the portion of text that is highlighted in orange as Kurzweil reads. You can change it to highlight a word at a time, a line at a time, a sentence at a time, or a paragraph at a time.
- Mode: There are three reading modes that you can choose from that will determine how Kurzweil will read the document as a whole. To change the reading mode, select the option you would like and the option should appear highlighted in green. The three reading modes are:
- Continuous: Kurzweil will read until it reaches the end of the document. This is the option we usually recommend using.
- Self-Paced: Kurzweil will stop reading after each selected reading unit (word, line, sentence, or paragraph). This can be helpful if you want Kurzweil to stop reading after each sentence or each paragraph so you can take notes.
- Word-by-word: Kurzweil will stop reading after each word. This option is typically good for spelling lists or vocab words.
How to Skip Headers & Footers
In the browser version of Kurzweil, the Header/Footer Editor lets you mark headers and footers so that Kurzweil doesn't read them.
To mark header/footers, use the following instructions:
- Go to “Tools” in the left toolbar, then select the yellow pencil icon (Zone Editor).
- Click the Header/Footer tab in the Zone Editor window that appears on the right.
- So that the Header or Footer applies to all the pages, be sure the All Pages toggle is on (green).
- Select "Mark Header/Footer". The cursor changes to a crosshair.
- Draw (drag) a box around the Header or Footer you want to mark. Release the mouse button when you have completed the selection (Note: If you plan on applying a header/footer marker to all of a document's pages, consider drawing the frame across the width of the document. This allows you to accommodate headers/footers on other pages that may be off to the side a bit more than the header/footer you are marking).
- The Header or Footer is then displayed in orange with diagonal lines. You can click and drag the orange area to change its positioning if needed.
- Select "Save".
Note Taking Tools
When you have a document opened in Kurzweil, there are note taking tools you can use on your document to help support you as you read and study.
Below are some note taking tools that are included in the left panel:
- Bookmarks: Add bookmarks to important parts of the document that you want to refer back to later.
- Highlighters: To use a highlighter, select a color/style, then highlight portions of text by clicking and dragging. We usually recommend using any color besides green and orange, since those colors are what Kurzweil uses when reading out loud. You can color code for main ideas, supporting ideas, and other important information.
- Eraser: To erase highlights, select the eraser tool from the highlighter toolbar and click and drag across the text that you have highlighted.
- Text notes: Text notes are plain text that you can reposition anywhere on the document page. To add a text note, select the white addition icon located below “Text Notes”. To delete notes, select the “X” icon from the Notes toolbar and select the note you would like to delete. When you are done adding notes, hit the escape key on your keyboard or select the hand icon from the Notes toolbar so you can resume navigating in your document.
- Sticky notes: Sticky notes are plain text with a colored background that you can reposition anywhere on the document page. To add a sticky note, click the yellow addition icon located below “Sticky Notes”. To delete notes, select the “X” icon from the Notes toolbar and select the note you would like to delete. When you are done adding notes, hit the escape key on your keyboard or select the hand icon from the Notes toolbar so you can resume navigating in your document.
- Column Notes: Columns notes are a note file with three columns that are labeled “Main Idea”, “Supporting Idea”, and “Other”. You can use column notes to type in organized notes that you can reference later or export to an outline. There are different ways you can create a column notes file:
- To create a new Column Notes file or open an existing Column Notes file:
- Select the Column Notes icon from the left panel, then choose to open a new or existing note file by selecting the icon with the addition sign or the open folder icon.
- A column notes window will appear on the lower portion of your Kurzweil window that you can type in.
- To save and exit your column notes, select the floppy disk icon on the top right of the Column Notes window and select the “X” icon.
- If you have used the highlighter note taking tool and want to use those highlights in a column notes file:
- Select the Column Notes icon from the left panel, then choose “Extract Highlights To Column Notes”, which is the orange icon with a small right-pointing arrow.
- A pop-up window will appear. Set the highlighter colors to correspond to the column you want them to appear in (1 = “Main Idea”, 2 = “Supporting Idea”, 3 = “Other”) then select “OK” to create a new column notes file.
- If you want to add to an existing column notes file instead of creating a new one, select “Open Existing” instead of “OK”.
- A column notes window will appear on the lower portion of your Kurzweil window that will autofill with the highlights you have made. You can also type in additional notes.
- To save and exit your column notes, select the floppy disk icon on the top right of the Column Notes window and select the “X” icon.
- To create an outline from an opened column notes file, navigate to the top right of the Column Notes window, then select “Extract Column Notes to Outline”, which is the purple icon with a big right arrow.
Note: Make sure to constantly save your document so that the notes you take are saved.
Kurzweil3000.com Writing Software
You can use Kurzweil to support you in the writing process. Kurzweil’s writing features include brainstorms, outlines, and drafts.
Brainstorms
Brainstorms are Kurzweil’s version of a digital writing graphic organizer. Brainstorms are a great tool that can help you visually organize your thoughts, allowing you to plan a paper by structuring ideas through hierarchical charts and color-coding.
To create a brainstorm, navigate to the Universal Library webpage. Navigate to the folder where you would like to store the brainstorm, then select the “Write” dropdown menu located on the middle right section of the webpage. From the dropdown menu, select “New Brainstorm”. (Note: When you name your brainstorm, spaces are not allowed).
There will be a panel labeled “Brainstorm” that will appear on the right side of your brainstorm window. This panel contains tools that will help you construct and edit your brainstorm. You can hover over the icons to see the tool names and scroll down within the panel to see all the options. Some of the tools included on the Brainstorm Palette include:
- Quick Takes: The Quick Takes button allows you to add thoughts in rapid succession that appear hierarchically below a selected shape. To use the Quick Takes button, select one of the shapes in your brainstorm, then select the lightning bolt icon in the palette. A small lightning bolt should appear after the text in your selected shape. Type the idea you would like to appear below the currently selected idea, then select the “Enter” key on your keyboard to create it.
- Link: The Link button allows you to link together shapes, indicating the hierarchy of your ideas. To use the Link button, select the shape in your brainstorm that is to be higher in the hierarchy, then select the Link button (the icon that has two squares connected by an arrow). A directional arrow will appear on your cursor, which you can then move to the sub-idea’s shape that you want to link, then select it to link.
- Oval/Rectangle/Diamond: With the different shape buttons, you can add a corresponding shape to your brainstorm. You can use the different shapes to represent different levels of ideas (e.g. main ideas, sub-ideas, details). To add a shape, start by selecting a blank space on your brainstorm, and crosshairs should appear. Then select the shape from the Brainstorm Palette that you would like to add, and it will appear where the crosshairs were. You can link these shapes together by using the Link button.
- Fill/Background Color: You can change the color of the shapes and the background of your brainstorm by using these buttons.
- Delete: If there is a shape on your brainstorm that you no longer want, you can select the shape, then select the trashcan icon in the Brainstorm Palette.
- Arrange: You can use the Arrange button in the right panel to organize the shapes, or you can select and drag the shapes around to organize them in a way that makes sense to you.
To continue with the writing process once you are done creating your brainstorm, you can convert your brainstorm into an outline instantly by hovering over the eye icon on the top right of the webpage and then selecting “Outline” or “Split Screen View”.
Outlines
Outlines are a great way to plan your ideas ahead of time before writing a paper and can also provide important organization to make sure your ideas flow.
To create an outline, navigate to the Universal Library webpage. Navigate to the folder where you would like to store the outline, then select the “Write” dropdown menu located on the middle right section of the webpage. From the dropdown menu, select “New Outline” (Note: When you name your outline, spaces are not allowed).
There will be a panel labeled “Outline” that will appear on the right side of your outline window. This panel contains tools that will help you construct and edit your outline. You can hover over the icons to see the tool names and scroll down within the panel to see all the options. We recommend writing at least a phrase or sentence for each bullet.
To start typing a draft while having your outline visible, hover over the eye icon on the top right of the webpage and then select “Split Screen View”.
Drafts
The Draft feature in Kurzweil is a word processor similar to Microsoft Word or Google Doc, but has the added feature that it can read your paper back to you.
To create a draft, navigate to the Universal Library webpage. Navigate to the folder where you would like to store the outline, then select the “Write” dropdown menu located on the middle right section of the webpage. From the dropdown menu, select “New Draft” (Note: When you name your draft, spaces are not allowed).
You can use the writing tools that appear under the gear icon in the left panel to support you while you write. These tools include:
- Word Prediction: Select the Word Prediction tool to have potential words appear while you write. To insert a suggested word, select the word from the list that appears on the right side of the draft window.
- Spell Check: Check your spelling and receive replacement suggestions.
After writing your paper and saving it, you can use the Read play button to have your paper read out loud to you to do extra proofreading.
Note: You can format your paper within Kurzweil including changing alignment and font, but if you will be copying and pasting your paper into another format such as a Microsoft Word document or a Google Doc, sometimes the formatting does not copy over. We generally recommend copying and pasting your paper into a Microsoft Word document or a Google Doc once your paper is complete and you are done proofreading because your professor might not be able to access Kurzweil’s writing file type.