Q: Can emails be read aloud to me as they are received?
A: Many people ask this question. This is not the main purpose of the app (which is listening to your inbox), but it is possible to configure Speaking Email to read out email when it arrives.
However, it is important to note that this is only possible when the app is open in the foreground (ie on screen). If this functionality continued after the app went into the background, there would be no way to stop it happening when you didn't want it. We have made it so the phone will not go to sleep while the app is active, so if you leave the app open in reading mode it will not go into the background automatically.
By default the app reads out the latest 250 emails in your inbox, then stops and waits for new email to arrive. It will stop on the “end screen” which shows a refreshing circle, and read out new email it arrives. If you go into preferences you can tell it to avoid reading the latest 250 and only read out mail if it is new.
In preferences there are a couple of different options to choose from depending on what you want. They are under “email sorting and filtering”.
1. Play only new email since launch - this will not play any email at first and just go straight to the end screen and wait for new email from now on.
2. Play only unread emails - before going to the end screen, this will read any email that has not been marked as read (including on other email clients). It works well if you set the option to automatically mark as read when played (under "auto play options").3. Play only unplayed - if you prefer not to muck with read and unread, this option simply tells Speaking Email to play any emails that it has not already played to you before going to the end screen.
Additionally, the app can pause after announcing the sender and subject, allowing you to say "play" or "next" before reading out the full email. This option can be set under "auto play options".
Also, if you get a new incoming email while you are listening through your inbox, the new email will be inserted in the next slot, so will be read out soon after it arrives, rather than waiting till you get to the end screen.
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