Introduction (Emacsvox User Manual)

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1 Welcome to Emacsvox ¶

Welcome to Emacsvox, a keyboard-driven spoken environment built on Emacs. It helps you read and write text, browse the Web, use mail and messaging, work in shells, program, and explore structured information through speech and sound.

Emacsvox requires Emacs 31 or newer and is derived from Emacspeak. Emacspeak’s pioneering audio-desktop design and T. V. Raman’s original work remain the foundation of this project.

Emacsvox works inside Emacs rather than reading the screen as a grid of pixels. Because it can use commands, modes, text structure, and application state, it can announce what an action means and what changed. Ordinary movement speaks the text crossed; different voices convey structure; auditory icons and tones mark events without interrupting you with unnecessary words.

Where To Begin
What You Will Hear
About This Manual

1.1 Where To Begin ¶

If Emacsvox is not installed yet, start with Getting Started: Installation and First Speech. It takes you from a source checkout to a clean speaking session and includes a recovery path if speech does not start.
If Emacsvox is already speaking, continue with Basic Usage for a short first-session guide and the essential reading commands.
If Emacs itself is new to you, C-h t opens the Emacs tutorial. Emacsvox speaks the tutorial and the commands you use while following it.
In any Emacs buffer, C-h m describes the active modes and their commands, while C-h k followed by a key explains that key. See Find Help While You Work when you want to explore further.

1.2 What You Will Hear ¶

Emacsvox combines several kinds of feedback:

speech for text, prompts, results, and status;
voice changes that make syntax and document structure audible;
short auditory icons and tones for events such as opening a file or completing an action; and
pauses and spatial cues that help separate related information.

You can adjust this presentation gradually. Aural Home, opened with C-e H, brings voices, sound packs, profiles, and other presentation options together. You do not need to configure it before beginning. See Aural Presentation: Speech, Voices, And Sound when you want to understand or change what you hear.

Emacsvox sends speech through a speech server. New GNU/Linux, macOS, and WSL2 installations use Omnivox; established direct servers remain available for compatible existing setups. The installation chapter introduces only what you need for first speech. See Speech Backends contains the platform and compatibility details.

1.3 About This Manual ¶

The maintained chapters provide the current Emacsvox setup and task guides. The separate generated reference records commands, options, and keymaps from the source, while the heritage manual preserves Emacspeak essays and application guides for their historical and design value. Historical material may describe software or Web services from its original period.

Rapidly changing features are also documented in Readme.org, etc/NEWS, and the generated Aural Presentation reference. When a copied key binding differs from your running Emacs, prefer the live help shown by C-h m or C-h k.