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5.5.2 Read from point, stop, and start again ¶

C-e i starts reading at point and continues towards the accessible end of the buffer. Unlike a line or paragraph inspection, it advances point as sentence-oriented chunks complete. This requires a speech server supporting tracked playback completion. An unsupported server reports that limitation; it does not silently provide equivalent position tracking.

Try it in an ordinary prose buffer, with no selection you need to preserve:

1. Find the passage you want and finish any search or prompt. Use C-a for the beginning of its line and C-e l to check it. For the beginning of the accessible buffer, use M-< instead.
2. Press C-e i and listen without entering another command. The reading position advances by chunks, not by each spoken word.
3. Press C-e s to stop without moving to a different passage. Then use C-e l to inspect the retained line before editing or moving.
4. Press C-e i again to start from the retained position. Part of the last chunk can be repeated; this is not an exact-word pause/resume control.

Stopping retains the beginning of the current chunk, not necessarily the last word you heard. Another user command interrupts tracked reading before performing its own action. A movement command therefore also changes the retained position, and ordinary typing can insert text there. Use the explicit Stop command when you want to listen, stop, and decide what to do next. An existing active region would change as point advances, so use C-e r, not C-e i, to check a selection.

Chunks prefer sentence boundaries and are bounded by emacsvox-tracked-reading-max-chars, currently 280 source characters. This is not a word count or an exact acoustic position. Completion reaches the saved end of the accessible text; failure or interruption ends the reading session. You can inspect the text and issue a new reading command without restarting Emacs. On a backend without tracked support, read paragraphs or short regions, or use the untracked buffer form with the size/layout limitations above.

For movement to another starting point, see Moving point in the GNU Emacs Manual. The speech commands themselves belong to Emacsvox; their exact interfaces are in the core speech reference.