Support for Read&Write Desktop™

Name: Support for Read&Write Desktop™
Rating: 1.8222222222222224 (45 reviews)
Author: http://www.texthelp.com/

Boost reading and writing confidence across all types of content and devices, in class, at work, and at home.

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Support for Read&Write Desktop™ is a Chrome extension designed to integrate the powerful Read&Write toolbar from Windows and Mac directly into your browser. Once installed alongside the Read&Write software, it enhances your reading and writing experience on platforms like Google Docs, Word Online, and various Learning Management Systems.

Key features include text-to-speech with dual colour highlighting, text and picture dictionaries for better word comprehension, word prediction for faster writing, text highlight collection for quick summarization, conversion of documents to audio for offline listening, and screen masking to reduce visual stress. This extension boosts confidence in reading, writing, studying, and research across multiple environments such as class, work, and home.

Extension

By:

http://www.texthelp.com/

Users:

100,000 -100,000

Rating:

1.82

(45)

Version:

2.1.549 Last updated: 2025-06-18

Creation date:

2024-01-04

Risk:

Permissions:

storage
scripting
tabs
nativeMessaging

Host permissions:

<all_urls>

Size:

1.89MB

Email:

in*****@texthelp.com

URLs:

Website ,Privacy policy

Full description:

Source:

Chrome Web Store

Data ingested on:

2025-07-09

Ranking

# 2,036 ▼ 773

User reviews

Many users report that the 'Support for Read&Write Desktop™' Chrome extension frequently fails to function, with the main features like speech-to-text and text-to-speech being buggy and unreliable. Highlighting text often doesn't work as expected, causing user frustration. There are compatibility and stability issues causing freezing and loss of browser data. However, some users note that when used alongside the desktop software, the extension can be helpful, especially for accessibility purposes. Recent improvements have made it more functional for a small number of users after long-term issues.

Pros

Works well in combination with the desktop app, enhancing functionality for PDFs and other documents.
Can aid users with disabilities by providing speech-to-text and text-to-speech support.
Some users found recent improvements making the extension more reliable after previous frustration.

Cons

Often does not work or function at all, with clicking the extension yielding no result.
Speech-to-text and text-to-speech functions are buggy, inaccurate, or difficult to understand due to robotic voices.
Highlighting text to convert to speech often fails, highlights incorrect text, or causes errors like "couldn't save the note."
Extension causes frustration due to unreliability and conflicts with Chrome, sometimes causing lost search results or freezing.
Users report poor support for PDFs, emails, and web documents, limiting usefulness for research or academic tasks.

Recent reviews

good

el*****, 2025-05-12

Very real possibility I'm misunderstanding the use of this extension, but it appears to do nothing. Doesn't read webpages, Word Documents open via Microsoft Edge, PDFs open via Microsoft Edge. Not functional.

Ca*****, 2025-04-17

Literally just doesn't work at all. Click on the extension and nothing happens.

As*****, 2025-03-18

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

Support for Read&Write Desktop™ requires some sensitive permissions that could impact your browser and data security. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
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Medium *********** ************* ******* ********** *** ****** ************* ******* *** **** ** ******* **********

Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Chrome extension may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Chrome extension reputation on Chrome Web Store, the amount of time the Chrome extension has been around, and other signals about the Chrome extension. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing a Chrome extension.

Support for Read&Write Desktop™ may not be trust-worthy. Avoid installing if possible unless you really trust this publisher.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension was recently updated in the past month. New updates may not be stable or safe.
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Medium **** ********* *** *** **** *******
Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****

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