Read&Write - Installation and Resources

Read&Write is a software program available to University of Alberta students and staff at no cost. Read&Write has numerous reading, writing, research, and organization features that include: 

  • Text-to-speech: reading the text on the screen aloud while allowing to visually track the words.
  • Coloured highlighters to help with studying and retention. 
  • Predictive text and grammar checking tools for writing. 
  • Scanning paper documents to PDF/Word documents.

Read&Write can be accessed in many ways:

  • Desktop/laptop: Download the software onto a Windows or MacOS system. 
  • Extensions: Read&Write for Google Chrome, Read&Write for Microsoft Edge
  • Online PDF reader: OrbitNote 

Getting Started with Read&Write

  1.   Navigate to the Read&Write website and scroll down to “Try Read&Write”
  2.   Click on the “Try Read&Write” button and a drop-down menu will appear for the following:
    • Google Chrome (extension) 
    • Windows US English (full version) 
    • Windows Canada English (full version) 
    • Windows Great Britain English (full version) 
    • *Android (app) 
    • *iPad (app) 
    • Mac (full version) 
    • Microsoft Edge (extension)

*Please be aware that the apps are not the full versions of Read&Write and have limited functionality. 

  1.   Choose the product needed. Full versions will start downloading and the app/extensions will direct to an external page for access.
  2.   After the download is complete, a box or browser will open to sign in. Click “Sign in with Google” and use your University of Alberta email address (CCID@ualberta.ca) and password to complete the sign in (if you are already logged in your device with the ualberta.ca ID, it will prompt you to choose an account or direct you straight to the app/program/extension.

Signing in with the @ualberta.ca email address gives you access to the University of Alberta license. If you do not use the @ualberta.ca email address, the computer versions will go into a trial mode for 30 days and access to the apps/extensions may be limited.

Getting Started with OrbitNote

OrbitNote can be accessed online and requires no download. This makes it easy to use many of the features of Read&Write on any computer.

  1.   Navigate to the OrbitNote website.
  2.   A box will appear to Sign in. Click “Sign in with Google” and use your University of Alberta email address (CCID@ualberta.ca) and password to complete the sign in (if you are already logged in your device with the ualberta.ca ID it may sign in automatically or if you have other Google accounts, you will have to choose the ualberta.ca ID).

Training and Help Resources

For questions, additional help, or to report a broken link, please contact adaptech@ualberta.ca.