Narrator

The narrator‌^{[JE only]} or text to speech‌^{[BE only]} is a text-to-speech engine that automatically reads chat messages and other text elements in the user interface, such as titles and selected buttons.

Usage

It can be toggled on in the accessibility settings or by pressing ⎈ Control + B (or ⌘ Command + B on Mac). The narrator can be toggled between the following settings:

Off: The narrator is inactive.
All: The narrator reads chat and system messages.
Chat: The narrator reads only messages produced by players.
System: The narrator reads only messages produced by the system (UI text, command outputs, notifications, etc.).

The keyboard shortcut for toggling the narrator can be disabled in the accessibility settings.

The language of the narrator is defined in host system and cannot be changed from within the game (although it can be forced in Windows by editing the Windows Registry).^[1]

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.12	17w13a	Added the narrator. It can be toggled on and off with `⎈ Control` + `B` or `⌘ Command` + `B` on Mac.
	17w15a	Added the option to toggle narrator between: "off", "chat & system", "chat only", and "system messages only".
	17w15a	Added a toast notification for toggling the narrator.
	17w18b	Made the narrator work on nearly all systems (Linux requires Flite for it to work).
1.14	19w07a	The narrator now reads hovered over buttons out loud.
1.15	19w46b	The narrator now reads command suggestions when on "All" or "System".
1.17	20w46a	Added strings, "Mode", "Type", "Triggering", and "Track output" in the command block UI, for the narrator to read.
1.20.2	23w33a	Added "Narrator Hotkey" option to accessibility settings. It allows the narrator to be toggled with `⎈ Control` + `B`.
1.21.5	25w02a	The volume of the narrator is now affected by the game's configured volume in the 'Voice' category.

Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition
1.21.100			Preview 1.21.100.23				Text to Speech support has been added to all dressing room pages.

Issues

Issues relating to "Narrator" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

References

↑ MC-118526 – Can't change language of narrator; uses system language instead of game language – resolved as "Works As Intended".

[1] MC-118526 – Can't change language of narrator; uses system language instead of game language – resolved as "Works As Intended".

[1]