1. Kurzweil 3000 version 11
Using Digital Talking Books with Kurzweil 3000

2. Supported Formats All tools in
Kurzweil are
Kurzweil Format (.kes) available
Highlighting and
Rich Text Format (.rtf) notes, but no
bookmarking
DAISY Format (.opf) NO tools
available
NO tools available,
DAISY Format (.xml) but may be
converted to .kes
Web format (.html) All tools
available

3. Saving as a Kurzweil (.kes) file
Once you open a book, it is best to immediately save it
in the Kurzweil format (.kes) and then use the Kurzweil
file rather than the original. Once converted to .kes, all
of the Kurzweil tools (e.g. highlighting, bookmarking,
note-taking) will be available.
1. From the File menu, choose
“Save as..”
2. Choose a location for your
book to be saved in.
3. Give your book a name
you’ll recognize
4. In the “Save as type:” box,
choose KESI (.kes)
5. Click the Save button

4. Kurzweil toolbars and toggles
Toggles
Click once on a colored toggle
to open or close any toolbar

5. Main Toolbar (red toggle)
Document Reference tools
management
tools
Reading tools

6. Reading toolbar (yellow toggle)
Change Change Zoom in
reader reading or out –
voice unit text size
Change Change Page
mode of reading navigation
reading speed

7. Study toolbar (green toggle)
Text Add/find
Highlighters bookmarks
Add column
Add voice notes
note

8. Writing toolbar (blue toggle)
Spell check
Change text
Word
Prediction

9. Opening a Click the Open
book button in the red
toolbar
Navigate to the
folder containing
the book you
want
Highlight the title
Click Open
Be sure to choose “Supported Files”
as the File of type here

10. NOTE: Large textbooks
could take up to a few
minutes to open.
from Google Image Search
Closing a book
In the File
menu
Choose Close

11. Starting and pausing
the reader voice
To start reading the text aloud:
1. Click on any passage of text,
then
2. Click the Read button in the
Main (red) toolbar
3. Click Pause to stop the
reading
Use the Back and Forward buttons to
read previous and next sentences/
paragraphs

12. Changing the reading speaker
voice
Use the drop-down
arrow in the yellow
toolbar to change
voices

13. Changing the Reading Speed
Use the arrows in the
yellow toolbar (shown
here) to increase or
decrease reading speed

14. Choosing the reading unit
Reading Unit
How much will be
highlighted when
text is being read

15. Changing the
reading mode
Continuous = reads until
you stop it.
Reading mode (in the Self-paced = reads one
yellow reading unit (sentence,
toolbar) paragraph, etc), then you
must click the Read
button to continue.
Word by word = must
click the Read button to
read each word, one at a
time.

16. Text View options
Use the Zoom tool in
the yellow reading
toolbar for bigger or
smaller text.
To change text and
background colors:
1.From the Tools menu,
choose Options
2.Highlight Text
3.In the “Colors”
section, use drop-down
menus

17. Navigation by…
1. Scrolling using up/
down arrows, or
click-hold on slide
bar.
2. Page by page (use
arrows in the yellow
toolbar)
3. Go To Page
(CONTROL-G). Type
page number and click
OK

18. Highlighting text
To highlight a section
of text:
1.Click once on a
highlighting pen in
the green study
toolbar.
2.Click-hold-drag Sample
through a section
of text.

19. Using bookmarks 1. Click anywhere in
the book at the spot
to be bookmarked.
2. Click the bookmark
tool (green toolbar)
3. In the Bookmarks
dialog box, fill in the
description
(bookmark label)
4. Click the Add button
To find an existing bookmark, click
the Bookmark tool, highlight a
bookmark in the list, then click the
“Go To” button.

20. Bubble notes
To add a bubble note:
1.Click on a passage
of text
2.In the Tools menu,
choose “Add bubble
note”
3.Fill in the bubble
note dialog box. True/false, multiple-choice and
text answer questions may be
put in bubble notes by teachers
to check student comprehension

21. Voice notes
To add voice notes, set
up a microphone on
your computer, then:
1.Click the Voice tool in
the green toolbar
2.Use the record button
to start and stop
recording
3.Use the Play button
to listen

22. Column notes 1. Click the
Column Notes tool
in the yellow
toolbar
2. Choose a new/
blank note, or
existing note
3. Type notes in the columns
Close/Save the column
note

23. Find a book (online)
1. In the Online
menu, choose
“Search for
Books”
2. Type in the author
or title information
3. Click the online
Sites to search in
4. Click OK
To open a downloaded book, use the Open tool

24. Useful Shortcuts
• F3: Read/Pause F7: Zoom in
• F8: Zoom out F11: Read faster
• F12: Read slower CTRL+F4: Close book
• CTRL+E: Next page CTRL+G: Go To Page
• CTRL+F12: Bookmarks Shift+F7: Voice note
Many more shortcuts are available –
see the Quick Reference Guide

25. The development of this project by the AIM
Consortium and the Michigan Department of
Education was funded by Grant #
H327S070003 from the U. S. Department of
Education, Office of Special Education
Programs. The contents of this project are
not exhaustive and inclusion does not imply
endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Education, the Michigan Department of
Education or the Center for Applied Special
Technology (CAST)