You can read any text from any application by selecting the text in that application, and going to Edit/Copy and then clicking on 'Clipboard' in Speak to read the contents of the clipboard.
You can make the character read from clipboard without having to view Speak's window. When speak in minimized, you can just click once the left mouse button on the character and it will read the clipboard. Make sure that the "Read from clipboard on character left click" is checked in Options/Character.
You can stop the character from reading at any time by clicking the STOP button.
You can make Speak's window smaller (more compact) by going to the View menu and choosing 'Voice Settings'.
You can make Speak ignore certain characters while reading, like the '>' when reading an email. Just enter the character to ignore in the 'When reading ignore' text box in Speak window.
You can make Speak say the time by clicking on the clock icon on Speak window.
You can make Speak say the date by clicking on the calendar icon on Speak window.
You can make the character listen to your voice commands (if Microsoft Speech Recognition is installed) by holding on the SCROL LOCK key.
You can access Agent's advanced settings by going to File/Advanced Character Options.
You can make Speak read a text file by going to File/Read Text File.
You can make Speak's window always on top of all other windows by selecting the 'Always on Top' from the View menu.
You can click the right mouse button on the character to access a menu with Speak commands.
You can customize what commands are in the character menu (When you click the right mouse button on the character) by going to Options/Voice Input.
You can disable Speak from saying the Time and Date every time Speak starts by going to Options/Startup.
You can disable Speak's splash screen from showing every time Speak starts by going to Options/Startup.
You can disable Speak's window from showing every time Speak starts by going to Options/Startup. This way, Speak will run only in the System tray.
You can make the Character play a reading animation every time it reads by going to Options/Character and checking the 'Animate character when reading'.
You can disable sound effects and/or idle animations by going to Options/Character
You can change the voice commands for Speak's commands available in the Character menu (When you click the right mouse button on the character) by going to Options/Commands.
You can Shut Down or Restart your computer by clicking on the right mouse button on the character and selecting either Shut Down or Restart.
You can download more characters from http://www.shadisoft.com/speak/
You can talk about Speak at our Speak Web Board available at: http://www.shadisoft.com/board/