How to Speed Read the Web with Spreeder

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot more books on Scribd then I have been on Amazon. I like Scribd a lot because I read read a lot of classic books that I like for free. One of the downsides to Scribd though, is that it doesn’t have any built-in speed reading capabilities like some of the Kindle devices do. However, I figured out a way around this – use the Spreeder Chrome extension. 

Set up the Spreeder Chrome Extension

Go to the Chrome Web Store and add the Spreeder extension to your browser bar. Click on it with your secondary mouse button and select “Options.” In the window that opens, set up any websites you don’t want Spreeder to appear on.

How to Speed Read on Scribd with Spreeder

1. Go to Scribd and open a book you’re reading.
2. Highlight all the text you want to read, click the secondary mouse button and choose “Copy.”
3. Click on the Spreeder icon and choose “Paste text into Spreed” This opens up another window.
4. Click in the empty space in the window and choose “Paste,” then click “Spreed pasted text.”
5. A small window opens up that starts showing one word at a time at the selected speed. If you want to increase the speed, hover on “WPM” in the upper left section of the screen and click the up arrow until it’s at the speed you want.

Once you’ve reached the end of the selected text, Spreeder will stop. To speed read more pages in a Scribd book, repeat the process until you come to the end of the chapter or section you want to read.

I know the above process is kind of repetitive, but it’s the best way I’ve found to use Spreeder with Scribd. You can also choose “Speed read current website” or press Alt+V in Scribd, but with that option, Spreeder will start speed reading the text again from the beginning instead of stopping at the end. That’s why I prefer the option I outlined above.

Can Spreeder be used with other websites?

Absolutely, you can use the Chrome add-on with any website you haven’t restricted in the options. So for example, if you wanted to speed read a news article, you could open the article, click on the Spreeder icon and Spreed the article.

Is the Spreeder extension available for other web browsers?

Yes, it can be used in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and on Apple’s web browser.

If you’re looking for a way to speed read in Scribd, as well as other web sites, I highly recommend checking out Spreeder. To take it for a test drive, just go to www.spreeder.com, click on “Tools,” and select “Free App.” To add the extension to Chrome, to go the Chrome Web Store and do a search for “Spreeder.” If you’ve had any experiences with Spreeder I’d love to hear about them – feel free to comment below.