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Known limits

textweaver is in beta. This page states what it does not do yet, or does not do well, so that you can decide what to rely on. Read it before you use textweaver for something important. Where a limit has a workaround or a planned fix, the next step is given with it.

What has been tested, and what has not

  • Windows with a screen reader is the combination that has been tested by ear: NVDA and JAWS, and a 40-cell Braille display. Two listening sessions went through the graphical version.
  • macOS and Linux packages are built and checked automatically on every release. VoiceOver and Orca have had some basic testing, but not every release is tested with them by ear. More extensive testing is planned.
  • Other Braille displays and cell widths have not been tried.
  • Settings marked "not yet verified" in the screen reader guide have not been tried with a screen reader.

See the accessibility statement for the full record.

The program

  • Not code-signed. Windows warns the first time you start it. On a Mac you remove the quarantine flag once. See Installing textweaver.
  • No native Windows ARM64 package is planned. On a Windows computer with an ARM processor, use the x86-64 package: Windows runs it under emulation.
  • Updates are your choice. textweaver checks for a new release only if you say yes, at most once a day, and never downloads without asking. You can also update with tw update, the scripts, or a new download (Updates). Packages are not code-signed or notarized, so each is checked against the release checksums instead.
  • On Windows, use tw in a terminal, not textweaver.exe --tw. textweaver.exe is a windowed program, so a terminal does not wait for it: textweaver.exe --tw runs the terminal reader in that terminal, but the prompt returns at once and competes with it for the keyboard. tw.exe starts it and waits, as a terminal expects (The command line).
  • No guided first-run tour. The quick start is a document you open and read.
  • Some translations are not reviewed. The interface has six languages. Native speakers have checked English and Spanish. German, French, Portuguese, and Arabic have not been checked yet. Feedback on any translation is welcome: use Help, Report a problem, or the issue tracker.
  • Settings, keys, and file formats may still change between releases. Read the changelog before you update.

The graphical version

These limits apply to the textweaver app (textweaver). The terminal reader does not have them, unless stated.

  • Some commands exist only in the terminal reader. The app says "This command works in the terminal reader." when you press the key for one (What only the terminal reader does).

Reading and speech

  • Cloud voices, Coqui, Festival, and Qt Speech are not offered.
  • Eloquence and DECtalk need your own licensed copy. textweaver does not include them.
  • DAISY audio timing in MP3 books is untested on real books. The playback of a talking book's recorded narration is tested with built files and with WAV clips. How accurately the highlight follows the clips in a real DAISY book whose audio is MP3 has not been checked. If the highlight drifts, set Book audio to speech only (Talking books) and report the book's source and format.
  • Source code opens as plain text. It is not read as a structured document.

Documents

  • Translating a document is not offered.
  • RAR archives do not open. ZIP, TAR, and 7z do. Extract a RAR archive first; the message says so.
  • Scanned pages are read by OCR, and OCR makes mistakes. Check anything important against the original.

Output

  • A cover image for audiobooks is not added.
  • AAC audio is not written. Ogg Vorbis, Opus, MP3, FLAC, WAV, and M4B are.

Study tools

  • Study cards are scheduled with SM-2 only. Cards are made from notes, highlights, and headings, studied, graded in words, and brought back when due (Study with cards). A card counts as due by the clock, from half a day before its interval ends, not by the calendar day in your time zone. FSRS scheduling is dropped on purpose.
  • Anki packages carry text and grades only. Importing an .apkg skips cloze notes and leaves out pictures and sound, and textweaver works out each card's schedule again from its grades, so intervals can differ from Anki's (Take cards to Anki and back). Fill-in-the-blank cards go to Anki as Basic cards, not as Anki clozes.
  • AnkiConnect sync is dropped on purpose. It needs Anki running with an add-on and a local network port; cards go to Anki and back as .apkg files instead.
  • Knowledge graphs from notes are not drawn. Links between notes are lists instead: each note's links, "What links here", and tw notes links (notes guide). The graph exports to files that other tools draw, with a Markdown list as their text equivalent (Export the knowledge graph).

Documentation

  • If a guide contradicts what the program does, the program is right. Please report the page, with Help, Report a problem.

What this page does not promise

textweaver does not claim to improve reading speed, comprehension, or comfort for any condition. The reading aids are options to try. Keep the ones that help you.

See also