Paste questions from a PDF or web page

Use this page when your practice questions are in a PDF or on a web page. You copy the text, paste it into Cloudy Reader, and check what the app understood.

Copy a question from a PDF

In your PDF viewer, select one question. Start at the header, TOSS-UP or BONUS, and end after the ANSWER: line.
Press Command-C.
Press Command-Tab to switch to Cloudy Reader.
Press Command-Shift-V. Speak Clipboard pastes the clipboard into the question box and reads it.

The status bar shows “Preparing…”, then “Playing n s.” You hear the question. The app does not read the answer line unless Read answer line is selected.

You do not need to clean up the text first. The app removes rule lines, round titles such as ROUND ROBIN 2, page footers such as PAGE 4, and omission notes. It joins lines that the PDF wrapped. It also joins a word that a line break split at a hyphen, and it keeps the hyphen in compounds such as half-life. For the full list, see Question format and reading order.

Copy from a web page the same way. The question box holds plain text, so fonts, colors, and images do not come along. Formulas copy in different forms, and the app reads them alike: SO4 2-, SO₄²⁻, and SO42- all become “S O four two minus”, and H 2 O becomes “H two O”.

Paste several questions at once

You can paste one question or many. The app reads them in order.

In your PDF or web page, select several questions in one drag. Include each header, such as TOSS-UP or BONUS, and each number.
Press Command-C.
In Cloudy Reader, click the question box and press Command-V. Or click Paste.
Press Command-Return.

Command-V inserts the text at the cursor, so you can paste one question after another. Paste replaces the whole question box.

This sample holds a toss-up and a bonus. Paste it to try the steps:

TOSS-UP
2) PHYSICS Short Answer A cart moves 90 meters in 6 seconds at a constant speed. What is its speed in m/s?
ANSWER: 15

BONUS
2) PHYSICS Short Answer What is the kinetic energy, in joules, of a 2 kg cart that moves at 3 m/s?
ANSWER: 9

You hear “Toss-up number two.” before the first question and “Bonus number two.” before the second. The app leaves 1.5 seconds of silence between two questions. With Read answer line selected, each answer follows its question after a pause of 5 seconds.

Rotation picks one voice for each reading, so a paste with several questions is read in one voice. The app prepares the whole paste before it plays any sound. Paste a few questions at a time to hear the first one sooner. Stop ends the whole reading, and Repeat plays it again from the first question.

Check what the app understood

Open the Spoken script view to see the words that the voice receives. These words are the spoken script. A word that has a pronunciation guide appears as printed, and the voice gets its sounds separately.

Paste a question and press Speak. Wait until the status bar shows “Playing n s.”
Click Spoken script. The view starts closed each time the app starts.
Read the script and compare it with the question.

For example, paste this question:

TOSS-UP
1) CHEMISTRY Multiple Choice Which gas forms when sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3, reacts with acetic acid?
W) Oxygen
X) Hydrogen
Y) Carbon dioxide
Z) Nitrogen
ANSWER: Y) CARBON DIOXIDE

The view shows:

Toss-up number one. Chemistry. Multiple choice. Which gas forms when sodium bicarbonate, N A H C O three, reacts with acetic acid? W. Oxygen X. Hydrogen Y. Carbon dioxide Z. Nitrogen

A correct script shows these things:

It starts with the header words, such as “Toss-up number one.”, then the category and “Multiple choice.” or “Short answer.”
Each choice starts with its letter: “W.”, “X.”, “Y.”, and “Z.”
Formulas, units, and symbols appear as words. NaHCO3 becomes “N A H C O three”.
The answer appears only when Read answer line is selected. For the sample, the script then ends with “Answer. Y. Carbon Dioxide.”

If the script is wrong, press Stop, fix the text in the question box, and press Speak again. If a word sounds wrong, see Pronunciation guides.

Fix common paste problems

This table lists what you see, why it happens, and what to do.

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The status bar shows “Paste a question first.”	The question box is empty or holds only blank text.	Paste or type a question, then press Speak.
The status bar shows “Clipboard is empty.”	Paste or Speak Clipboard found no text on the clipboard.	Copy the question again.
The status bar shows “Error: nothing to read”	The paste has no question, for example only a round title, a page footer, or a bare header.	Copy the question itself, from its header to its last choice or answer line.
The script keeps `W)`, `X)`, and `Y)` in the question	One of the four choices W, X, Y, and Z is missing, so the app does not split the choices.	Copy the question again with all four choices, or type the missing choice.
You do not hear “Toss-up number” before the question	The paste has no header or no number.	Add a line with `TOSS-UP` or `BONUS` and a number such as `3)` before the question.
A symbol from the PDF is missing in the script	The PDF stores the symbol as a private character. The app maps only °, θ, −, √, and →.	Type the missing symbol in the question box.