I’m working on a project where people need to hear their Google Docs text read aloud as they write. The text-to-speech needs to happen right away when they type.
I tried using Google Apps Script with a sidebar approach. The sidebar checks for document changes every few milliseconds by talking to the script running on Google’s servers. When it finds new text, it sends that back to the sidebar which then plays the audio.
The issue is timing. There’s a delay of 1-3 seconds between when someone types and when the text actually syncs to Google’s cloud servers. This makes the whole experience feel sluggish.
Is there a way to grab the text changes faster? Maybe without having to wait for the cloud sync? I need this to work on different browsers and platforms.
The text-to-speech part works fine and playing audio through HTML5 is quick. The bottleneck is definitely getting the text updates from the document itself.
I encountered the same issue while developing a collaborative writing tool last year. The delay you’re experiencing is inherent to how the Google Docs API functions. Real-time interception of keystrokes is restricted for security reasons, which complicates immediate updates.
Instead of continuously polling the document, I recommend employing a hybrid method. Utilize the onEdit trigger along with a local buffer to maintain a temporary shadow copy of the document. Compare this copy to periodically captured snapshots, allowing you to process only the changes.
Another option is the Google Docs revision history API for a more efficient change tracking, though keep in mind that the typical 1-3 second sync delay remains a factor. Most users adapted to this lag over time.
The problem is Google Docs’ architecture. It uses a client-server model where your local changes have to go through Google’s servers before Apps Script can see them. There’s no way to optimize around this bottleneck.
I’ve built document automation tools, and the best workaround is catching user input at the browser level before it hits the document. Set up a keypress listener that grabs text as someone types and sends it straight to your speech engine. Let the normal document flow happen at the same time.
You’ll need to handle special keys, formatting commands, and cursor positioning carefully, but this skips the sync delay completely. The tricky part is keeping your captured text in sync with what’s actually in the document, especially when users edit or make corrections.
yeah, that sync delay is just how google docs works - u can’t really fix it. i hit the same wall when building something similar and had to pivot. try using a regular textarea or contenteditable divs instead. you’ll lose some google docs features but get instant text access for speech synthesis.