Asking by speaking, and having a page read to you
Press the microphone beside the search box, say the question or the sentence it refused with, and the search runs. An opened page can be read aloud.
The help can be asked out loud. Beside the search box — in the ? panel on every screen and on the manual page — is a microphone. Press it, say what you want ("how do I block a room", or the exact sentence the screen refused with), and stop talking: the words appear in the box and the search runs.
Do this
- Press the microphone. It turns red while it is listening. The first time, the browser asks whether this site may use the microphone — allow it.
- Speak the question the way you would ask a colleague. Names, room numbers and dates in a refusal are fine; the search knows to look past them.
- It stops by itself when you pause. The page opens the same way as a typed search; press the microphone again to ask something else.
Having a page read to you
An opened page has a Read aloud button under its title. It reads the title, the summary and the page; press it again to stop. Useful when your hands are busy — housekeeping on a phone, or a receptionist with a guest at the counter.
Which browsers
Chrome and Edge on the desk PC, Safari on an iPhone or iPad. Firefox cannot listen, so the microphone is simply not shown there. Nothing you say leaves the computer except as the search you would otherwise have typed.
The manual is in English, so speak the question in English. A question in Hindi will be heard as Hindi and match no page.
If it does not listen
- The browser blocked the microphone — click the icon at the left of the address bar and allow it, then press again.
- "Nothing heard" — press, then speak straight away; a long pause before the first word makes it give up.
- No microphone on this computer — type the question instead. Everything the voice can do, typing can do.