Explayn: Listen and Understand

Highlight anything on any page for an instant explanation, or have it read aloud with each word lit up as it is spoken.

Highlight any word, sentence or paragraph on any page. An Explain button appears next to it, and one click puts a short explanation right there, in a small card beside the words it's about. No new tab, no copying into a chatbot, no losing your place. ANSWERS THAT FIT THE PAGE Explayn sends the paragraph around your selection along with it. So "this", "that" and an acronym from three sentences back get explained the way this page uses them, not in general. THINGS YOU CAN'T HIGHLIGHT A formula set as an image, a chart, a diagram, a scanned page: press Ctrl+Shift+S (⌘⌃S on a Mac) and drag a box around it, and Explayn reads the picture. Ctrl+Shift+A (⌘⌃A) takes the whole visible page. Already have a screenshot? Paste it onto the page with Ctrl+V, or drag the file in. PDFS Chrome's PDF viewer keeps your selection to itself, so Explayn can open the PDF in its own reader. Right-click "Open this PDF in Explayn", or press any Explayn shortcut. You can highlight, explain, ask, listen and test yourself just like on a web page. Jump to a chapter from the contents or have that chapter explained on its own, explain any single page, and switch to dark pages at night. The PDF is read in your browser. Only what you ask about is sent. WHOLE FILES Drop a PDF, Word document, slide deck or spreadsheet onto a page, or open one from the toolbar, and Explayn tells you what matters in it, with the figures taken from the file. The file is read in your browser and only its text is sent. YOUTUBE Turn on a video's captions and Explayn follows along as it plays. Press the "Explain this page" shortcut to get the video so far explained, then ask about anything in it. KEEP GOING Each answer ends with two questions you might ask next. Tap one to ask it. Or use Simpler, Example and Why it matters, or type your own question. Don't know a word in the answer either? Highlight it inside the card and it's explained in the same chat. Text in another language gets Translate instead of Example, with a note on any idiom that doesn't carry over. On a whole page or file, Key terms lists the words a newcomer needs. Formulas come back drawn properly, not as code. Works in Google Docs too. Esc or a click anywhere closes the card, and the reopen shortcut brings it back as you left it. CHECK YOU'VE GOT IT "Test me" asks you a question about what was just explained. Type an answer, or pick from three if you'd rather tap, and Explayn tells you what you got right and fills in what you missed. Every chat is kept in the side panel. Search it, add notes, carry it on from any page, or let Explayn quiz you on it later, spaced out the way flashcard apps do it. Star a chat to keep it for good, or save them all as flashcards for Anki. "A–Z" lists every word you've looked up with what it means, your own glossary, and "Flip through your words" turns it into cards. Come back to a page and the words you looked up there are underlined. Hover one to see what Explayn said. HAVE IT READ TO YOU Press Ctrl+Shift+R (⌘⌃R on a Mac) and Explayn reads your selection aloud, or the whole page if nothing is selected, lighting up each word on the page as it's spoken. The current sentence stays bright and the rest fades back, so your eyes always know where to be. It can read text out of pictures too: a scanned page, a slide, a figure. Space pauses, Esc stops. Choose a natural-sounding voice from Explayn's servers, or your computer's own voices, which work offline and send nothing anywhere. NOTHING IS SENT UNTIL YOU ASK Highlighting sends nothing. The button is drawn by the extension on your machine, and your selection only leaves the page when you click it, press a shortcut or use the right-click menu. Explayn never looks at a password field, by any route. FREE, NO SIGN-UP Explayn answers from its own servers with nothing to set up. Or point it at a model running on your own machine (Ollama or LM Studio) and nothing you highlight ever leaves your computer. SETTINGS WORTH KNOWING • How answers sound: plain English, explain-like-I'm-12, or technical • Answer length: shorter, default, or fuller with an example • About you: a few words like "first-year nursing student" so examples fit you • Answer language: match the page, or pick one of eleven • What a highlight does: show a button, explain straight away, or nothing • Which voice reads aloud, and how fast • Bigger answer text • Sites Explayn should never run on "Keep open" moves Explayn into Chrome's side panel so it stays put while you switch tabs. Privacy: https://www.explayn.com.au/privacy