Guide
How to read Bear notes aloud on Mac
Bear doesn't ship a read-aloud button, but your Mac can read any note. The trick is keeping the tags and Markdown symbols out of it.
Updated 14 November 2026.
Short answerTurn on Speak selection, hide Markdown in Bear so you don't hear # and ** symbols, select the paragraphs you want and press Option-Esc. Bear has no built-in read aloud. Aloud reads a selection in Bear, or any other app, with Control-Option-S, with a word highlight, speeds up to 2x and .m4a export.
The free built-in fix
- Turn on Speak selection. System Settings → Accessibility → Read & Speak (called Spoken Content on macOS 14 and 15) → Speak selection.
- Hide Markdown. In Bear 2, turn on the option to hide Markdown formatting so you see, and hear, words rather than # and ** symbols.
- Select and speak. Select the paragraphs you want (Command-A selects the whole note, including its tags) and press Option-Esc.
- Fallback. If Option-Esc does nothing, copy into TextEdit and use Edit → Speech → Start Speaking.
Why it reads your tags
macOS speaks exactly what's on the page. In a Bear note that includes #tags and any Markdown you can see, which is why Bear users have asked for a proper read-aloud feature on the Bear forum: the built-in Speech option reads the tags and doesn't sound natural. Hiding Markdown helps, and selecting only the body text leaves the tag line out. Bear's own feature list for Bear 2 (tables, footnotes, hidden Markdown, in-note search and more) doesn't include text to speech.
The better fix: Aloud
If you want one reader for Bear and everything else on your Mac, Aloud (ours, $19 once per Mac, macOS 14 or later) is made for this:
- Select text in Bear, or any app, and press Control-Option-S (or right-click → Services → Read with Aloud).
- A reading window with a word highlight and click-to-seek, so you can jump to any sentence.
- Speed from 0.75x to 2x, changed mid-sentence, and resume from the last sentence.
- Natural voices: Apple Premium voices, Kokoro on device, or your own ElevenLabs (v4, v4 Turbo or v3) key.
- Also reads PDFs, screenshots and web pages in Safari, Chrome, Arc, Vivaldi and other Chromium browsers.
- .m4a export to listen to long notes away from your desk.
Buy Aloud, $19 once No subscription, no account.
Questions
Does Bear have text to speech built in?
No. Bear 2's feature list doesn't include a read-aloud button. Use macOS Speak Selection or Edit → Speech, or an app such as Aloud.
Why does my Mac read the tags and symbols in a Bear note?
The Mac speaks the text exactly as it appears, so #tags and any visible Markdown are read out. Bear 2 can hide Markdown formatting, and you can select just the paragraphs you want, which leaves out the tag line.
Can I listen to a Bear note as audio later?
Aloud exports any reading to .m4a, so you can play a long note on a walk or in the car.
Is Aloud free?
No, it's $19 once per Mac, no subscription, no account.
More Mac utilities from the developer: SnapState puts your Mac windows, apps and browser tabs back after sleep or a monitor reconnect. $9.99 one-time.