How do individuals access the Bookshare Plus trial? 

Bookshare Plus is a new solution that seeks to increase accessibility and independence for Bookshare members. Members can try Bookshare Plus for 30 days and provide feedback so that we can improve this new offering. To request access to the trial, complete this form. 

What can you do with Bookshare Plus? 

Bookshare Plus empowers individuals to make any document or content accessible and access it within Bookshare. It comes with these features: 

• Conversion tool – convert any content, including print documents, digital documents, images, STEM content, mailers, and more into an accessible format that you can access in Bookshare.

• New premium voices – listen with high quality, natural sounding voices you can use to access Bookshare books, as well as documents you upload with Bookshare Plus 

What is the difference between Bookshare and Bookshare Plus? 

Bookshare houses copyrighted published books like novels, nonfiction, biographies, and periodicals. Bookshare Plus is for all other types of documents in your life – work documents, personal documents, images, mailers, learning materials. You can upload or take a picture of any document, and Bookshare Plus will make it accessible on the fly and available to be read in Bookshare. In addition, Bookshare Plus comes with new high quality voices. 

Are my documents private? 

Bookshare Plus uses AI to convert documents into accessible formats and generate audio. Your content is processed by enterprise AI providers under written data protection agreements that limit them to the processing we request and bar them from storing your content or using it to train AI models. Converted documents are stored in a secured, access-restricted area of Benetech’s cloud storage provider; no one at Benetech reviews the documents, and they are never used to train AI models. If you have a document you’d prefer not to have processed by an outside service, we recommend not uploading it. 

How do I try Bookshare Plus? 

Bookshare Plus can be tested on either a computer or mobile device. Start by finding content that you would like to make accessible, including digital or print documents.   

Conversion feature

Try the conversion feature on mobile: 

1. Download Bookshare Reader for iOS or Android 

2. Log in to your Bookshare account  

3. Select to My Documents on main navigation 

4. Select Upload  

5. Select a method to upload – upload file, take photo, upload photo. Your file will be uploaded, converted, and saved to My Documents. 

6. Select the new document and select Download 

7. Select Read Now to read the new document 

Try conversion on computer: 

1. Log in to Bookshare from your browser 

2. On your My Bookshare page select the “My Documents (beta)” link from the sidebar menu. 

3. Upload a document from your computer or Google Drive for conversion. Bookshare Plus AI converts the document into an accessible EPUB (Upload files up to 200 pages or 20MB in size) 

4. When processing is complete, a pop up announces the conversion has been successful, and the options to Read Online, Assign, and Add to Reading List appear. 

5. Select the Read Online button to read the document in Bookshare Reader 

Try new voices on mobile or computer: 

1. Log in to the Bookshare Reader app for mobile, or to the Bookshare website
2. Open any document or book
3. Select Settings 
4. Select Audio 
5. Select the Voice drop-down menu 
6. Select one of the trial voices under Natural Voices Beta – Milo, Cleo, Sage, Ami 
7. Close settings and try one any document or book 

Thank you for testing Bookshare Plus. You will receive an email to provide feedback on your experience.