Settings – change the reading speed and voice without switching to Windows. New in Read Aloud is a little control panel on the top right of the document window.īack – jumps back to the start of the current or previous paragraph. If it’s not there, add it to the Quick Access Toolbar, as shown for ‘Speak’ above.Ĭlick on Read Aloud and Windows/Word will start speaking the text from the cursor onwards.

‘Read Aloud’ is promoted to the Review tab. What’s different aside from the name and a fresh round of Microsoft hype?Įssentially, it’s an improved interface for Speak. It’s the same voice selection and settings in Windows. Voice speed – faster or slower than the Normal setting. Preview Voice – click to hear the current voice. Voice Selection – the English language options are ‘David’ or ‘Zira’ – male or female. The controls for Speak or Read Aloud are in Windows | Control Panel | Speech Recognition | Text to Speech. If there’s no selection, Speak will say the current word at the cursor. Now it’s on the QAT, select some text and click the Speak button.Ī somewhat mechanical voice will talk to you. The easiest choice is adding it to the Quick Access Toolbar. You’ll find Speak on the ‘Commands not on the Ribbon’ list. It’s also the same basis as ‘Read Aloud’. Let’s look at ‘Speak’ first since it’s been in Word for some time. Vice-versa, Speech to TextĬonverting what you say into text is also possible in Office – see the new Dictate add-in for Office 2013 and Office 2016. Rather, the macOS has a speech feature which can be used in Office. Read Aloud – is a new, improved version of Speak available in the most recent Word 365 and Word 2019 releases. Speak – has been in the Word for Windows since 2010 see Hear a document with Speak in Word 2016, 20 Word 365 and Word 2019 for Windows has two similar features: Configuration of the Speak/Read feature is done in Windows, as we’ll see below. Office makes use of that Windows sub-system. Officially it’s called TTS ‘text-to-speech’ and is part of Windows. But ‘Speak’ is also useful if you’re just tired of reading the screen or are proof-reading from another document. It’s possible in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote.Ĭomputer speaking text is mainly suggested for various disabled users under the ‘Accessibility’ name. Microsoft Office can read aloud, talk or speak the text of documents to you.

How to have pdf read aloud on mac