Forum Discussion
Microsoft Edge Read aloud: Now with PDF support
Greetings Insiders,
Many people use the Read aloud feature in Microsoft Edge as a daily driver. It is super convenient to just pop in an earbud and listen to content while doing something else. Not just that, Read aloud helps auditory and visual learners to focus on content and learn more efficiently. Read aloud is currently available in Immersive Reader and for webpages—today, we are excited to announce that we are extending support to PDF files. Read aloud for PDFs is now available for everyone on the latest Canary and Dev builds and will be coming to Beta in early June.
Try it out
To access Read aloud, open any PDF file in Microsoft Edge from your computer or from the web. In the toolbar along the top, you will see “Read aloud” as an option. Click/tap on this button to start.
Microsoft Edge will start at the beginning and highlight each word as it goes along. You can control the reading speed and choose your favorite voice via the "Voice options" menu from the toolbar at the top of the page. You can also play/pause the reading and skip ahead/go back a paragraph at your own pace.
Read aloud is also available on any webpage–simply highlight a piece of text, right click, and select "Read aloud" from the menu. (For shortcut lovers out there, you can launch Read aloud with Ctrl+Shift+U).
You can access Read aloud through Immersive Reader as well. Open Immersive Reader from the address bar and select “Real aloud” from the toolbar.
Why?
Whether you're a tech insider or a casual user, Read aloud can help improve your reading experience.
Reduce reading fatigue: Do your eyes get tired from reading page after page? Read aloud lets you step away from the screen. It's like an audiobook but for emails, important documents, or webpages.
Enhanced engagement with content: Read aloud helps you read while performing other tasks. Listen to a recipe as you cook and then to your favorite blog while you eat. Do you have limited time? Increase the playback speed and hear the content at your own pace.
Catch typos and grammar mistakes: Sometimes all it takes to catch a spelling mistake or a grammar issue in your writing is to have someone else read it back to you. Read aloud is your new friend for proofreading that is available anytime, anywhere.
Education and accessibility: For people learning to read, Read aloud can help with reading comprehension. Additionally, Read aloud can help with pronunciation if you stumble across a new or unfamiliar word.
Support for more natural voices
You can customize your Read aloud experience by choosing from a variety of voice options. Powered by Text to Speech, Read aloud provides lifelike, natural-sounding voices that are easy to understand and enjoyable to listen to.
Online and offline support
Read aloud is available in both online and offline modes—if you’re in an area without an internet connection, this can be particularly handy. A basic set of voice options is made available when offline. For the full set of voice options, internet connectivity is needed.
Share your feedback
We are always looking for ways to improve this feature for you. Give it a try on a webpage, Immersive Reader, or a PDF and let us know what you think!
- The Microsoft Edge Product Team
I am trying to used the Read Aloud with a PDF, but it keeps starting from the start and I can't seem to choose where to begin... this is an issue as it is a large textbook and I want to start at particular chapters, or particular pages and it seems I am unable to choose where to start - it always starts at the very beginning of the PDF. Is there some way to be able to choose where to begin?
I've been using the Microsoft edge read aloud but lately I cannot go back to where I have left off. It keeps taking me to the beginning of the PDF back to chapter 1 when I just want to start in chapter 3 when I hit the read aloud it's starts me at the beginning of the chapter. Fast forwarding paragraph by paragraph is way too slow why is this happening
Any luck on this PastorMD. I also have the same problem. Although right click brings contextual options like Read aloud selected text and Continue to read aloud from here, nothing seems to be working. Every time it just starts from the beginning.
- Reading PDF files in Edge seems to be experiencing some bugs. I have noticed that some are resolved. I'm not sure if the following is by design or is a bug: when I start Read Aloud on a PDF file, the contents of the file are greyed out and only the line and word being read are highlighted. Looks like an immersive reading experience, but I find it extremely distracting and disorienting. Would it be possible to turn this feature off?
Also, would it be possible to jump to a point by double clicking a word in the PDF? That is possible when reading web pages. Great job on that Team! Am loving the Read Aloud features there.
I would like to find the read aloud right click menu item in the same place every time though 🙂 Maybe we can get some control over which order the menu items show? If microsoft wants to blast the world again, they have to release the natural voices for offline use!
The offline one are far inferior and personally they make me nervous. While I can say I am almost in love with Aria voice.Hi,
I really love the read aloud function, but it doesn't work all the time. It just sits there and loads and loads.
Any suggestions?
Microsoft enhanced and natural voices are among the best in the industry and underutilized IMO. It's fantastic to have this feature available for free in Edge Read Aloud and finally in Edge mobile on Android and iOS. Unfortunately, there's still no reliable solution for PDFs on mobile. Read Aloud is disabled for PDF's in Edge mobile and I haven't been able to convert a PDF to Word format on iOS. Still experimenting, but it would be nice to have a reliable text-to speech app featuring these great voices—at least for Microsoft 365 subscribers. This would be a great way to drive more home and school users to Microsoft 365 on all platforms.
The technology has advanced to the point where text to speech is much more than an accessibility feature. Options out there like Speechify and Natural Reader are very expensive when using premium voices and can't come close to competing with the value proposition that a Microsoft 365 subscription provides.
Instead of restricting their use to Edge Read Aloud, these superior Microsoft voices could also be licensed out for in-app purchases in apps such os the two mentioned above and also Voice Dream Reader or Speech Central. The highest quality Microsoft voices are more accurate and natural than Acapela, Iona and even the latest Apple premium and enhanced voices. The only shortcoming is the relatively frequent pauses/delays that occur with online voices which is unfortunate, but hopefully fixable. So much wasted potential here...
suzie_dollarMicrosoft
I am using read aloud on a PDF that I opened in Microsoft Edge. The visual text is reading fine but the alternative text is completely ignored. Is there a setting that will enable the alt text to be read? This is crucial for accessibility. Thanks!Hi. I think this feature is amazing. It really helps me pass the time while i do shores or other things that don't take much brain work. I do not know if it is a problem or not, but when i use immersive reading or, in PDF support, read aloud in one of the storys that i like to hear, settences that are in between this symbols at the same time "<something, something>" are not being read. Do i have to change something in my settings?
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I love this feature and the natural language sounds great, hitting most words effortlessly!
I am a grad student and I use the read aloud feature while I am reading pdfs of scientific articles. It works very well for this and I use it as often as I can to have both inputs.
One feature I would like to see is dealing with hyphenation. Many scientific articles are in columns and fit tight spaces, and therefore hyphenate words. Read Aloud is unable to solve this mystery, and instead attempts to pronounce half of the word and spell out the remaining half. A setting to enable reading special case hyphenated words is much needed.
A second feature request is to look for parentheticals, and add a toggle to skip over them, or replace them with a chime. Again, many scientific articles use parentheses when citing literature, and Read Aloud for Microsoft Edge often struggles to pace itself within parentheticals, and the flow of the text can be lost in a long list of citations.
Generally though it is a very useful and reliable feature!
Thanks for taking time to read my feedback!
Hi,
I just found out about this feature. Thank you Deleted
I was hearing a journal paper and found a mispronunciation:
Tidal - mispronounced as T'ee'-dal while it should be T'iy'-dal.
The voice used is 'Microsoft Neerja - India"
Can this be corrected? Please
