Tip of the Week: Adobe Reader’s ‘Read Aloud’ Feature

By J.d. Biersdorfer
QA

You don’t need an Amazon Kindle 2 to have a mechanical box read documents out loud. Although its main function is to display PDF files, the free Adobe Reader software has a Read Aloud feature that can audibly recite the contents (in a decent, but not unmistakable computerized voice) of many PDF files.

To hear it for yourself, open a PDF file, go to the View menu and activate the feature from the Read Out Loud submenu; controls for how much to read and when to stop are here, too. While copy-protected e-books may not be compatible with Read Out Loud, it’s fine for works in the public domain, like books in PDF form from Project Gutenberg, academic papers and other PDF files.

Read aloud

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Don Willemann April 12, 2009 · 7:18 am

Good tip, but please recognize that Adobe Acrobat has had this ability for a number of years, going back to Acrobat version 5.0 (now its 9.0). The feature works well enough to sit back and listen to either a page to be read aloud, or a whole document; it also has a pause control. A feature worth checking out.

Unfortunately, Adobe hasn’t improved the interface – the reading feature is somewhat buried in the menu structure, with no toolbar available, for something akin to a pushbutton control – perhaps in ver. 10.0?

The voice is a bit mechanical, but still listen-able. If you use this feature a lot, there are third-party companies that sell voices you can plug in for an enhanced listening experience.

Allen Charles July 4, 2009 · 6:20 pm

How do you get the voice to change from MS Sam to a newer voice installed in Xp sp3. O changed the default using control panel voices but MS Sam is still being used.