Conveniently hear PDF files read aloud.
The option to have a PDF file read aloud offers numerous advantages. It’s also an easy feature to master.
Perhaps you need your documents read aloud to you because reading print text is too difficult. Or maybe you’ve just downloaded a PDF file of a book to listen to, but you really want to savor the story and language slowly. Adobe Reader enables you to have your files read aloud and even customize the experience by setting the narrator’s voice and choosing the pace of the reading to best suit your needs.
How to have a PDF read aloud.
Having a PDF read aloud can increase accessibility if you are visually impaired or have difficulty reading the text. Listening to a PDF can also help you multitask. Use Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader app to have the text in your PDF read aloud to you.
Simply follow these steps to have Acrobat Reader read PDF aloud:
- Open Reader and navigate to the document page you want to have read aloud.
- From the top-left menu, click View, then Read Out Loud.
- You can choose to have the whole document read aloud or just the page you’re on.
- Select either Read to End of Document or Read This Page Only, respectively.
The reading will start at the page you’re currently on, even if you select Read to End of Document. To start at the beginning, navigate to the first page.
At any point, you can also choose from several options to customize the experience of having your PDFs read out loud:
- To pause or stop the read-out-loud function, go back to the Read Out Loud selection from the View dropdown menu and select either option.
- To choose your preferred reader voice, go to the top-right menu and click Edit, then Preferences. Choose Reading. Remove the checkmark on Use Default Voice, and finally choose the narration voice you like from the dropdown list.
- To adjust the pace of the reading, either increase the Words Per Minute count or lower it, depending on your needs.
Now you can have your PDF read aloud with your unique preference selections.
Benefits of text to speech for PDFs.
Text to speech can be a useful tool for a variety of people. People with vision loss can access a PDF with text to speech. Anyone who prefers to listen to text, whether it’s in an effort to avoid eyestrain or improve workflow, can use Acrobat Reader’s simple PDF text to speech feature. Text to speech can also help you multitask.
To make sure that a PDF is accessible to someone with vision loss, ensure that the text is not in an image but is recognized as text by Acrobat Reader. You can also tag headings, tables, and lists to increase accessibility.
Listen to PDF documents on the go.
Fortunately, Acrobat Reader can read PDF aloud on any device, so you can listen to the content of a PDF from anywhere. For example, if you have a long commute and you’re trying to ramp up productivity, you can use the PDF reader voice to listen to notes, documents, books, or other important information while you drive. If you need a refresher on your notes before a meeting, listen to your PDF while you travel to your meeting. You can use text to speech to enjoy all the features of Acrobat Reader and work with PDFs from anywhere.
Do more with your PDF.
The PDF is one of the most widely used formats in professional settings and is an industry standard for people in many fields, from business to education to law. Its printable format shows up the same across all devices, so it’s easy to share and view on the go. Adobe’s powerful PDF tools can help you use the PDF to its fullest, from creating forms to redacting or encrypting.
See what else you can do with PDFs with Acrobat, from converting files like Word to PDF to splitting files, merging PDFs, rotating pages, and more.
