There are many reasons to listen to a document, such as proofreading, multitasking, or increased comprehension and learning. Word makes listening possible by using the text-to-speech (TTS) ability of your device to play back written text as spoken words.
There are multiple tools for listening to your Word documents:
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Read Aloud reads all or part of your document. You can use Read Aloud on its own or within Immersive Reader for Word in Windows and MacOS.
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Immersive Reader is a set of tools that help improve reading fluency and comprehension. For more information about Immersive Reader, see Learning Tools in Word.
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Speak reads only the text you've selected. Speak is available for Windows only. For more information about Speak, see Use the Speak text-to-speech feature to read text aloud.
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Narrator is the Windows Screen reader app that reads your dialog boxes, buttons, and other user interfaces as well as the text. For more information about Narrator, see Using Windows Narrator in Office for the web.
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Speech is a built-in accessibility feature of MacOS. When you set up Speech preferences in your Mac system preferences, you can select text and have it read by pressing a keyboard combination you’ve defined.
Note: For the full list of supported languages, see Language and voice support for the Speech service.
Listen with Read Aloud
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On the Review tab, select Read Aloud.
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To play Read Aloud, select Play in in the controls.
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To pause Read Aloud, select Pause.
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To move from one paragraph to another, select Previous or Next.
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To exit Read Aloud, select Stop (x).
Change Read Aloud settings
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Select the gear icon in the controls at the top right.
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Use the Reading speed slider to change the reading speed.
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Under Voice Selection, select the voice you want.
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Listen to selected text with Read Aloud.
Select the text to be read aloud.
Start Read Aloud from Review tab or shortcut or select play on Read Aloud UI.
Keyboard shortcuts
You can easily control Read Aloud using the following keyboard shortcuts in Windows:
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CTRL + Alt + Space |
Start Read Aloud |
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CTRL + Space |
Play or pause Read Aloud |
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CTRL + Left Arrow |
Skip to start of current paragraph |
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CTRL + Left Arrow + Left Arrow |
Skip to start of previous paragraph |
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CTRL + Right Arrow |
Skip forward to start of next paragraph |
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Alt + Left Arrow |
Decrease reading speed |
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Alt + Right Arrow |
Increase reading speed |
Listen to your documents with Speak
Speak is a built-in feature of Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Speak reads aloud only the text you select. Read Aloud reads the entire document starting from your cursor location like an audiobook.
To use Speak:
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Select a word or block of text in your document.
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In the Quick Access Toolbar, select the Speak selected text icon.
Tip: For instructions about how to add the Speak icon to your Quick Access Toolbar, see the help article Use the Speak text-to-speech feature to read text aloud.
Supported languages
Read Aloud uses the proofing language set for the document. To change the language, see the help article Fix text-to-speech reading in wrong language.
Voices
Depending on your platform, text-to-speech (TTS) uses software that comes built into your device or through a Microsoft service. The voices available will differ between TTS services. If you’re using Immersive Reader, see the help article Download voices for Immersive Reader, Read Mode, and Read Aloud for more information.
Our team is working on making voices sound more natural, so keep looking for improvements.
Troubleshooting
If you don’t see Read Aloud available, make sure that you’re signed into your Microsoft 365 account, and then try restarting the Word app or logging out and back in.
If you are unable to access Neural Voices, make sure you have a stable internet connection and are signed into your Microsoft 365 account.
Privacy
Read Aloud doesn’t store your content or audio data. Microsoft uses your content only to provide you with audio results. For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see Connected Experiences in Office.
In MacOS you can listen to documents using Read Aloud or Speech.
Listen with Read Aloud for MacOS
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On the Review tab, select Read Aloud.
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To play Read Aloud, select Play in in the controls.
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To pause Read Aloud, select Pause.
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To skip from one paragraph to another, select Previous or Next.
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To exit Read Aloud, select Stop (x).
Change Read Aloud settings
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Select the gear icon in the controls to open the settings.
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Use the Reading speed slider to change the voice speed.
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Under Voice Selection, select the voice you want.
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Listen to selected text with Read Aloud.
Select the text to be read aloud.
Start Read Aloud from Review tab or shortcut or select play on Read Aloud UI.
Keyboard shortcuts
You can easily control Read Aloud using the following keyboard shortcuts in MacOS:
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CTRL + Option + Space |
Start Read Aloud |
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Option + Space |
Play or pause Read Aloud |
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Option + up arrow |
Skip to start of previous paragraph |
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Option + down arrow |
Skip forward to start of next paragraph |
Listen to your documents with Speech
Speech is a built-in accessibility feature of MacOS. After you activate Speech for your Mac, you can select text and have it read by pressing a keyboard combination you’ve defined.
To activate Speech, do the following:
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On the Apple menu, select System Preferences.
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In the System Preferences window, select Accessibility.
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In the list, select Speech, and then select the check box next to Speak selected text when the key is pressed.
In the Speech settings, you can also change the keyboard combination, select a different system voice, and adjust the speaking rate.
Supported languages
Read Aloud uses the proofing language set for the document. To change the language, see the help article Fix text-to-speech reading in wrong language.
Voices
Depending on your platform, text-to-speech (TTS) uses software that comes built into your device or by a Microsoft service. The voices available will differ between TTS services. If you’re using Immersive Reader, see the help article Download voices for Immersive Reader, Read Mode, and Read Aloud for more information.
Our team is working on making voices sound more natural, so keep looking for improvements.
Troubleshooting
If you don’t see Read Aloud available, make sure that you’re signed in to your Microsoft 365 account, and then try restarting the Word app or logging out and back in.
If you are unable to access neural voices, please make sure you have a stable internet connections and are signed in to your Microsoft 365 account.
Privacy
Read Aloud doesn’t store your content or audio data. Microsoft uses your content only to provide you with audio results. For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see Connected Experiences in Office.
In Word for the Web, you can listen to your documents using Immersive Reader.
Using Immersive Reader
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On the View tab, go to Document Views and select Immersive Reader.
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In Immersive Reader, select the Play button at the bottom.
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To pause reading, select the Pause button at the bottom.
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To exit Immersive Reader, select the arrow at the top left.
Change Immersive Reader settings
You can change the voice speed and selection for Immersive Reader.
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Select the gear icon at the bottom to open Voice Settings.
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Use the Voice Speed slide to change the voice speed.
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Select Female or Male for the voice. Note that some languages will be available in only one voice.
Voices
Depending on your platform, text-to-speech (TTS) uses software that comes built into your device or through a Microsoft service. The voices available will differ between TTS services. If you’re using Immersive Reader, see the help article Download voices for Immersive Reader, Read Mode, and Read Aloud for more information.
Our team is working on making voices sound more natural, so keep looking for improvements.
Troubleshooting
If you don’t see Read Aloud available, make sure that you’re signed in to your Microsoft 365 account, and then try restarting the Word app or logging out and back in.
Privacy
Read Aloud doesn’t store your content or audio data. Microsoft uses your content only to provide you with audio results. For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see Connected Experiences in Office.
Listen with Read Aloud in Word for iPad
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Tap the menu icon at the top.
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Tap Read Aloud.
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To play Read Aloud, tap Play in in the controls.
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To pause Read Aloud, tap Pause.
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To move from one paragraph to another, tap Previous or Next.
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To exit Read Aloud, tap Stop (x).
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Listen to selected text with Read Aloud.
Select the text to be read aloud.
Start Read Aloud from Review tab or overflow menu or select play on Read Aloud UI.
Change Read Aloud settings for iPad
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In the Read Aloud controls, tap the gear icon.
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Use the slider to increase or decrease the reading speed.
Listen with Read Aloud in Word for iPhone
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Tap the pen icon at the top to open the ribbon.
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Tap the Review tab.
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Tap the gear icon, and then tap Read Aloud.
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To play Read Aloud, tap Play.
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To pause Read Aloud, tap Pause.
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To move from one paragraph to another, tap Previous or Next.
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To exit Read Aloud, tap Stop (x).
Change Read Aloud settings for iPhone
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To change the speech rate, in the Read Aloud controls, tap the gear icon.
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Under Audio Settings, user the Speech Rate Slider to increase or decrease the reading speed.
Supported languages
When you’re online, Read Aloud tries to detect the language of the text and can support multiple languages in a single document. For the full list of supported languages, see the help article Language and voice support for the Speech service.
Voices
Depending on your platform, text-to-speech (TTS) uses software that comes built into your device or through a Microsoft service. The voices available will differ between TTS services. If you’re using Immersive Reader, see the help article Download voices for Immersive Reader, Read Mode, and Read Aloud for more information.
Our team is working on making voices sound more natural, so keep looking for improvements.
Troubleshooting
If you don’t see Read Aloud available, make sure that you’re signed in to your Microsoft 365 account, and then try restarting the Word app or logging out and back in.
Privacy
Read Aloud doesn’t store your content or audio data. Microsoft uses your content only to provide you with audio results. For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see Connected Experiences in Office.
Listen with Read Aloud in Word for Android phone
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At the top, tap the menu icon.
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Tap Read Aloud.
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To play Read Aloud, tap Play.
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To pause Read Aloud, tap Pause.
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To move from one paragraph to another, tap Previous or Next.
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To exit Read Aloud, tap Stop (x).
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Listen to selected text with Read Aloud.
Select the text to be read aloud.
Start Read Aloud from Review tab or overflow menu or select play on Read Aloud UI.
Change Read Aloud settings for Android phone
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To change the speech rate, in the Read Aloud controls, tap the gear icon.
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Under Audio Settings, adjust the Speech Rate Slider to increase or decrease the reading speed.
Supported languages
For the full list of supported languages, see the help article Language and voice support for the Speech service.
Voices
Depending on your platform, text-to-speech (TTS) uses software that comes built into your device or through a Microsoft service. The voices available will differ between TTS services. If you’re using Immersive Reader, see the help article Download voices for Immersive Reader, Read Mode, and Read Aloud for more information.
Our team is working on making voices sound more natural, so keep looking for improvements.
Troubleshooting
If you don’t see Read Aloud available, make sure that you’re signed in to your Microsoft 365 account, and then try restarting the Word app or logging out and back in.
Privacy
Read Aloud doesn’t store your content or audio data. Microsoft uses your content only to provide you with audio results. For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see Connected Experiences in Office.
