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Kevin28086970z6x1
Participant
February 19, 2023
Question

The text-to-speech tool on my mac computer will not work in Adobe Acrobat. It will only read the doc

  • February 19, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 2426 views

I'm running an up-to-date Adobe Acrobat (02/19/23). I was using my Apple computer's text-to-speech function just fine (albeit with some issues concerning reading order) until today. 

 

 
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2 replies

Luke Jennings3
Community Expert
Luke Jennings3Community Expert
Community Expert
February 20, 2023

Were you able to use the Mac text to speech with pdfs in Acrobat before? Acrobat also has a text to speech tool, turn it on in the Acrobat preferences.

(Shift + Command + V) 

K
Kevin28086970z6x1Author
Participant
May 26, 2023

Yes, it used to work. The Acrobat version of text-to-speech isn't good. It does not work well with my needs. It's not flexible. Refuses to stop until the end of the page. I cannot select a sentence at a time, cannot select specific paragraphs. It probably meets some standard but fails to be a usable tool becaue of its limited options for use. Regressive tech.  

Bevi Chagnon @ PubCom
Bevi Chagnon @ PubCom
Participating Frequently
May 30, 2023

Acrobat's built-in text-to-speech synthesizer (called Read Aloud) is an ancient piece of junk code. It is not a standards-compliant full-featured screen reader. Plus, it was developed years before we even an accessibility standards for PDFs, so how in the world could it have known in advance what to do with PDF content?!

 

There are no circumstances where we recommend anyone use Read Aloud, whether for their personal use or for testing the accessibility of PDFs.

 

Use JAWS or NVDA (which is free) instead.

 

Amal.
Amal.
Legend
February 20, 2023

Hi @Kevin28086970z6x1 

 

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that.

 

What happens when you try to use the text to speech function? Do you get any error message? If yes Please share the screenshot of the same for a better understanding? Also check if its an isue with a specific PDF file or with all the PDFs?

 

What is the version of the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 22.3.20314  installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-default/td-p/4792082

You may also try to enable the root account in MAC and try using the application there and check.

 

Regards

Amal

 

 

 

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