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

[Kevin28086970z6x1]

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. 

[Amal.]

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-defau...

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

Regards

Amal

[Luke Jennings3]

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) 

[Kevin28086970z6x1]

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]

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.