Read out loud saying "warning emtpy page"

[carolinaf76011035]

I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro on windows 10. I open my PDF file and when I select the read out loud option it tells me "warning empty page". The page is not empty, I can see the text, what am I doing wrong? do I need to convert the file in any way? It seems to be looking at it as a picture because when I try to edit it picks up the entire text as one.

[AkanchhaS]

Hi Carolinaf,

We apologize for the delay in response to your query.

As you have shared in the last line "It seems to be looking at it as a picture because when I try to edit it picks up the entire text as one."

I believe you are working with a scanned  document which has an image only and doesn't  contain the real text in it.

Using Adobe Reader, Read Out Loud would not going to work as it doesn't recognize the text in a scanned document. Because Adobe Reader doesn't run OCR (optical character reorganization).

In order to make this work, you need to use the Adobe Acrobat DC application, which would help you making the scanned document editable and then you can use the "Read Out Loud" functionality.

https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/how-to-edit-a-scanned-pdf-file 

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Akanchha

[Alisha Marie359099524zaj]

Hello! This is not true for me: I have a PDF that is not a scanned document. Adobe recognizes words for highlighting, during the find feature, and it is editable, yet it still says "Warning, empty page."

[rephil]

I have the same issue with Adobe Acrobat and Windows 11  it will read some pages then starts the "warning emtpy page" This is not a scaned document but a downloaded mannual 

[Faith-Action]

I have the same issues. I have exported to pdf from an InDesign document. It is unlocked.

[AnandSri]

Hello @Faith-Action

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out.

When Adobe Acrobat's Read Out Loud feature reads "Warning—empty page," it indicates that Acrobat detects no readable text on that page, even though it may visibly contain text. This often happens due to one of the following:

Scanned images without OCR – If the PDF comprises scanned page images and hasn't had Optical Character Recognition (OCR) applied, Acrobat can’t detect text to read.

Malformed document structure or missing tags – Even if OCR was performed or text is selectable, a poorly structured PDF (such as missing tags or a broken content tree) can confuse Read Out Loud.

Reflow mode conflict – Having Reflow turned on may disrupt Read Out Loud. Some documentation suggests disabling Reflow to avoid the "empty page" warning.

Run OCR (Recognize Text):

Go to All Tools > Scan & OCR > Recognize Text.
Select the page(s) and run OCR to convert images to readable text.
After OCR, try Read Out Loud again.

Check Accessibility:

Use Tools > Accessibility > Full Check to see if the document is accessible. Help article: https://adobe.ly/46n6jpE

Ensure you are on the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: Win: 25.001.20672, Mac: 25.001.20668, Sept 03, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.