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davidl88616228
davidl88616228
Participant
March 20, 2019
Answered

Read aloud selected text in InDesign

  • March 20, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 4310 views

Hi there - a colleague is using InDesign 5.5 on a Windows machine and needs a way to get the highlighted text read aloud. Speech software such as Dolphin Supernova can read aloud text in Google apps and other programmes, but we haven't yet found anything that can read aloud text on a page in InDesign (or story editor mode or incopy). Any advice would be very welcome. Many thanks!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

    Your friend needs to use a real screen reader that follows the industry standards for accessible text-to-speech.

    On Windows, try JAWS or NVDA.

    • JAWS is by Freedom Scientific http://www.freedomscientific.com/  You can download a trial version that gives you 40 minutes of use. After that, you must either buy the software outright or reboot your computer to get another 40 minute session.
    • NVDA is free from NV Access. https://www.nvaccess.org/

    Both programs can read anything that's on a Windows screen, any program, any file type. But that doesn't mean it will be able to give a satisfactory experience in InDesign. Two reasons:

    • The InDesign document itself must be made accessible with a correct reading order, Alt-text, etc.
    • And InDesign wasn't developed to be an accessible program. The PDFs exported from InDesign CAN be accessible, but not necessarily the base INDD layout file.

    If your friend must read the INDD file for editing purposes, you might want to try Adobe's matching InCopy program. I believe it's still available as a free download.

    3 replies

    2
    22340096zesr
    Participant
    December 4, 2023

    I have read all replies below. As a user and an editor, I listen to text before I finalize a document. Am I still bound to copying and pasting the text into Word or another product to hear what I've written? I've done cursory searches and don't seem to find this accessibility tool available for users of the software and not just end-users of the document.  Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

    Rishabh_Tiwari
    Community Manager
    Rishabh_TiwariCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    December 8, 2023

    Hi,

     

    Sorry for the delay in response. Let me assure you I'll share your feedback with the Engineering team. You can do that too here. This is the best way of sharing the feedback with the Engineering team.

     

    Thanks

    Rishabh

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.comCorrect answer
    Legend
    March 20, 2019

    Your friend needs to use a real screen reader that follows the industry standards for accessible text-to-speech.

    On Windows, try JAWS or NVDA.

    • JAWS is by Freedom Scientific http://www.freedomscientific.com/  You can download a trial version that gives you 40 minutes of use. After that, you must either buy the software outright or reboot your computer to get another 40 minute session.
    • NVDA is free from NV Access. https://www.nvaccess.org/

    Both programs can read anything that's on a Windows screen, any program, any file type. But that doesn't mean it will be able to give a satisfactory experience in InDesign. Two reasons:

    • The InDesign document itself must be made accessible with a correct reading order, Alt-text, etc.
    • And InDesign wasn't developed to be an accessible program. The PDFs exported from InDesign CAN be accessible, but not necessarily the base INDD layout file.

    If your friend must read the INDD file for editing purposes, you might want to try Adobe's matching InCopy program. I believe it's still available as a free download.

    |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
      davidl88616228
      davidl88616228Author
      Participant
      March 20, 2019

      Thank you - this is really helpful

      Derek Cross
      Community Expert
      Derek CrossCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 20, 2019

      You could export the InDesign document as a PDF and you can Read Out Loud that.

        Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
        Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
        Legend
        March 20, 2019

        True, but the PDF would have to be accessible for Acrobat's Read Aloud tool to work. That's not an easy thing to do!

        |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
          Derek Cross
          Community Expert
          Derek CrossCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          March 20, 2019

          It's not an area of particular expertise for me, but I found it easy to run the PDF Speak Out Loud feature.

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