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How to change voice in "Read Aloud"

Anonymous
2021-06-28T04:37:48+00:00

I would like to change the voice in the "Read Aloud" function in Word. There are only 3 options in the dropdown menu and I do not want to use any of those.

I have changed the Narrator voice and the Text-To-Speech settings in control panel. I have even attempted to modify the speech package in the registry editor to enable it to be used by all programs but for some reason I just can't get the voice to change in Microsoft Word.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-06-28T13:45:53+00:00

    Hi Kelly,

    Thanks for posting in the community.

    According to your description, you want to change the voice of Read Aloud in Word. Based on my test and the following references, please make sure:

    1. You have downloaded the Speech of the language.

    Go to the Windows Setting> Time & Language > Language> select the language> Options> Speech. After that, Restart your computer

    1. Note: Read Aloud reads text in the default speech language of your operating system.

    After that, restart Word and check again.

    For your references:

    Learning Tools in Word

    How to download Text-to-Speech languages for Windows 10

    Also, free Text-to-Speech languages are available for download from Open source provider eSpeak. Please check the above references.

    Regards,

    George

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-07-01T14:21:53+00:00

    Hi George,

    Thanks for the reply. This did allow me to change it from British to Australian, which is slightly less annoying to listen to. I wanted to use the Cortana voice as I find that much more pleasant. I guess this is simply not possible. It's very frustrating, as I can see it sitting there but just can't access it in Word while I can use it in other programs. It's quite ironic that I can use my preferred voice in third-party programs, but for some reason it is blocked from a native program like Word.

    As you can see below, I am able to select my preferred voice as the "default" in the text-to-speech settings, but this does not carry over to the Speech setting in Time & Language. I can also use this voice in the Narrator.

    Image

    If there is a way to access the additional Windows voices in Read Aloud please let me know.

    Thanks,

    Kelly.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-07-02T14:51:36+00:00

    Hi Kelly,

    For English (Australia), Windows only provides two voice James and Catherine in the above reference, I am afraid it may not feasible to use the voice you want in Word directly.

    Based on the situation, I would like to suggest you:

    1. Send feedback to Microsoft (Open Word, click File> Feedback)
    2. You can post the idea in our UserVoice community where other members posted their ideas and support team fulfilled these ideas. It’s the platform for us to hear your voice and improve our products.

    Appreciate your understanding and patience.

    Regards,

    George

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-06-28T12:32:27+00:00

    As far as I'm aware there are only the default 3 options offered in Word

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-06-30T11:40:44+00:00

    Hi Kelly,

    If you have any updates, please feel free and come back to share with us.

    Regards,

    George

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