How do I get the natural sounding voices back?

Thank you for your understanding, and oh, joy...I am happy to report we are finally making some progress! I was finally able to open the PDF in Microsoft Edge and have it read with the natural-sounding voices (once I cleared the cache). So, at least I know the voices are there and accessible somewhere. But since I am editing, I need to have the voices work in the Read Aloud feature of Word so that I can make real-time edits and then hear it read back to me. The PDF is fine as a final read-through, but not during editing. The minute I converted the PDF back to Word, I was back to the robotic voices. Is that something you might have a suggestion about?

Hi Lonex P.

Thank you so much for following up and for being so kind and for not belittling my question. I really appreciate that! As it turns out, my document did not have an option to open in Edge, so I saved it as a PDF as you suggested and then opened it in Edge. I found the Read Aloud option, and when I clicked it, a "bar" dropped down that had voice options, to choose from, but it was greyed out, and a blue bar just endlessly chases itself across my screen (as though something is loading). The document never gets read aloud because the blue bar never stops chasing itself. I tried opening another very short pdf or two to see if length or the particular document was the issue, but had the same results. I tried the resetting option in Microsoft Edge and also tried reinstalling (modifying) Microsoft Edge as well, but that had no effect either. I have no extensions currently running. and the Microsoft Edge version that is running is Version 136.0.3240.76 (Official build) (64-bit), I sure would love to make this work, so any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Hi gatorgirl85

You're doing great—no foolish questions here! To open a Word document in Microsoft Edge and use the Read Aloud feature, follow these steps:

Open Microsoft Edge on your laptop.

Locate Your Word Document – Find the document you want to open.

Right-Click the File – Select "Open with" > "Microsoft Edge" (if available).

If Edge doesn’t appear as an option, convert the Word document to a PDF:

Open the document in Microsoft Word.

Click "File" > "Save As".

Choose PDF as the format and save it.

Open the PDF file in Microsoft Edge.

Enable Read Aloud – Once the document is open in Edge:

Click the three-dot menu (top-right corner).

Select "Read Aloud".

Adjust the voice and speed using the Voice Options.

Please let me know if this helps.

Best Regards,

Lonex P.

Microsoft Moderator

Thank you so much for your response. I'll add my answers to the steps you mentioned...

1) Check Read Aloud Voice Settings - the only voices available in the setting are the standard robotic ones

2) Verify Internet Connection - it's been on the whole time and working well

3) Download Additional Voices - I've downloaded every English speaking pack and none of them are the same as the female voice I used to be able to access in Microsoft 365. That female voice has natural intonations and reads text like a human.

4) Try Using Edge’s Read Aloud Feature - perhaps I'm not doing this correctly. I am signed in on Edge but how exactly does one open a Word document that's saved on my laptop with Edge? Sorry if that's a foolish question. If you give me step-by-step instructions, I'll be glad to try again.

Hi gatorgirl85

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

I understand your frustration with the robotic-sounding voices in Word on your laptop. Since you switched from Microsoft 365 to Office Professional Plus 2021, the issue likely stems from differences in available voices between the two versions. To get the natural-sounding voices back, you can try the following steps:

Check Read Aloud Voice Settings

Open Word → Click Review → Read Aloud.

Click the gear icon in the Read Aloud toolbar.

Try selecting different voices from the Voice Selection menu.

Verify Internet Connection

The natural-sounding voices require an active internet connection to function.

If you're offline, Word defaults to the older, robotic voices.

Download Additional Voices

Go to Settings → Time & Language → Speech.

Under Voices, check if additional voices are available for download.

If needed, install a text-to-speech language pack.

Try Using Edge’s Read Aloud Feature

If Word’s voices remain robotic, Microsoft Edge has a Read Aloud feature with natural voices.

Open your document in Edge, right-click, and select Read Aloud.

If the issue persists, you may need to contact Microsoft Support for further assistance.

Best Regards,

Lonex P.

Microsoft Moderator