I am having an issue with Microsoft Word pausing when I click 'Read Aloud.'

Question

I am having issues with about a five to ten second delay from when I click 'Read Aloud' in Word to when the program responds and begins reading. It does not freeze or 'spin' or give me any 'not responding' warning, there is just a delay.

I'm in Microsoft 365. I am on a Dell laptop running Windows 11. I have had the issue before, but cannot remember what the fix was. It also pauses between paragraphs.

Answer 1

Hi @Jeff Bray,

I suggest you try to open Word in safe mode and check if this feature works in safe mode. It may have a software conflict that caused the feature to not work properly. Open Word in safe mode running the following command: Press Win + R, type "winword /safe" in the blank box, press Enter. If it works fine in safe mode, please check the add-ins in your Word and disable them.

Click File- Options- Add-Ins on the left side of the dialog. Then click the drop-down arrow at the bottom of the dialog box and select "COM Add-Ins" from the list, then click the GO button. What comes up is a list of COM-Add Ins that are loaded and running.

You can also try to repair Office to help you: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/repair-an-office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

Just checking in to see if the information was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

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Answer 2

My Word is doing the same thing.

I've done what you've suggested above, but to no luck.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance