The voices on Microsoft Word read aloud have changed. How do I get the old ones back?

Question

The voices on Microsoft Word read aloud have changed. How do I get the old ones back?

Denarii Peters 70

The voices on Read aloud have changed suddenly from realistic British voices to robotic American ones. When I try to activate the function, a message pops up telling me to sign in to my Microsoft account. But I already am!!

How do I get the old voices back? (Non-technical advice, please. I'm a novelist, not an engineer!)

Angela Smith 45 Reputation points

2025-03-08T14:08:35.15+00:00

I'm having the same issue. It usually only does this when I'm offline. It's telling me to sign into 365 but it's already signed in. There's also no setting to change it. It's fine when using immersive reader via browser but that's really inconvenient. I am a budding novelist and am also not an engineer.
Katherin A 35 Reputation points

2025-03-08T15:29:39.6266667+00:00

Yes this is happening all over the place over different devices and OS Win11 pro, home, Android latest versions and updated OS, plus using the online word, account is updated and paid yearly, tired multiple internet connections and nothing, usually this happens when you lose internet and restarting the docs fixes it (sometimes you have to close all MS programs) but not this time as it is across board and i would guess its Microsoft servers doing something like upgrades and or maintenance.

I use the read aloud constantly as a writer to help with flow and paging plus hearing how it will sound when read, but i can say don't use Can English mode as the narrator for that is still very robotic, but the US English, UK Scottish, Irish all have great voices, you can change the doc type on the bottom left of the word window you have to convert the whole doc but you can then revert it back if your spell checker prefers proper English and not US English,,,,like spelling and grammar.

Microsoft please get this issue fixed as this is a workday for me and this is part of my work and why i pay so much for office each year so, please get this back up, asap.
GLEN GLEN 25 Reputation points

2025-03-08T18:32:45.89+00:00

Any updates on if this issue has been fixed? It was fine up to yesterday. I'm a writer and I need this tool for work.
The sudden unavailability is driving me up a wall! Please hurry up and do something Microsoft!
Mavros Whissell 15 Reputation points

2025-03-10T17:35:01.3566667+00:00

Had the same problem as that listed by A. Smith above. The issue started about 3 days ago, it will not give other voice options despite my being logged on.
Brian Maday 5 Reputation points

2025-05-22T18:37:30.9266667+00:00

So I'm the only one who preferred the... folks keep saying 'robotic,' but I prefer 'neutral'... voices?

Mine is stuck with over-acted male or female voices, neither of which I like. How do I get back to one that sounds like it's reading the encyclopedia?
Michael Amos 10 Reputation points

2025-09-21T12:51:10.8766667+00:00

I am getting so fed up with Word. I too am a budding new author, just finished my first book and am in the process of proof reading it. Use the voice reader a lot and the new voice is driving me crazy. It is so awful. Also I find using Word so very difficult, not easy to understand what all the symbols do and mean. I bought a large manual thinking that would explain everything but it doesn’t. It is like you have to be an expert on Word first before you can understand the book, plus you look through the index in the book and there are lots of things missing. I just need simple explanations. Is there another, more simpler way of writing a book on your computer that doesn’t use Microsoft word?
Henry Beakes 10 Reputation points

2025-10-02T16:29:44.0733333+00:00

When I write, I always use the Read Aloud feature to help proofread my documents. It allows me to both hear and read my work, making it easier to catch mistakes.

When I first purchased and installed Word, the Read Aloud feature worked perfectly. As long as I was connected to the internet, I had access to a smooth, natural human voice reading my documents.

Since the first week of September, however, that voice has disappeared. Now, when I try to proofread my work, the only options available are robotic voices (David, Mark, or Zira). They are unpleasant to listen to and make proofreading difficult. This happens whether I’m online or offline.

I’ve searched for solutions and followed all the steps Microsoft suggests, but nothing has restored the original voice. I suspect that one of the automatic Microsoft updates may have removed or disabled the online voice. I’m even considering uninstalling and reinstalling Word to try to fix the issue.

What changed, and how can I get the natural voice back?

Henry Beakes

******@gmail.com

3 answers

Your answer

Angela Smith 45 Reputation points

2025-03-08T14:08:35.15+00:00

I'm having the same issue. It usually only does this when I'm offline. It's telling me to sign into 365 but it's already signed in. There's also no setting to change it. It's fine when using immersive reader via browser but that's really inconvenient. I am a budding novelist and am also not an engineer.
Katherin A 35 Reputation points

2025-03-08T15:29:39.6266667+00:00

Yes this is happening all over the place over different devices and OS Win11 pro, home, Android latest versions and updated OS, plus using the online word, account is updated and paid yearly, tired multiple internet connections and nothing, usually this happens when you lose internet and restarting the docs fixes it (sometimes you have to close all MS programs) but not this time as it is across board and i would guess its Microsoft servers doing something like upgrades and or maintenance.

I use the read aloud constantly as a writer to help with flow and paging plus hearing how it will sound when read, but i can say don't use Can English mode as the narrator for that is still very robotic, but the US English, UK Scottish, Irish all have great voices, you can change the doc type on the bottom left of the word window you have to convert the whole doc but you can then revert it back if your spell checker prefers proper English and not US English,,,,like spelling and grammar.

Microsoft please get this issue fixed as this is a workday for me and this is part of my work and why i pay so much for office each year so, please get this back up, asap.
GLEN GLEN 25 Reputation points

2025-03-08T18:32:45.89+00:00

Any updates on if this issue has been fixed? It was fine up to yesterday. I'm a writer and I need this tool for work.
The sudden unavailability is driving me up a wall! Please hurry up and do something Microsoft!
Mavros Whissell 15 Reputation points

2025-03-10T17:35:01.3566667+00:00

Had the same problem as that listed by A. Smith above. The issue started about 3 days ago, it will not give other voice options despite my being logged on.
Brian Maday 5 Reputation points

2025-05-22T18:37:30.9266667+00:00

So I'm the only one who preferred the... folks keep saying 'robotic,' but I prefer 'neutral'... voices?

Mine is stuck with over-acted male or female voices, neither of which I like. How do I get back to one that sounds like it's reading the encyclopedia?
Michael Amos 10 Reputation points

2025-09-21T12:51:10.8766667+00:00

I am getting so fed up with Word. I too am a budding new author, just finished my first book and am in the process of proof reading it. Use the voice reader a lot and the new voice is driving me crazy. It is so awful. Also I find using Word so very difficult, not easy to understand what all the symbols do and mean. I bought a large manual thinking that would explain everything but it doesn’t. It is like you have to be an expert on Word first before you can understand the book, plus you look through the index in the book and there are lots of things missing. I just need simple explanations. Is there another, more simpler way of writing a book on your computer that doesn’t use Microsoft word?
Henry Beakes 10 Reputation points

2025-10-02T16:29:44.0733333+00:00

When I write, I always use the Read Aloud feature to help proofread my documents. It allows me to both hear and read my work, making it easier to catch mistakes.

When I first purchased and installed Word, the Read Aloud feature worked perfectly. As long as I was connected to the internet, I had access to a smooth, natural human voice reading my documents.

Since the first week of September, however, that voice has disappeared. Now, when I try to proofread my work, the only options available are robotic voices (David, Mark, or Zira). They are unpleasant to listen to and make proofreading difficult. This happens whether I’m online or offline.

I’ve searched for solutions and followed all the steps Microsoft suggests, but nothing has restored the original voice. I suspect that one of the automatic Microsoft updates may have removed or disabled the online voice. I’m even considering uninstalling and reinstalling Word to try to fix the issue.

What changed, and how can I get the natural voice back?

Henry Beakes

******@gmail.com

Answer 1

I'm a lawyer, not a engineer. I am a moderator on several of these forums and have seen numerous iterations of this question in the past few days.

It is apparently a bug that is for all devices introduced with a recent update.

There is nothing you, as a user can do to fix this. You need to wait for Microsoft to fix it. Writing here does not bring it to the attention of anyone who can do anything about it. You are addressing your fellow users here. Microsoft is aware of the problem, though.

I recommend using the Public Feedback Portal.

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/fb6d67e3-301c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472

Then, once your feedback is posted, copy the URL and then come back here and post it so that others can comment and vote.

Be the squeaky wheel. Keep pressure on.

You can search for and vote on other feedback already posted. I would suggest a search for "read aloud."

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/search/fb6d67e3-301c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472?q=%22read+aloud%22

Here is a list of some feedback links:

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/5c539f58-29fc-ef11-a4de-6045bdb3947a

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/3ca4e898-36fd-ef11-a4dd-7c1e52ead3c1

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/cecdbcad-e1ee-ef11-a4dd-7c1e52c1c6b2

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/a3c7a9bc-85ed-ef11-a4dd-7c1e52e3e882

Feel free to vote and vent a little.

For more on using feedback, see my article: This is a user-to-user support forum. -- You can give feedback TO MICROSOFT designers and decision makers on Microsoft Word or other Microsoft Products using their feedback mechanisms, (not here). (This is a link to directions.)

Answer 2

There is a Microsoft article explaining that in offline mode, only a few voices (the robotic ones) will be available.

The realistic voices will not work when Internet connection is lost because the natural voices are not installed locally - they are using Microsoft's online text to speech engine! So all of your text is sent to Microsoft's servers when you use the feature. And I suspect they will not and cannot fix this because the natural voices need a good graphical processing unit for neural network processing, and such a beefy GPU is not available on most laptops, so it would not work well offline anyway.

And if you have an older Office (2019), then even online mode does not help - it shows only David, Mark and Zira robotic local voices.

Answer 3

Hank Ellis 5

The issue persists. Not long ago I could listen yo my manuscript with a natural voice, but the robotic voice is back. Extremely frustrating, so much so I'm about to end my subscription

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The voices on Microsoft Word read aloud have changed. How do I get the old ones back?

3 answers

Your answer