Read & Write 8 Gold: PDF Aloud
PDF Aloud is a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat Reader, which allows PDFs to be read aloud. While Adobe
Acrobat Reader 7 also has this facility, PDF Aloud reads more effectively and has a range of
customisable options to improve your reading experience.
You do not need to load Read & Write Gold 8 in order to use PDF Aloud – simply open your PDF
document to begin.
Using PDF Aloud
Click the Read current word, sentence or paragraph button to start reading.
Click Stop all speech to stop reading.
The PDF Aloud toolbar is straightforward – just hover your mouse over a button to see what it does.
You can also use key combinations to control it if you prefer.
Read current word, sentence or paragraph. Ctrl + Alt + y.
Read previous word, sentence or paragraph. Ctrl + Alt + <.
Pause speech. Ctrl + Alt + u.
Read next word, sentence or paragraph. Ctrl + Alt + >.
Stop speech. Ctrl + Alt + o.
Click and Speak. Ctrl + Alt + c.
The Click and Speak tool is particularly useful – click the icon then just click on an area of text you
want to have read aloud. When you want it to stop reading, simply click outside of the text.
You can also set PDF Aloud to read text in
blocks of one word, one sentence, or one
paragraph at a time. This can be helpful for
splitting up the sounds of the words.
Click the Expand This Button option to put these buttons in the main toolbar, so you can swap
between then easily.
Customising PDF Aloud
Click here to have PDF Aloud read continuously,
i.e. moving automatically from one block of text to the next.
Click here to change the voice
and other speech options.
Click here to customise the way PDF
Aloud pronounces words.
Speech Options
There is a good choice of voices available. Choose one and click Test Voice to try it.
You can also alter Pitch, Speed, and
Settle. Again, click Test Voice to
hear how it sounds.
Click this option to stop PDF Aloud
reading the document when you
scroll down it.
Change the highlighting and
background colours here.
Hover highlighting is an alternative option to Click and speak. If you choose this, PDF Aloud will
start reading the document from wherever you hover the mouse.
The drawbacks are that should your mouse drift off the screen, the reading stops; and if you
inadvertently mouse over a different part of the screen, PDF Aloud stops reading the part you want
and starts again from wherever the mouse has ended up.
For best results, we recommend Click and speak.
When you are satisfied with your choices, click OK.
Pronunciation Options
Click here to change the
Pronunciation Options
Type the required word in the
Pronounce this word: box
Then type in the way you want it to
sound in the Like this: box
Click the Speak buttons to hear how
the word sounds, and modify it as
much as you want.
When you are happy, click the Save
button
Your word will appear in the Pronunciations box.
You can manually delete the words from
the Pronounce this word: and Like
this: boxes in order to type new ones in,
or click the New button to do so
automatically.
When you have done all the words you
want, click OK.
For a video tutorial of PDF Aloud, click the Options
drop-down menu and choose Video tour.
Potential Problems
If Read & Write Gold 8 is already open when you open a PDF document, you may get a message
about reading an untagged document. PDF Aloud will then offer you its default settings of Infer
reading order from document (recommended) and Read the entire document. Do not change
these settings.
To make sure you don’t get this message again, click inside the Always use the settings from
Reading Preferences (Do not show this dialog again) box.
Then click the Start button.