Pre-release 3.7+
Read document text using Windows text-to-speech. You can start from a text selection, from the first visible text in the viewport, or (from the context menu) from the position where you right-clicked.
How to use #
- Open a document with selectable text (PDF, EPUB, etc.).
- Start reading from one of these places:
- Toolbar — Read Aloud button (click to start / pause / continue; the icon shows a speaker when idle or paused, and a pause symbol while speaking). Use the dropdown arrow for explicit start scopes and Voice.
- Main menu — Read Aloud (TTS) (after Selection)
- Context menu — Read Aloud (TTS) (after Document)
- Command palette (
Ctrl + K) — Read Aloud, Start Reading From Top, Start Reading Selection, Pause Reading, Continue Reading, Stop Reading (transport commands appear only when they apply)
- While a session is active (speaking or paused), a playback bar at the bottom of the canvas shows the document name, page X of Y, start scope, and Pause / Resume and Stop buttons on the left. The current word is highlighted on the page while speaking. Pause Reading, Continue Reading, and Stop Reading are also in all three Read Aloud menus.
Pause stops speech and remembers your position so you can Continue Reading later. Stop ends the session and clears the resume position.
Switching to another tab stops reading and clears the resume position on the tab you left.
Start scopes #
| Command | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Read Aloud (toolbar / palette) | Selection if present, otherwise first visible text in the viewport; continues through the rest of the document |
| Start Reading From Top | First visible text in the viewport → end of document |
| Start Reading From Cursor Position | Context menu only — right-click position → end of document (disabled when there is no text at the cursor) |
| Start Reading Selection | Selected text only; does not continue past the selection |
Scope labels on the playback bar: Smart start, From top, From cursor, or Selection.
While listening #
- Word highlight — the spoken word is highlighted on the page (uses the selection highlight color).
- Auto-scroll — the viewport scrolls to keep the spoken word in view. If you scroll the highlight fully off-screen, auto-scroll stops for that session so manual navigation is respected.
Voice #
Open Voice in any Read Aloud menu to pick System default or an installed Windows voice. Your choice is remembered in
ReadAloudVoiceId in Advanced options (SumatraPDF-settings.txt). Leave it empty for the system default.Limitations #
- Uses Windows speech voices installed on your system (WinRT Speech Synthesis with SAPI fallback).
- EPUB/complex layouts may read in an order that does not match visual layout.
- Copy-restricted documents cannot be read aloud (no message is shown).
- Pages with no extractable text show a short “No text available to read aloud” notification.
- Does not replace a full screen-reader experience for blind users — see Accessibility for UI Automation / Narrator.
See also #
- Commands — Read Aloud commands
- Advanced options —
ReadAloudVoiceId - Version history — 3.7 Read Aloud entry
- Accessibility — screen readers and other accessibility features