Pdf Voice Reader App Mac

  • Download Speechify Text Reader News PDF and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. ‎You can LISTEN faster than you can READ Speechify is an intelligent text-to-speech audio-reader that turns your reading material into interactive audiobooks so that you can save time, retain more information, and stay focused.
  • The most popular Mac alternative is eSpeak, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Voice Dream Reader and many of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement.

It may not give you great lasagna but it will give you voiceover on any pdf file you want or need to read on your Mac! 1) Use ‘Preview’ to view the pdf document 2) Make sure you have ‘Single Page’ selected on Preview’s ‘View’ drop-down menu – You may also choose – to ‘View Thumbnails’ of the pdf pages. Supports PDF. Supports EPUB (via the excellent EPUBReader extension from epubread.com). Starting in version 1.4.6, you can use your Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account to enable Amazon Polly and Google Wavenet voices. Listen to the app reading aloud or read on screen web pages, news articles, long emails, TXT, PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, OpenOffice documens, EPUB, MOBI, PRC, AZW and FB2 ebooks and more. It's an HTML reader, document reader and ebook reader all in one, both for reading on-screen, or listening when your eyes hurt, malfunction or are busy elsewhere. FEATURES:. Open text, PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF. You can activate Read Aloud (or Text to Speech) on your Mac so that it reads documents (word, pdf, etc.) or websites when you select certain keys. Apple Icon System Preferences Accessibility Speech Speak Selected Text When the Key is Pressed.

Whether you prefer articles read to you while you do something else or trying to grasp a new foreign language or even for specially abled students, TTS (short for text-to-speech) has proved to be very useful.

In our previous articles we saw some of the best text to speech apps for Windows and Android. And today, we take a look at some of the best TTS options available for Macs.

Text To Speech For Mac

1. macOS TTS

Before we get too ahead of ourselves and start downloading third party apps, it is very trivial to know that macOS itself comes with a built-in TTS and you can use it anywhere on your computer from the Notes app to any browser.

To get started, highlight or select the text which you want to be read and then right click, go to Speech and then to Start Speaking; and your Mac should start reading the text to you. It also supports a lot of other languages other than English and there are a lot of voices to choose from in all the languages. To change the language option simply go to Accessibility > Speech. Although some voices are very robotic, there are a few which aren’t and sound more like a human.

But the TTS is far from perfect; it is very basic and barebones and lacks options like pause/play, picking up from a selected word instantly and a lot more.

Quick Tip: It blew my mind and might even blow yours to know that the native TTS on Mac also supports converting your text into audio files. Just select the required text, right click and go to Services > Add to iTunes as a spoken track. The text will be converted to an audio track and added to your iTunes library.

Pros:
– Built-in system wide
– Lots of voice options
– Converting text to iTunes track

Cons:
– No Pause/Play
– Have to select manually all the words to be read
– No instant pickup

Verdict:
Overall, the TTS that comes with macOS is very barebones without all the bells and whistles and should be perfect for somebody looking for a basic TTS experience without even buying or installing any third party software.

2. Invicta TTS

Invicta TTS is a very simple free Text To Speech app available on the Mac App Store.
Once you open up the app, it presents you with a text box where you can enter or paste any text which will be then converted to speech. The app is very lightweight and minimal in nature with everything being to the point.

Although the app is very basic, unlike the built in TTS of Mac OS, it does add the option of playing or pausing the audio which becomes crucial when listening to long texts or articles. The voice settings cannot be changed but the in built voice does the job pretty good enough.

Pros:
– Minimal and Light
– Play/Pause Option

Cons:
– Cannot read documents automatically
– Supports only English

Verdict:
If you need a simple and light TTS app and might be listening to long articles, Invicta TTS does the job pretty well but do remember that it can only read English.

Link: Get Invicta TTS on the App Store

Price: Free

3. Natural Reader

The next app on our list is Natural Reader which is an extremely powerful TTS software available not only on Mac OS but also on Windows, iOS, Android and even has an online reader.

The app comes in many flavours, each with its fair share of features for the price. The free version comes with basic TTS features along with the ability to read directly from file formats such as Docx, PDF, ePub and Txt. It also has a floating bar which can be used to read text while you are in other applications. The next option or the Personal version, at a steep $100, allows you to read web pages directly, converting text to audio files and syncing everything between your phone apps. There are also Professional and Ultimate versions which add OCR support and a bunch of natural voices.

Pros:
– Support for file formats
– Convert to audio files
– Cross Platform
– OCR Support

Cons:
– Pricey
– No instant pickup

Verdict:
All the features of Natural Reader definitely come at a price and you should be able to decide whether it is a suit for you with respect to your investment in TTS, but even for a casual user the free version works really well. Overall, Natural reader is not just best text to speech software with natural voices, but since it also support PDF, it’s also a good option for those who are looking for PDF Voice Reader for macOS.

Pricing Options: Pricing for Natural Reader

Link: Download Natural Reader from here

4. Read Aloud

Free music player app for mac. Read Aloud is not exactly a stand alone Mac app but instead a Chrome extension which might appeal to some people. Considering how many posts and articles are read on the internet everyday, we had to include Read Aloud.

It is completely free and once you install it, its icon will appear in the extension bar which you can now use to read any webpage or any online article, just by a single click. When it is in work, you get a play/pause button along with a forward or rewind button which can be used to advance or backtrack paragraphs. Considering it is free, the voice options are really good and feel very natural and premium.

Pros:
– Great natural voice
– Forward or rewind by paragraphs
– Listen to webpages

Cons:
– Works only on Chrome

Verdict:
Suggesting Read Aloud is very straight forward; if you are someone who reads a lot on the internet and are looking for a free TTS software for that, nothing beats Read Aloud.

Price: Free

Link: Download Read Aloud from the Chrome Store

5. Capti Voice

Capti Voice is probably the most polished and well rounded TTS software available for the Mac and the award are only there to justify that. Starting off, Capti Voice uses your browser for the app to function instead of a stand alone Mac application. Don’t worry, you can still use it while you are offline as it stores all its data locally and personally I have had no issues.

Capti Voice has a subscription based model and even the free version has a lot to offer from various file format supports to text search while the premium versions add features like creating playlists, OCR Support and intelligent dictionary lookup. The voices offered across all the platforms are very high quality and commendable.

Quick Tip: Don’t forget to use the Chrome extension which allows you to save articles or webpages to be read later by Capti Voice.

Pros:
– Cross platform with mobile apps
– Create Playlists
– Dictionary lookup
– Shortcuts to get around

Cons:
– No standalone app
– Syncs only when you add to cloud storage

Verdict:
Overall, Capti Voice is a really compelling app with features packed to the brim and is very similar to natural Reader but with a subscription based model. It is really the best TTS experience you can get on Mac OS.

Pricing Info: Pricing Options for Capti Voice

Link: Download Capti Voice from here

6. Honorable Mentions

CereProc has some of the most natural sounding computer speeches available on the market, which you can use to replace the default voice on your Mac (also available for other platforms). There are a lot of high quality voice packs to choose from and each costs around $35.

Zamzar is a free online service which you can use to convert your text to audio files or mp3s. Unlike the iTunes spoken track which you can use only on Apple devices, you can use it on any platform without any hassle.

Wrapping up: Best Text to Speech for Mac

So these were some of the TTS software available on the Mac and we hope we made your decision a little bit easier. If you are someone who reads mainly on the internet, Read Aloud is by far the best free option. Although a little limited, the built-in TTS feature seems to work just fine, but it can be a pain for long stretches of texts or long articles for which there is Invicta which is also free.

Natural Reader and Capti Voice both are spectacular TTS apps with a lot of plans to choose from, but I guess what it comes down to is the paying model. Natural reader is a one time purchase and should be better if you feel you will be invested in TTS for a long time whereas Capti Voice follows a subscription based model also with a one week free trial. Thanks for reading and do comment below which one is your favorite TTS app on Mac OS.

Read: Make your Devices Read Out Text, With Text to Speech

While Microsoft Edge has supported PDF documents for a long time, up until now, it only included a limited number of features that led users to choose alternative applications to cover all the basic functionalities to work with this type of file format.

However, starting with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709), Microsoft Edge is getting a number of significant improvements that now make the browser a good choice to view and edit PDF documents on a PC.

Alongside the new Fluent Design touches, performance improvements, and new features to work with EPUB files, Microsoft Edge adds many PDF enhancements, including better viewing, navigation, and annotation tools, Windows Ink as well as support for fill in forms, and more.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps and highlight the most important features on Microsoft Edge that make it a dream to work with PDF files.

How to set Microsoft Edge as your default PDF reader

Although by default, Windows 10 sets Microsoft Edge as your default PDF reader, if you've been using another software to handle this type of document, you can quickly set the browser as your preferred PDF reader.

Simply go to Settings > Apps > Default apps, click the Choose default apps by file type link. Then scroll down and click the app that is currently set a default for .pdf, and select Microsoft Edge from the list.

Once you've completed the steps, you can simply double-click a PDF document, and it'll open in the web browser.

How to navigate a PDF document using Microsoft Edge

On the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft Edge is getting a lot of PDF improvements, some of which you'll notice immediately in the toolbar.

Table of contents

On the left side of the toolbar, there is a new button to access the table of contents for the document in supported files. Inside the flyout, you can then click any heading to jump to that part of the PDF.

If the document doesn't include table of contents, you can always click the page number on the far left side of the toolbar to enter the page number you want to read. Or you can use the search button to query part of the text to find a specific section.

Rotate

Microsoft Edge also includes a number of options for better viewing and navigation. Alongside the 'Fit to page' and 'Zoom out' and 'Zoom in' buttons, this new version adds a new Rotate button that will come in handy when you're working with scanned documents, which often don't have the proper orientation.

Layout

There is a new Layout menu, which you can use to switch between one-page to two-page view, and there is also an option to allow continuous scrolling for better navigation on long documents.

Quick Tip: In order to reveal the PDF toolbar, click anywhere in the file, and click anywhere again to hide it.

How to edit a PDF form using Microsoft Edge

Perhaps one of the biggest improvements on Microsoft Edge is the ability to fill in PDF forms on the web (or locally stored on your device) within the browser, and then save the form for printing.

Just open the PDF form, edit the fields and select the options using the drop-down menu as required. Then click the Save button in the top-right corner, or click the Save as button to keep a copy of the form.

How to annotate a PDF document using Microsoft Edge

Pdf Voice Reader App Mac Download

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update also adds a version of Microsoft Edge that includes support for PDF annotation with a highlighter, notes, and the ability to ask Cortana.

When you open an unprotected PDF document, you can select some text to access the new menu with four buttons.

  • Highlighter – Allows you to choose the highlight color and the option to remove a highlight.

  • Note – Opens up a notepad (similar to Sticky Notes), which you can use to add comments. Once you're done typing the note, click the checkmark button in the top-right corner, or the trash can button in the bottom-right to delete.

  • Copy – Lets you copy the selected text to the clipboard, which you can then paste into another document.

  • Cortana – Selecting a word or some text, you can also click the Cortana button to open the assistant flyout and research the word or text.

It's also possible to select some text on the document and right-click to access the same options, but in a traditional menu style that includes the name of each option, instead of buttons.

Annotating PDF documents with Windows Ink

Another interesting feature coming with Microsoft Edge is the ability to add notes to PDF documents using Windows Ink.

This feature was previously only available for web pages, but you can use your digital pen, mouse, or touch to annotate PDF documents with natural handwriting.

Simply click the Add Notes button next to the Share button to get started. The tools available are limited compared to annotating a web page, but you can change the pen and highlighter color and size, and there is also a Touch Writing button that allows you to use your finger as a pen on touch-enabled screens. Additionally, you also get an eraser to undo strokes.

Once you're done annotating, you can just click the Save button from the toolbar to save your changes.

It's worth noting that you can only annotate unprotected PDF documents.

How to print a PDF document using Microsoft Edge

If you ever need to print a PDF form or document, Microsoft Edge makes it an easy task.

Just open the PDF, edit as required, click the Printer button in the toolbar, and click the Print button after selecting your printing preferences.

How to use Read aloud on a PDF document using Microsoft Edge

In order to make PDFs more accessible to everyone, Microsoft Edge also includes a new feature that users can use to hear text from PDF documents and forms aloud.

You can right-click the page and select the Read aloud option to hear the words of that page. Alternatively, you can click the Read aloud button from the toolbar to let Microsoft Edge read the text aloud.

Pdf Voice Reader For Mac

While in 'Read aloud' mode, a new toolbar will appear with controls to allow you to play/pause, skip to next or previous paragraph, and you can also click the Voice settings button to change the reading speed and voice.

Wrapping things up

Starting with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft Edge includes a number of improvements that make the browser a suitable replacement for third-party PDF reader software.

Adobe Pdf Reader Mac

However, the browser still lacks some professional features like the ability to create PDF files, add a watermark, compare file changes, export files as Office documents, and convert Office documents to PDFs. Though, seeing the way that Microsoft is continuously improving the experience, it wouldn't be a surprise to see at least some of these features being introduced in future releases.

While we're focusing this guide on the new PDF features on Microsoft Edge, in order to make the guide more complete, we also mentioned features that were previously available on the browser (e.g., Print, Fit to page, Zoom in and Zoom Out).

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

PC players can finally Finish the Fight

Review: Halo 3 on PC is exactly what you were looking for

Halo 3 has been exclusive to the Xbox series of consoles for 13 years, but that all changes now that the game has been released on PC through the Master Chief Collection. But how does the port hold up? Here's our full review.