Erin Wright Writing

Writing-Related Software Tutorials

How to Listen to PDFs Being Read in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader (PC & Mac)

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This tutorial explains how to listen to PDFs being read in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader. We will also discuss keyboard shortcuts that make reading aloud easier. Lastly, we will customize the reading settings, such as the voice and speed.

All the steps listed here are demonstrated in real-time on my YouTube channel:

Table of Contents

Important Note: These steps apply to Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader’s updated interface on both PC and Mac. These steps don’t apply to older versions of Acrobat or Reader using the legacy interface.

How to Listen to PDFs Being Read

  1. Open the PDF and scroll to the page that you want to start listening to.
  2. (PC only) Select Menu in the top, left corner of the screen.
  3. (PC only) Select View from the drop-down menu.

Mac users can select View directly from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

  1. Select Read out loud from the submenu.
  2. Select Activate Read Out Loud from the secondary submenu.
  3. Reselect the Menu button.
  4. Reselect View from the drop-down menu.

Mac users can select View directly from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

  1. Reselect Read out loud from the submenu.
  2. Choose Read this page only or Read to end of document from the secondary submenu.

Once the document is being read, you can return to this secondary submenu to Pause or Stop the reading or Deactivate Read Out Loud.

Keyboard Shortcuts to Listen to PDFs Being Read

The following keyboard shortcuts allow you to listen to your PDF without continually returning to the Read Out Loud menu.

Activate/Deactivate Read Out Loud

(PC) Shift + Ctrl + Y

(Mac) Shift + Command + Y

Read this page only

(PC) Shift + Ctrl + V

(Mac) Shift + Command + V

Read to end of document

(PC) Shift + Ctrl + B

(Mac) Shift + Command + B

Pause

(PC) Shift + Ctrl + C

(Mac) Shift + Command + C

Stop

(PC) Shift + Ctrl + E

(Mac) Shift + Command + E

Important Note: The keyboard shortcuts to Read this page only, Read to end of document, Pause, and Stop only work when Read Out Loud is activated.

How to Customize the Reading Settings (e.g., Voice and Speed)

  1. Select Menu (PC) or Acrobat (Mac) in the top, left corner of the screen.
  2. Select Preferences from the drop-down menu.
  3. Select the Reading category in the Preferences dialog box.
  4. Adjust the volume from 1 to 10. (7 is the default.)
  5. Deselect Use default voice to choose another option from the Voice menu.
Important note: The available voices will depend on the voices installed in your operating system.
  1. Deselect Use default speech attributes to adjust the pitch and words per minute, which is the reading speed.
  2. Select the OK button.

Related Resources

How to Use Read Aloud in Microsoft Word (Listen to Text)

How to Use Automatic Scrolling in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader (PC & Mac)