You can listen to any PDF file that has a text layer using a built-in version of Nuance® RealSpeak™.
At installation time only the English, French and German modules are installed. For further languages, please install the modules from your DVD or download them from the Nuance website for Power PDF. To install them after installation double-click the program's Setup.exe file and choose Change. From the Windows Control Panel the only choice is Uninstall. If you request reading a document in a language whose TTS pack is not installed, you receive a link from where it can be installed.
To set up default read aloud parameters
Choose File > Options > Speech > Text To Speech to specify language, voice, volume and rate. You can set here the range of accessibility for the entire document or for the first several pages only, and decide if you want to use tags to define the reading order.
To set up current read aloud parameters
Go to File > Info and click Edit Properties, then open the Reading tab. Specify the reading order (from the left to the right or from the right to the left), as well as the language for the document to be read aloud.
To have text read aloud
Choose Advanced Processing > Read Aloud and select a tool:
Read Current Page - reads the current page from beginning to end.
Read to End of Document - reads from the start of the current page to the end of the document.
Read to File - all document text enters an mp3 file you can name and save.
Once you have started reading, the Read PDF toolbar is displayed.
It has following controls (from left to right):
Stop – stops reading out. (The Escape key also stops reading)
Pause – pauses reading. When paused, the button changes to Resume.
Previous page – jump to the beginning of the previous page
Previous paragraph - jump to the beginning of the previous paragraph
Next paragraph – jump to the beginning of the next paragraph
Next page - jump to the beginning of the next page
Reading an image-only PDF
Such PDF files or pages can be read only after they are made searchable.
Use the Search tool at the right of the Home ribbon to test whether a PDF document or page is searchable. Choose Search Current and enter a word from the PDF text (not in a comment or annotation). If searched words cannot be found, you must make the PDF searchable:
Use the Make PDF Searchable tool in the neighboring group, Process. This should allow the PDF content to be read aloud.
Reading order by tag structure
Usually, an in-built application algorithm determines the reading order. But the reading order can be defined by the document's tag structure.
To utilize this, choose File > Options > Text To Speech, and mark the 'Use tags for reading out' checkbox.
When the application is reading out a PDF using its tag structure, it utilizes the following mechanism:
Text elements: the Alternate Text property is read out. If it is not available, the program reads the Current (Actual) Text property. If this is not available, the text content of the given tag will be read.
Non-text elements (for instance, images): Since these have no text content, only two of the above steps may apply: Alternate text is read out - in its absence, Actual Text. Such PDF elements will have Alternate text if they have been created from Word documents using the proper settings in Word (Format Picture dialog, Web tab). If not, their alternate texts have to be specified manually through the Tag tab in the Properties dialog box of the element concerned.
There are certain tag types that are treated specially by the PDF reading feature. These include:
Tables: Reading first describes the table (number of columns and rows). Then table headings with the specification 'Heading'. Afterwards reading navigates through the cells following the left-to-right and top-to-bottom order. For every cell, the relevant header cell content is repeated first, before reading out the actual cell content.
Headings: Before reading each heading, its level is defined.
Numbered or Bullet Lists: First, the number of list elements is specified, then list elements themselves are read out.
Form fields: When reading out uses tagging, only tagged form fields are included in it. In untagged documents, all form fields are read out - after the document content.
Annotations: In tagged documents, only tagged annotations are read out. In untagged ones - all annotations (after form fields - if any).
These tag types are created when you generate tagged PDF files from Word using the Nuance PDF ribbon. The layout analyzer built into the product is not capable of detecting these tag types.
Note
We recommend that you use tag-defined reading order if you have a complete and verified tag structure.
Reading out using Jaws®
The software Jaws is one of the most widespread screen-reader application used to read texts of interface elements as well as document content. If Jaws is installed on your machine, this program works in close cooperation with it.
Having your PDF read out by Jaws is an alternative for the in-built, tag-driven document reading capability of the program. With Jaws running, as soon as a PDF is opened, its content will start to be read out. For this reading method, the following keyboard actions are available:
Left arrow: read previous word
Right arrow: read next word
Up arrow: read previous content element in tag tree
Down arrow: read next content element in tag tree
CTRL+UP: read content of previous tag
CTRL+DOWN: read content of next tag
Page Up: read first content element of previous page
Page Down: read first content element of next page
Home: read first content element of document
End: read last content element of document
Escape: cancel reading
Parsing the whole PDF document for reading with Jaws may take longer than desired. To control the amount of text to be read out in one portion, go to File > Preferences > Speech > Text to Speech and set a page limit in the Accessibility group. Specify either the entire document or a certain amount of pages starting from page 1. If you opt for choosing the whole PDF, reading will proceed in 5-page portions. To navigate among these sections, use CTRL+Page Down and CTRL+Page Up.
Tip
To save only part of a PDF document to a sound file, use Split Document first.
Note
This product reads text in the language you chose at installation time. Go to File > Options > Speech > Text to Speech to change the reading language.
If a suitable version of Nuance® RealSpeak™ or OmniPage is available on your computer, you can select any language and voice that they offer.