Enable Read Aloud for PDF Files in Microsoft Edge Chromium

How to Enable Read Aloud for PDF Files in Microsoft Edge Chromium

Microsoft Edge Chromium has received an improvement to the built-in Read Aloud feature. Now it can be enabled for PDF files you read in the browser.

This feature is not new to the Edge app. Its legacy EdgeHTML counterpart already had it available for long. As of now, the Read Aloud feature is a bit behind its predecessor, as it lacks features like notes, page view, and more. Microsoft has updated the Canary branch of the browser with a new Read Aloud option that finally adds support for PDF files.

The feature is currently experimental, means that it is hidden behind a flag. If you want to give it a try, here is how it enable it.

First update the Edge browser to the most recent version (see the list below).

To Enable Read Aloud for PDF Files in Microsoft Edge Chromium,

  1. Open Microsoft Edge.
  2. Type the following in the address bar: edge://flags/#edge-read-aloud-pdf.
  3. Select Enabled from the drop-down menu next to the Read Aloud in PDF option.
  4. Restart Microsoft Edge.

You are done! Now, open a PDF file in Microsoft Edge, and click on Read Aloud in the menu. The regular options like speed and voice can be customized for PDFs as well.

Actual Edge Versions

Download Microsoft Edge

You can download pre-release Edge version for Insiders from here:

Download Microsoft Edge Insider Preview

The stable version of the browser is available on the following page:

Download Microsoft Edge Stable

Microsoft Edge is now a Chromium-based browser with a number of exclusive features like Read Aloud and services tied to Microsoft instead of Google. The browser has already received a few updates, with support for ARM64 devices in Edge Stable 80. Also, Microsoft Edge is still supporting a number of aging Windows versions, including Windows 7, which has recently reached its end of support. Check out Windows Versions Supported by Microsoft Edge Chromium and Edge Chromium latest roadmap. Finally, interested users can download MSI installers for deployment and customization.

For pre-release versions, Microsoft is currently using three channels to deliver updates to Edge Insiders. The Canary channel receives updates daily (except Saturday and Sunday), the Dev channel is getting updates weekly, and the Beta channel is updated every 6 weeks. Microsoft is going to support Edge Chromium on Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, alongside macOS, Linux (coming in the future) and mobile apps on iOS and Android. Windows 7 users will receive updates until July 15, 2021.

You will find many Edge tricks and features covered in the following post:

Hands-on with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge

Also, see the following updates.

Via: Techdows

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

5 thoughts on “Enable Read Aloud for PDF Files in Microsoft Edge Chromium”

  1. For quite some time now, I cannot get Read aloud to work with the “online” voice selections, it just sits there silent. But the first 3 voices work fine (David, Mark, Zira). Tried just about everything to fix too.

    Reply

  2. Question: can I change just and only the font-type and font-size of “tooltips” by WinAeroTweaker, Advanced Appearance Settings?

    Reply

    1. Hi.
      The tooltips share the font of something else, but I forgot of what exactly. Maybe they use the menus or status bar font.

      Reply

  3. It doesn’t allow me to go to “edge://flags/#edge-read-aloud-pdf.” It’s just blank. It does, although, allow me to go to “edge://flags” then I type in read aloud, but all that appears is “Enable Microsoft Voice Extensions” So I enabled that, but that did nothing. “Read Aloud in PDF” does not appear at all. PLEASE HELP

    Reply

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