# Read a PDF with Read Out Loud

Note: The Read Out Loud feature is available for Linux but not for other versions of UNIX.

The Read Out Loud feature reads aloud the text in a PDF, including the text in comments and alternate text descriptions for images and fillable fields. In tagged PDFs, content is read in the order in which it appears in the document’s logical structure tree. In untagged documents, the reading order is inferred, unless a reading order has been specified in the Reading preferences.

Read Out Loud uses the available voices installed on your system. If you have SAPI 4 or SAPI 5 voices installed from text-to-speech or language applications, you can choose them to read your PDFs.

Note: Read Out Loud isn’t a screen reader, and some operating systems may not support it.

### Activate or deactivate Read Out Loud

Note: The Read Out Loud feature is available for Linux but not for other versions of UNIX.

You must activate Read Out Loud before you can use it. You can deactivate Read Out Loud to free system resources and improve performance of other operations.

Do one of the following:

- Choose View > Read Out Loud > Activate Read Out Loud or press Shift+Ctrl+Y/Shift+Command+Y.

- Choose View > Read Out Loud > Deactivate Read Out Loud or press Shift+Ctrl+Y/Shift+Command+Y.

### Read a PDF with Read Out Loud

Note: The Read Out Loud feature is available for Linux but not for other versions of UNIX.

1. Navigate to the page that you want to read.
2. Do one of the following:

   - Choose View > Read Out Loud > Read This Page Only or press Shift+Ctrl+V/Shift+Command+V.

   - Choose View > Read Out Loud > Read To End Of Document or press Shift+Ctrl+B/Shift+Command+B.

### Read PDF form fields out loud

Note: The Read Out Loud feature is available for Linux but not for other viersions of UNIX.

1. In the Reading panel of the Preferences dialog box, select Read Form Fields in the Read Out Loud Options section.
2. In the PDF form, press Tab to select the first form field.
3. Make entries and selections as needed, and then press Tab to move to the next field, repeating this step until the form is completed. Reader reads the state of selected check boxes and radio buttons.

### Interrupt reading out loud

Note: The Read Out Loud feature is available for Linux but not for other versions of UNIX.
Do one of the following:

- Choose View > Read Out Loud > Pause or press Shift+Ctrl+C/Shift+Command+C.

- Choose View > Read Out Loud > Stop or press Shift+Ctrl+E/Shift+Command+E.