In what could be good news for students, Microsoft Edge’s Read Aloud PDF documents feature is available for everyone on the latest Canary and Dev builds and is now also available in Beta. Microsoft Edge developers announced the update via Twitter.
Read Aloud for PDFs now available in Edge
Last month, Microsoft Edge’s Read Aloud feature extended its support to PDF documents. Back then, Read Aloud for PDF support was limited to Edge Insiders. Now, the same has become available for everyone via Microsoft Edge Canary, Dev, and Beta builds.
The idea behind extending support for PDF documents is convenience. According to Microsoft, it also helps users focus more on content:
“Many people use the Read aloud feature in Microsoft Edge as a daily driver. It is super convenient to just pop in an earbud and listen to content while doing something else. Not just that, Read aloud helps auditory and visual learners to focus on content and learn more efficiently.”
Before the PDF support, the Read aloud feature was available in Immersive Reader and for webpages.
Students have you heard? 👩🏫
Read aloud 🗣️ for PDFs is available for everyone on the latest Canary and Dev builds and is now also available in Beta. #MicrosoftEDU #EdgeEDUhttps://t.co/tHOH5VqqPr
— Microsoft Edge Dev (@MSEdgeDev) June 20, 2020
How to access the Read aloud PDF feature in Edge
Are you looking to access the Read aloud feature on PDF documents? All you need to do is open any PDF file in Edge from your computer or the web. In the toolbar located at the top, discover the option — “Read aloud.” Simply tap the button to start.
How the Read aloud PDF feature in Edge works
As soon as you tap the ‘Read aloud’ button on a PDF document, Edge will start at the beginning and highlight each word as it goes along. Users can easily personalize the reading speed and voice via the “Voice options” menu from the toolbar alongside the top of the page.
Along the way, Microsoft Edge users can also play or pause the reading and skip ahead or go back a paragraph at their pace. Interestingly, the ‘Read aloud’ feature in Edge is available for online and offline use.
