Text to Speech in Word 2003 - how to configure?

[VManes]

Are there any configuration options for the text-to-speech function in Word
2003? Excel has a toolbar for starting/stopping, and controlling the order
of cell reading, but Word has nothing I can find.

Val

 

[garfield-n-odie]

Click on Speak Text on the Language toolbar to start
text-to-speech. Click on Speak Text again to stop
text-to-speech. Or select the text you want Word to read aloud,
click on Speak Text, and Word will read only the selected
passage. Word reads from left to right, top to bottom, like
English is normally written. Word cannot read text backwards,
nor can Word read text in random order. What else do you want?

 

[VManes]

Why not a toolbar in Word to start/stop, just as Excel has? There are some
web pages that show how to add some VBA macros to create such - why do we
have jump through hoops? I've never kept the Language Bar on my desktop, so
its start/stop are not normally visible to me. That's my choice.

FWIW, I started looking into this when I accidentally started Word reading a
document - with the Windows Key + S. Took me a while to figure out why the
PC was talking to me, and then how I'd started it, and how to stop.

As to TTS in Word, why is there nothing that comes up in its Help? Plenty
on speech recognition, nothing on TTS.

(rant off)
Val

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click on Speak Text on the Language toolbar to start
text-to-speech. Click on Speak Text again to stop
text-to-speech. Or select the text you want Word to read aloud,
click on Speak Text, and Word will read only the selected
passage. Word reads from left to right, top to bottom, like
English is normally written. Word cannot read text backwards,
nor can Word read text in random order. What else do you want?

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Val,

The Text to Speech functions within MS Office (rather than
those in Windows) are Excel features (i.e. created by the
Excel development team), basically added for use as a
'heads down' readback/proofing tool for spreadsheet data entry/verification
so from MS's view the feature doesn't 'exist' in Word
(i.e. it isn't a shipped with Office feature).

The implementation within Word or Powerpoint on sites such as
Graham Mayor's 'speech bar' toolbar for Word at
http://gmayor.com/word_text_to_speech.htm
build on the MS article at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=287120
and you may want to post in the Word newsgroups (link below)
where Graham visits to see if his toolbar could be expanded
to include additional functions.

========
Why not a toolbar in Word to start/stop, just as Excel has? There are some
web pages that show how to add some VBA macros to create such - why do we
have jump through hoops? I've never kept the Language Bar on my desktop, so
its start/stop are not normally visible to me. That's my choice.

FWIW, I started looking into this when I accidentally started Word reading a
document - with the Windows Key + S. Took me a while to figure out why the
PC was talking to me, and then how I'd started it, and how to stop.

As to TTS in Word, why is there nothing that comes up in its Help? Plenty
on speech recognition, nothing on TTS.

(rant off)
Val >>
--
LLet us know if this has helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP
*courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends8

A. Specific newsgroup/discussion group mentioned in this message:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.customization.menustoolbars
or via browser:
http://microsoft.com/communities/ne...osoft.public.word.customization.menustoolbars

B. MS Office Community discussion/newsgroups via Web Browser
http://microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx
or
Microsoft hosted newsgroups via Outlook Express/newsreader
news://msnews.microsoft.com

 

[VManes]

Bob,
Thanks for the historical perspecitive. I had found a few links that
explained how to create a toolbar for Word.

So, it's another case of a hidden, undocumented "feature".

Sometime when you a picture or drawn object selected in Word, hit ctrl-d and
see what happens!


Val