To read a PDF aloud on your phone, open it in Outloud Reader: start a new book, choose PDF, mark the pages you want and tap Create. A little later you can press play and hear the document in a natural voice, with the phrase being spoken highlighted on screen. You do not copy anything out of the PDF and you do not convert the file first.
The steps
- Start a new book and choose PDF as the source. Open the file from wherever it is saved: your files, a download, a mail attachment you saved.
- Choose the pages. You do not have to hear the whole document. Pick a range, such as pages 12 to 18. Up to 50 pages go into one import, and you can add more pages to the same book later.
- Crop the margins. Running headers, page numbers and repeated titles are better left out, or the voice will say “Chapter three, twelve” on every page. After cropping, only the main text remains.
- Choose the language and the voice. Pick the document’s language to hear it as written, or another language to have it translated first. Choose a woman’s or a man’s voice.
- Tap Create and, when the book is ready, press play.
Which PDFs suit this
- Articles and reports you keep meaning to read “tonight”. Listen on the way to work instead.
- Lecture notes and course packs from a teacher: choose only the sections you need and repeat them by ear.
- Documents in another language. Choose your own language as the voice, and the text is translated and then read. It gives you the gist before you work through the details.
- Long manuals and agreements that you want a first impression of before reading closely.
Setting up the listening
The speed goes from 0.5× to 1.25×. Any sentence can be repeated up to five times, which helps when a wording is dense and does not stay in mind the first time. You can hide the text and listen to the voice alone, then hold a place to look at it when something is unclear.
The book plays in the background, with the screen off and from the lock screen, so earphones and a pocket can replace the screen.
Three examples
A long article for the evening
Someone sends you a research paper of twenty pages, and you do not have the energy to read it on a screen. Open the PDF, choose the main sections, crop the journal’s running header and listen on the way home. Nothing else needs downloading or setting up: the book is already in your library.
Course notes before a test
A handout of fifty pages has only three topics you need. Choose a few ranges and make a separate book for each topic. It is easier to return to the right place, and you can repeat one topic at a time.
A document in another language
A manual or an article arrives in a language you read slowly, and you have no time to work through it. Choose your own language as the voice: the text is translated first and then read. It does not replace careful reading, but it gives you a picture of the document during a trip.
Choosing the page range
Before you create the book, scroll through the file and decide what you really need. A big document usually has a title page, a table of contents, a list of references and appendices, and you rarely want to hear them in a row. Keep the main part and skip the rest. That saves time and pages.
If the sections you want are not next to each other, several small books are easier than one large one. A book is named after the document, and inside it stays only what you chose. A very long document is not a problem either: when there are more pages than one import holds, it simply becomes several books.
If something sounds wrong
- The same words repeat on every page. A running header or a page number got in. Make the book again and crop the margins.
- The voice is too fast or too slow. Change the speed in the player; there is no need to make the book again.
- A page is missing. Add it to the finished book with Add page instead of starting over.
- Creating the book failed. Check your connection: the book needs the internet while it is being made. Afterwards the network is no longer needed.
What to know in advance
- Making a book needs the internet. Recognising the text, translating it and producing the voice happen online. The finished book plays offline.
- A page has a size limit. One page of a PDF can hold up to 5,000 characters. A very dense page may count as more than one.
- It reads words, not pictures. Charts, tables and photographs are not described; only the text on them is read.
- There is no MP3. The audio stays inside the app, in your library.
- It is not an audiobook store. The app has no books of its own; it reads what you bring.
What it costs
The app is free to download, and a few pages are free to start. After that you can buy a pack of pages or take Premium; prices are shown in the app. There is no sign-up and no ads, and playing a finished book again costs nothing.
Each step is explained in more detail in the guide to PDF to speech, and the page on listening on the go covers the commute, a walk or the gym. Pick one PDF you have been putting off and try it for ten minutes.