Read Aloud Voices in WORD (they disappeared)

Anonymous
2021-11-30T00:39:13+00:00

After upgrading my laptop to Windows 11, I tried Read Aloud in Word. To my surprise there were several voice options that were not there when I was using Windows 10. Then, after a week of using it to proofread my manuscript, I rebooted my laptop (something I do regularly to ensure updates) and the Read Aloud was ****. I tried to change back to the good voice and there were only the standard three voices (David, Zira, Mark). I worked with Microsoft support, who reinstall my Office 19 twice before finally saying there were only the three voices and I had to live with it.

Was I in some weird twilight zone for a week and not in the real world? What happened to my good Read Aloud voice? and how can I get it back?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-02-08T05:36:16+00:00

    At least I'm not the only one! Yeah, I loved the new "Male" and "Female" voices vs. the robotic trio of before. I'm a teacher, and I use read-aloud in Word to record audio versions of notes and assignment directions for my struggling readers. So, yeah, I got recordings of those voices just in case somebody thinks they're going crazy lol. Microsoft need to stop trippin' with this and bring them back! 😠

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-06-11T00:18:55+00:00

    As Jay mentioned I also have 365 and am limited to the 3 robotic voices.

    I don't use Read Aloud very often, so I didn't notice when the voices changed (again). I still have the same version/build as mentioned in my post of May 28, but the Male and Female voices are back. Clearly this depends on what is set up on Microsoft's servers, not on anything in your local Office setup, and may change without warning.

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  3. Jay Freedman 208.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2022-05-28T15:53:12+00:00

    Fred, a few minutes ago I updated my Microsoft 365 Enterprise programs to version 2205 (build 15225.20204) Current Channel, rebooted, and then checked the Read Aloud settings. The three artificial voices are still there.

    So it isn't just you, or just non-subscription Office. I'll post here again if the better voices eventually appear.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-05-17T19:13:54+00:00

    Any update on this? I've spent 2 hours chatting with microsoft to no avail. Seems most had the "natural" voice pack originally but was subsequently removed quietly during an update. Not sure what is going on.

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-03-26T21:38:18+00:00

    At least I'm not the only one! Yeah, I loved the new "Male" and "Female" voices vs. the robotic trio of before. I'm a teacher, and I use read-aloud in Word to record audio versions of notes and assignment directions for my struggling readers. So, yeah, I got recordings of those voices just in case somebody thinks they're going crazy lol. Microsoft need to stop trippin' with this and bring them back! 😠

    So mine have since come back, mysteriously (and glad).

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