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
    2022-03-26T23:43:23+00:00

    I forced updates and still don't have the good voices. Still perplexed!

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-03-26T23:33:52+00:00

    Read Aloud has apparently only been given back to Office 2019 and newer. And Office 365. But my Word 2019 still doesn't have it. I'm trying to force some updates to see if that will help.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-03-26T21:45:29+00:00

    Yes, mine came back too but only on my standalone. My laptop still has the crappy ones for some strange reason. I have installed all updated but to no avail.

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  4. 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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  5. 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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    4 people found this answer helpful.
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