This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The read-aloud voice used to be a very smooth speaking female voice and overnight it changed to a robotic voice. When I go into the settings it says I have to be signed in to change the voice. I am signed in. I tried signing out and resigning in deleting the app and reinstalling but it still says the same thing. I am using an Android with the mobile app. I was originally using just the word doc connected to my OneDrive I've even tried the Microsoft 365 app still same results. How do I get the old voice back?
A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I recently saw something that Edge was doing Read Aloud with voices. I don't use Edge and have not tested. All Office apps are hampered by this bug.
You are absolutely right. Copilot must have been hallucinating about WPS doing Natural Voices. I installed it in a Sandbox and nowhere in the menu selection was the choice for Read Aloud. I would NEVER drop Word; it is way more powerful than any other word processor. I was just looking to find a solution to read a 165,000-word document for proof reading. But I should have tested it before repeating CoPilot or should have asked ChatGPT.
I just posted on MS Word Feedback and found I had posted last week about the issue (admittedly, I had just returned from the hospital emergency department, and they had given me a big dose of morphine for pain, so my memory was buffering badly). That said, there is still no response to point to a solution. I'll post it here if they give me one.
Being a writer, I sometimes find a little creative framing helps make surviving bad things easier, so I shared that "support desk prayer" to lighten things up.
Copilot recommended the following: I have not tried it yet, but I may try it in the isolated Microsoft Sandbox on Windows 11 Pro.
WPS Office Writer could be a good recommendation for users who are unhappy with the recent changes in Microsoft Word. ***
Robert,
I have not received a similar recommendation from Copilot and am unfamiliar with WPS Office Writer.
I have known Copilot to hallucinate about things, including solutions in Word.
You posted the same thing a few days ago in response to other posts about this issue. I trust that you are sincere in trying to help.
Have you now tried WPS Office Writer in the day since you first posted this?
I suppose the same could be said of Google Docs, Pages, and Libre Office. They are all "compatible" with Word in that they read and write .docx files. None of them has all the features of Word. Perhaps people do not need or even want those features. I do not know if any of them have the Read Aloud feature. I do not know that WPS Office Writer does, either. I am sure that there is a learning curve to using them.
Just to let you know I enjoyed reading your feedback and the feedback of many others. It’s comforting to know that I am now alone!! Aloha