the read aloud voice changed overnight. how do I get the old voice back?

Anonymous
2025-03-08T00:53:31+00:00

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?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | Other | Android

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-03-10T22:46:04+00:00

    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.

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  2. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-03-10T23:29:02+00:00

    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.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-03-10T23:38:51+00:00

    So, how do you fix the problem of the voice change?

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  4. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-03-11T02:03:01+00:00

    So, how do you fix the problem of the voice change?

    You don't. You wait for Microsoft to fix it.

    There are a plethora of threads about this in the past few days. You cannot get a different voice until Microsoft fixes this.

    It is apparently a bug that is for all devices introduced with a recent update.

    Writing here does not bring it to the attention of anyone who can do anything about it.

    You are addressing your fellow users here.

    Microsoft is aware of the problem, though. They are working to fix it. Of course it popped up over a weekend!

    I recommend using the Public Feedback Portal. https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/fb6d67e3-301c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472

    Then, once your feedback is posted, copy the URL and then come back here and post it so that others can comment and vote.

    Be the squeaky wheel. Keep pressure on.

    You can search for and vote on other feedback already posted. I would suggest a search for "read aloud."

    Here is a list of some feedback links:

    Feel free to vote and vent a little.

    For more on using feedback, see my article: This is a user-to-user support forum. -- You can give feedback TO MICROSOFT designers and decision makers on Microsoft Word or other Microsoft Products using their feedback mechanisms, (not here). (This is a link to directions.)

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-03-11T02:40:06+00:00

    So far I don't think 'we' can. From what I have been able to gather this is affecting all Office 365 apps that use text-to-voice of any kind and all offered solutions that I have seen for the user end of the equation have had no effect.

    Best thing to do is to report it as a problem through the Feedback help section in Word.

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