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UCLA Center for Accessible Education

Adobe Reader - free software that reads pdfs out loud if the text is real

Open the PDF file in Adobe Reader

  1. VIEW – READ OUT LOUD, click Activate.
  2. Then go back to VIEW – READ OUT LOUD, select one of the following:

  • Read this page only (CTRL + SHIFT + V) or
  • Read to End of Document (CTRL + SHIFT + B)


TIP: Once you activate read out loud, you can select any paragraph to have it read aloud. Be sure to download the latest version – Adobe Reader DC – to ensure that the feature will work.

  • Pause/Resume reading (CTRL + SHIFT + C)
  • Stop reading (CTRL + SHIFT + E)