Microsoft Word Speaks

I was working on the book (did you know I was writing a book? - you can hear it here) when my fingers caught a key combination that I’d not used before. And Microsoft Word started reading the text aloud. It was kind of scary until I figured out what was going on. The reading is actually pretty good, and it is a fantastic way to proof your writing.

When I read stuff that I’ve written I find that my brain automatically edits it, adding words that I’ve missed and correcting the spelling. But if I hear it read out to me I can hear all the mistakes. You might find it useful too. You can find the Read Aloud command on the Review tool ribbon You can change the reading speed and the voice and the inflection is quite natural. It even has a good go at reading program text with variable names in it. Although it can’t say the word JSON.