Why won't my PDF read aloud?
A text-to-speech reader can only read text. If your PDF stays silent, or reads one word at a time, the text is almost always not where the reader expects it. Here is how to tell in ten seconds.
How can I tell if my PDF contains text?
Try to select a sentence with your mouse, or search for a word with Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on Mac). If nothing gets selected or the search finds nothing, the PDF only contains images.
That is the case for scanned documents and for some photos of pages saved as PDF.
What can I do with a scanned PDF?
It first needs character recognition (OCR), which turns the picture of the letters into text. Some paid versions of Acrobat and other programs can do this; afterwards, check that the text has become selectable.
Readotte does not do OCR yet: a scanned PDF is refused with a clear message, rather than being read as a blank page.
Why does my PDF read word by word, with pauses everywhere?
Some programs (including Google Docs' PDF export) store each word separately in the file. A reader that follows the file's order then pauses after every word, as if each one were a sentence.
Readotte rebuilds lines and paragraphs from where the words sit on the page, which gives you normal reading.
Why is the text read out of order?
In a two-column document or one with boxes, the file's order is not always the reading order. The reader can then jump from one column to the other in the middle of a sentence.
A tool that analyses the layout copes better, without being perfect on very busy layouts, so check the first few sentences before listening to a long document.
Can a protected PDF be read?
A PDF protected by an opening password cannot be read without that password. A PDF where only copying is restricted will open, but some tools refuse to extract its text.
Open it with the password in your usual reader, then copy the text if that is allowed and paste it to listen to it.
What if my PDF is mostly tables or formulas?
A table is read cell by cell and a formula as a string of symbols, which is rarely understandable by ear. That is not a fault, it is the limit of listening for this kind of content.
For these documents, listening helps mostly with the written-out parts.
Listen to your document
PDF with selectable text, 25 MB max. Scanned PDFs (images only) are not read yet.
Free, no account: about 10 minutes of listening a day. The text is extracted and read by our servers in Europe.
Frequently asked questions
Does Readotte read scanned PDFs?
Not yet. It reads PDFs that contain selectable text, up to 25 MB.
My PDF is over 25 MB. What now?
Readotte refuses it. You can extract the pages you need, or copy the text and paste it in the text tab.
Is there a simpler way to read a PDF aloud on my phone or computer?
Often, yes: your device probably has a built-in read-aloud feature. See the six ways to read a PDF aloud.