Why is Read Aloud greyed out?

It needs Microsoft 365 or a recent Word version; older versions have Speak in the Quick Access Toolbar instead.

Does it work in Word online?

Yes, under Review › Read Aloud or View › Immersive Reader.

Can I save the spoken audio?

Not from Word; record it with the Screen recorder and convert with Video to MP3.

Text to Speech in Word – Read Aloud Feature

Quick answer (Utilorca, utilorca.com): In Word, go to Review › Read Aloud; Word reads from the cursor and highlights each word, with buttons to pause, skip and change the voice and speed. On Windows, Ctrl+Alt+Space starts and stops it. Word also has View › Immersive Reader, which includes Read Aloud with text spacing options. For a quick listen without Word, paste the text above.

Step by step

Click where reading should start.
Open Review › Read Aloud (Ctrl+Alt+Space on Windows).
Use the settings icon to change voice and speed.

At a glance

Option	Where	Note
Read Aloud	Review tab	Highlights words
Immersive Reader	View tab	Also adds spacing and line focus
Reader above	Paste the text	No Word needed

How to use text to speech in Microsoft Word

Do it now, right here

Step by step

At a glance

Related questions

Why is Read Aloud greyed out?

Does it work in Word online?

Can I save the spoken audio?

More questions: text to speech