Welcome to Awakening to Reality

Listening to PDFs on Various Devices

This guide walks you through downloading and listening to PDF files on different devices using text-to-speech (TTS) features.

iPhone

1. Download the PDF Files:
   • Open Safari on your iPhone.
   • Visit the provided Box.com link containing the ZIP file with PDFs.
   • Tap the ZIP file to download it, then tap again to extract it in the Files app.
2. Add PDFs to Books:
   • Open the Files app and locate the folder with the extracted PDFs.
   • Select the PDFs, tap Share, and choose Copy to Books to add them to your Books library.
3. Listen with Spoken Content:
   • Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content.
   • Enable Speak Screen and Speech Controller.
   • Open a PDF in the Books app and tap the speech controller icon, then the Play button to begin reading aloud.

Android

1. Download the PDF Files:
   • Open Chrome and visit the Box.com link.
   • Tap the ZIP file to download it, then extract its contents using a file manager.
2. Open PDFs in a PDF Reader:
   • Use your file manager to locate a PDF and open it with your preferred PDF reader app.
3. Use Text-to-Speech:
   • Option A: Download a TTS app (e.g., Voice Aloud Reader) from the Google Play Store, then open the app, grant permissions, and choose a PDF to listen to.
   • Option B: Use Android’s built-in TTS by going to Settings > Accessibility > Text-to-Speech Output to configure and enable TTS for PDF reading.

Windows

Primary Option: Microsoft Edge Read Aloud

1. Open Your PDF File:
   • Open the PDF using Microsoft Edge.
2. Activate Read Aloud:
   • Click the book-with-speaker icon in the toolbar to start Read Aloud.
3. Control Playback:
   • Use the playback controls to pause, resume, or stop reading.
   • Adjust the reading speed and voice under Voice options.

Secondary Option: Adobe Acrobat Reader Read Out Loud

1. Open Your PDF File:
   • Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
2. Activate Read Out Loud:
   • Go to View > Read Out Loud and choose either Read This Page Only or Read to End of Document.
3. Control Playback:
   • Use Acrobat’s playback controls to pause, resume, or stop the reading.
   • Adjust reading speed and voice in Acrobat’s Preferences under the Reading category.

Mac

1. Using Preview or Apple Books:
   • Preview: Open your PDF in Preview. From the menu, choose Edit > Speech > Start Speaking (or use the Speak Selection shortcut set in System Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content).
   • Apple Books: Double-click the PDF to open it in Books (or drag and drop it into the Books app), then use VoiceOver (press Command + F5) or the Speak Selection feature via System Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content.
2. Using Adobe Acrobat Reader:
   • Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac.
   • From the menu bar, select View > Read Out Loud > Activate Read Out Loud.
   • Then choose Read This Page Only or Read to End of Document.
   • Adjust voice and speed in Acrobat’s Preferences > Reading.
3. Using macOS Built-In TTS:
   • Open System Settings (or System Preferences) and go to Accessibility > Spoken Content (or Dictation & Speech on older versions).
   • Enable Speak Selection (or “Speak selected text when the key is pressed”) and customize the keyboard shortcut (default is Option+Esc).
   • Select text in any app and press the shortcut to have it read aloud.

Tip: Ensure your PDFs are text-based (i.e., not just images). If you’re working with scanned PDFs, you may need Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software first. Learn more here.

With these updated steps, you can easily listen to PDFs on your iPhone, Android device, Windows PC, or Mac. Whether you choose Microsoft Edge or Adobe Acrobat Reader on Windows—and a variety of native tools on macOS—you’ll have multiple options to suit your needs.