Word text to speech


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Word text to speech
	Although it is not a function I personally have had use for, the ability to have Word read out the text is nevertheless a function that many Word users find useful. On researching the problem, I noted that Microsoft's own knowledge base article - http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=287120 invokes the use of Excel to provide the speech function within Word. This tutorial takes that article a step further to provide a practical application within Word The macros here use the Microsoft Speech Object Library from within Word to speak either the full document or a selected block of text. I take no credit for the macros beyond reproducing them here. The code was produced by Mathew Heikkila in response to a newsgroup question back in 2003. From Word (2002/3) Start the VBA Editor (Alt+F11) Add a reference in the normal project to Microsoft Speech Object Library (Tools > References...) - see below Locate the reference (first picture) and add a check mark. It will then join the other checked items (second picture).
Note:	You must have installed the Speech portion of Excel for the Microsoft Speech Object Library to be available to the VBA editor.

	Create a new module and call it TextToSpeech

	Copy and paste the following macro code into the module you have created, save and close the macro editor.
Dim speech as SpVoice 'Don't overlook this line! Sub SpeakText() 'Based on a macro by Mathew Heikkila ' On Error Resume Next Set speech = New SpVoice If Len(Selection.Text) > 1 Then 'speak selection speech.Speak Selection.Text, _ SVSFlagsAsync + SVSFPurgeBeforeSpeak Else 'speak whole document speech.Speak ActiveDocument.Range(0, ActiveDocument.Characters.Count).Text, _ SVSFlagsAsync + SVSFPurgeBeforeSpeak End If Do DoEvents Loop Until speech.WaitUntilDone(10) Set speech = Nothing End Sub Sub StopSpeaking() 'Based on a macro by Mathew Heikkila 'used to interrupt any running speech to text On Error Resume Next speech.Speak vbNullString, SVSFPurgeBeforeSpeak Set speech = Nothing End Sub
Note:	Do not overlook the first line - Dim speech as SpVoice - or the macro to stop speaking will not work.
	Create a personal toolbar in the default normal.dot template, and add the two macros to that toolbar. Edit their names to something manageable like those in the following illustration. Clicking 'Speak Text' will read either the selected text block, or, if no text is selected, the whole document.

	It is unlikely that you will need the toolbar permanently displayed, but it is easy to toggle the toolbar on/off with a further short macro attached to a button on the standard toolbar. The code for that would be as follows. This code can easily be adapted to pop up infrequently used toolbars, as in the following screen shot.
Sub SpeechBar() With CommandBars("Text to Speech") .Visible = Not .Visible End With End Sub

Notes:	For more information about installing macros from code listings and adding them to toolbars, use this link While this macro will work in Word 2007, the toolbar cannot be added in the same way. You can, with access to an earlier Word version create the toolbars as an add-in or you could add the start and stop macros to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar).