The voices on Microsoft Word read aloud have changed. How do I get the old ones back?

Question

The voices on Microsoft Word read aloud have changed. How do I get the old ones back?

Denarii Peters 35

The voices on Read aloud have changed suddenly from realistic British voices to robotic American ones. When I try to activate the function, a message pops up telling me to sign in to my Microsoft account. But I already am!!

How do I get the old voices back? (Non-technical advice, please. I'm a novelist, not an engineer!)

Angela Smith 15 Reputation points

2025-03-08T14:08:35.15+00:00

I'm having the same issue. It usually only does this when I'm offline. It's telling me to sign into 365 but it's already signed in. There's also no setting to change it. It's fine when using immersive reader via browser but that's really inconvenient. I am a budding novelist and am also not an engineer.
Katherin A 15 Reputation points

2025-03-08T15:29:39.6266667+00:00

Yes this is happening all over the place over different devices and OS Win11 pro, home, Android latest versions and updated OS, plus using the online word, account is updated and paid yearly, tired multiple internet connections and nothing, usually this happens when you lose internet and restarting the docs fixes it (sometimes you have to close all MS programs) but not this time as it is across board and i would guess its Microsoft servers doing something like upgrades and or maintenance.

I use the read aloud constantly as a writer to help with flow and paging plus hearing how it will sound when read, but i can say don't use Can English mode as the narrator for that is still very robotic, but the US English, UK Scottish, Irish all have great voices, you can change the doc type on the bottom left of the word window you have to convert the whole doc but you can then revert it back if your spell checker prefers proper English and not US English,,,,like spelling and grammar.

Microsoft please get this issue fixed as this is a workday for me and this is part of my work and why i pay so much for office each year so, please get this back up, asap.
GLEN GLEN 5 Reputation points

2025-03-08T18:32:45.89+00:00

Any updates on if this issue has been fixed? It was fine up to yesterday. I'm a writer and I need this tool for work.
The sudden unavailability is driving me up a wall! Please hurry up and do something Microsoft!
Mavros Whissell 0 Reputation points

2025-03-10T17:35:01.3566667+00:00

Had the same problem as that listed by A. Smith above. The issue started about 3 days ago, it will not give other voice options despite my being logged on.

1 answer

Your answer

Angela Smith 15 Reputation points

2025-03-08T14:08:35.15+00:00

I'm having the same issue. It usually only does this when I'm offline. It's telling me to sign into 365 but it's already signed in. There's also no setting to change it. It's fine when using immersive reader via browser but that's really inconvenient. I am a budding novelist and am also not an engineer.
Katherin A 15 Reputation points

2025-03-08T15:29:39.6266667+00:00

Yes this is happening all over the place over different devices and OS Win11 pro, home, Android latest versions and updated OS, plus using the online word, account is updated and paid yearly, tired multiple internet connections and nothing, usually this happens when you lose internet and restarting the docs fixes it (sometimes you have to close all MS programs) but not this time as it is across board and i would guess its Microsoft servers doing something like upgrades and or maintenance.

I use the read aloud constantly as a writer to help with flow and paging plus hearing how it will sound when read, but i can say don't use Can English mode as the narrator for that is still very robotic, but the US English, UK Scottish, Irish all have great voices, you can change the doc type on the bottom left of the word window you have to convert the whole doc but you can then revert it back if your spell checker prefers proper English and not US English,,,,like spelling and grammar.

Microsoft please get this issue fixed as this is a workday for me and this is part of my work and why i pay so much for office each year so, please get this back up, asap.
GLEN GLEN 5 Reputation points

2025-03-08T18:32:45.89+00:00

Any updates on if this issue has been fixed? It was fine up to yesterday. I'm a writer and I need this tool for work.
The sudden unavailability is driving me up a wall! Please hurry up and do something Microsoft!
Mavros Whissell 0 Reputation points

2025-03-10T17:35:01.3566667+00:00

Had the same problem as that listed by A. Smith above. The issue started about 3 days ago, it will not give other voice options despite my being logged on.

Answer 1

I'm a lawyer, not a engineer. I am a moderator on several of these forums and have seen numerous iterations of this question in the past few days.

It is apparently a bug that is for all devices introduced with a recent update.

There is nothing you, as a user can do to fix this. You need to wait for Microsoft to fix it. Writing here does not bring it to the attention of anyone who can do anything about it. You are addressing your fellow users here. Microsoft is aware of the problem, though.

I recommend using the Public Feedback Portal.

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/fb6d67e3-301c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472

Then, once your feedback is posted, copy the URL and then come back here and post it so that others can comment and vote.

Be the squeaky wheel. Keep pressure on.

You can search for and vote on other feedback already posted. I would suggest a search for "read aloud."

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/search/fb6d67e3-301c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472?q=%22read+aloud%22

Here is a list of some feedback links:

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/5c539f58-29fc-ef11-a4de-6045bdb3947a

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/3ca4e898-36fd-ef11-a4dd-7c1e52ead3c1

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/cecdbcad-e1ee-ef11-a4dd-7c1e52c1c6b2

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/a3c7a9bc-85ed-ef11-a4dd-7c1e52e3e882

Feel free to vote and vent a little.