How-to · Android

How to read a PDF aloud on Android

Use Book2Speech in Chrome for a natural narrator with chapters, or Android’s built-in Select to Speak for a quick read. Steps for both.

With Book2Speech in Chrome

1.
Open book2speech.com in Chrome and sign in.
2.
Tap the drop area and choose the PDF from Files or Drive.
3.
Page numbers and running headers are removed and the outline becomes chapters. Pick a narrator and press play.

With Select to Speak

Reads what is on screen, page furniture included, with the Google text-to-speech voice.
1.
Settings → Accessibility → Select to Speak → on.
2.
Open the PDF in Google Drive, Files or any viewer, tap the accessibility button and drag over the text.

With Google Play Books

Works best with text PDFs; scanned PDFs need a text layer first.
1.
Upload the PDF to Play Books (web uploads page or Open with Play Books).
2.
Open it and choose Read aloud from the menu.

Questions people ask

Is there a native Android app?

It is in closed testing; the web app in Chrome works today.

What about scanned PDFs?

They need a text layer. Google Drive’s scanner and most scanner apps add one; image-only scans are rejected by Book2Speech with a clear message.
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