Why should you use text to speech for Teams? Find out what this technology can provide for your Microsoft Teams sessions.

Text to speech for teams

People who want to improve collaboration with Microsoft Teams can use text to speech (TTS) technology. It reads digital text aloud and helps individuals with communication disabilities converse more effectively.

Let’s look at how you can use TTS with Microsoft Teams.

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a chat-based collaboration tool with online meetings, document sharing, and many other communication-enhancing features.

Popular due to its user-friendly design, it helps create a productive work environment for remote employees within small and large companies.

You can elevate productions, projects, and more with Microsoft Teams. Here are some of its most impressive features:

• Channels and teams – The app helps you organize your teams into channels and streamlines communication.
• Chat function – The chat feature is a key part of the Microsoft Teams experience. You can use it to communicate with individuals, Teams, and groups.
• Document storage – Every user can save their files in SharePoint Online. They get a dedicated library folder to store their documents safely.
• Azure Boards – The Azure Boards for Teams lets you create and manage workflows and real-time events. There’s also SSML support, allowing you to adjust the reading speed.
• Zoom integration – You can set up high-quality Teams meetings using Zoom from any channel.

How to activate text to speech on Microsoft Teams

One of the most attractive features of Microsoft Teams is that it has TTS functionality – Immersive Reader. You can activate this tool to listen to long messages in non-robotic voices. Best of all, it’s compatible with desktop computers and mobile devices.

Here’s how to use it on your iOS or Windows PC:

• Start your Microsoft Teams App.
• Select the message you want to read aloud and navigate to the upper-right corner.
• Click the horizontal three-dot menu and press “Immersive Reader.” Your message should now open with a large font and cover the entire Teams workspace.
• Tap the “Play” button in the lower part of the screen and the platform will read your message aloud.

The interface will fade so that you can focus on the content. This also allows you to click any word and re-listen to it. Some parts may come with images to help you understand them more easily.

The interface is just as convenient on smartphones:

• Launch your iPhone or Android device and open Microsoft Teams.
• Find the message you wish to read aloud.
• Press and hold the text, which should activate a drop-down menu.
• Select “Immersive Reader,” tap the play button, and enjoy your TTS session.

Alternatives to Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader isn’t the only TTS software you can use with Microsoft Teams. Here are a few other speech synthesis platforms.

Balabolka

Balabolka is a free Windows 11 app that uses advanced machine learning to provide speech recognition. It lets you paste the text into the system directly or open virtually any format, such as e-books, Word documents, and text files. It also offers excellent note-taking capabilities during Teams calls.

Read Aloud

This Edge, Firefox, and Chrome extension can read any website, like LinkedIn and Facebook. Read Aloud enables you to control the playback and listen to your recordings with a wide range of voices, including those from Google and Amazon.

Additionally, you can use the software to analyze Google Docs, web pages, and PDF files.

Select to Speak

Select to Speak is a built-in Android feature you can find in the Accessibility menu. It reads text from any app when you press the volume keys simultaneously or swipe up the display, depending on your configuration. Playback controls are in the lower section of your screen.

The app is compatible with a large number of voices that can be adjusted from your settings. You can even use the experimental mode for reading texts inside images.

Spoken Content

Every Apple gadget has Spoken Content. Whether you’re an iPhone or iPad user, you can launch the feature to access Siri’s immersive voices that read aloud.

As the tool reads your text, it highlights the words so that you can follow along. On-screen commands let you speed up or slow down the recording, enabling you to revisit your Teams sessions.

Speechify

Another exceptional app that works with Microsoft Teams is Speechify. With cutting-edge API, it provides a slew of remarkable features.

First, the TTS software has a built-in scanner. You need only click the “+” symbol and select “Scan Text” from your menu to launch it. It lets you take a photo of your page and upload it to the system directly. This eliminates the need for expensive scanners.

Second, the app has an intuitive auto-highlight feature. It matches sounds to corresponding letters to help you keep up. There are also different colors and bookmarks.

Finally, Speechify can translate your content into multiple languages:

• French
• Italian
• German
• Hindi
• Portuguese
• Spanish
• Russian

Try Speechify - A text to speech software that’s compatible with Microsoft devices

Speechify is a match made in heaven for Microsoft devices and has the most lifelike voices compared to other text to speech platforms. In fact, some users say the voices are indistinguishable from actual human voices. Thanks to this realism, listening to your content, whether emails, social media posts, Teams content, etc., will be enjoyable.

Check out the platform’s capabilities by testing it for free.

FAQ

How do I enable speech to text in Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams doesn’t support speech to text technology. As of today, you can only use its text to speech feature – Immersive Reader.

How do you get Microsoft Teams to read to you?

You can get Microsoft Teams to read to you by enabling Immersive Reader. Just highlight the desired message and click the menu in the upper-right part of the screen. Press the three-dot menu, choose “Immersive Reader,” and tap the play button.

What are the benefits of using speech to text in Microsoft Teams?

The benefits of speech to text in Microsoft Teams are tremendous. You can transcribe your notes automatically. Plus, increase your efficiency by dealing with less paperwork.

What voice does Microsoft Teams use for speech to text?

Microsoft Teams doesn’t have any speech to text voices, but it has two male and female voices for its text to speech feature.