This obscure Microsoft Word feature makes proofreading documents easy

In my job, I write and edit a lot of text every single day, and parsing it all for spelling or grammar errors can take up more time than I like. But when one of my colleagues here at PCWorld introduced me to the Read Aloud feature in Microsoft Word, it changed the whole game for me.

The feature does exactly as you’d expect: it reads the selected text aloud. Just highlight the text you want it to read, click on the Review tab in Word, and select Read Aloud. Using the gear icon that pops up while it’s reading, you can switch between male and female voices and adjust the reading speed to your personal preference.

I now use the Read Aloud tool with practically all of my writing to identify grammatical mistakes, awkward phrases, or structural issues. I even copy and paste most of my longer emails into Word and use the tool to read them back to me. Listening to someone—or rather something—read your text out loud forces us to slow down, which makes it more likely for us to discover problems.

And before you go complaining that this type of thing has been around since the days of floppy disks and how Windows old text-to-speech voices sounded like a staccato robot, you can rest assured it’s much easier to listen to now. It even does a decent job interpreting intonation and rhythm. So next time you’re proofreading a document or email, give the Read Aloud tool a try.

For more fun and helpful app and productivity recommendations, be sure to subscribe to our PCWorld Try This newsletter.