Acrobat reads your PDF aloud, but you lose your place. Here the words light up.
Adobe's free PDF reader can read a PDF out loud, but it does not light up the words as it reads. People asked Adobe to add that in December 2018, and Adobe declined the request. Comments as recent as December 2023 say it is still not there. On Adobe's web tool, its help page lists skipping by paragraph, a voice choice and a speed choice, and does not mention highlighting the words (checked 2026-10-29).
Hear a sample
Under a minute, read to you.
Press play and follow the highlighted words — this is exactly what your documents become.
The Tortoise and the Hare, by Aesop.
A Hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: "Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race." The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal.
On the day appointed for the race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep.
At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue.
Slow but steady wins the race.
From Aesop's Fables (public domain). Read by Heart, one of our AI voices.
What you get here
- The words light up as they are read, so you always know where you are.
- PDF, Word, a web link or a photo of a page all work, not only PDFs.
- Everyone gets one free document a day, no card needed. Premium has no daily limit and puts your documents first.
Why do people look for an alternative to Acrobat's Read Out Loud?
People who tried it say they lose their place, because nothing marks the words being read. They also say the voice is unpleasant: on the desktop the voices come from your operating system, not from Adobe. And it is hard to find: on the desktop you turn it on from the menu or with Ctrl+Shift+Y.
Is this the same as Acrobat's Read Out Loud?
No. That reads your PDF out loud. We show you where you are while it reads, in any format, and you can send the link to someone else.
Does Acrobat read every PDF correctly?
Adobe's help says it needs a tagged (accessible) PDF to read in the right order. Without one it can read in the wrong order. Read-Along reads PDFs, Word files, web links and photos of pages.
What does Acrobat do well?
It is free, it is already on many computers, and it lets you pick a voice and a speed and skip by paragraph. If that is enough for you, keep using it.
What does Read-Along cost?
Everyone gets one free document a day, no card needed. Premium has no daily limit and puts your documents first. Premium is $14.50 a month, or $69 a year. It renews until you cancel.