Microsoft Read Aloud for New Outlook

Hello Company USer_OutlookOneWon,

Good day!

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist.

We are looking into your situation and we need sometime to do further tests on this. Will update the thread shortly.

Appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Microsoft Community

Hello Company USer_OutlookOneWon,

Thank you for posting this case in Microsoft Community!

Based your description, you want to know if Microsoft Read Aloud is available in New Outlook for Windows. I would like to cooperate with you working on this case.

To clarify this case, you may open any one email in New Outlook for Windows. You will see Immersive reader options and please click it will new window pop up to check Read Aloud feature available now.

For more information and key features supported in New Outlook, you may check this Microsoft article as reference:

Getting started with the new Outlook for Windows

The new Outlook for Windows for organization admins

If you need further assistance, please feel free to let me know, I will keep assisting you.

Your understanding and patience will be appreciated.

Thank you!

The immersive reader works ok, (not great) for received emails. There doesn't appear to be a way to make it work while drafting an email which I believe is the most important use of the Read Aloud feature.

Am I missing something? Is there a way to read aloud an email while in edit mode without having to save it as a draft then open the draft and use the immersive reader which takes way too much time.

I don't plan to switch to the "New Outlook" until the read aloud feature is available while drafting an email.

As a side note, please make the read aloud keyboard shortcut consistent across all platforms. On the "old Outlook" it is Ctrl+Alt+Space, for outlook on the web it is Shift+Ctrl+U. Please don't use Shift+Ctrl+U, as that is used to start a call in Teams app (web and desktop). I can't tell you how many times I have accidentally started a teams call when I was trying to read my message aloud before sending.

I share the same frustration, the read out loud feature is invaluable to persons with dyslexia.

Where is the Read Aloud option in the new outlook? It was in the Old version. The Immerse Reading option is awful. I can't use it while composing an email.

Where is the Read Aloud option in the new outlook? It was in the Old version. The Immerse Reading option is awful. I can't use it while composing an email.

Has there been any movement on this? I like "new" Outlook and would love to be able to use it fully. Without this feature that's not possible for me.

This doesnt work while drafting an email :( Please get us this feature back.

I reverted to the older version so i am not sure

As someone with dyslexia, the Read Aloud feature is very helpful with reading and composing emails. It allows me to double check errors and catch missed words. Please bring it back for outlook mailbox, pop-outs, and composing.

Its also helpful to be able to set the settings for the read aloud function, which is missing in the immersive reader too. Most of the time I prefer to have the female voice and speed at 1.75 but I can't customize make this my default.

The immersive reader is not as helpful for me. I don't need the extra spacing and increased font size. For my purposes it makes it more cumbersome to proof read. I do appreciate it being available as an accessibility option because I imagine there are many people who could still benefit from it. However for me, the preferred function is Read Aloud. Its not worth shifting to the new version without it.

Best

Kevin