Free text-to-speech plugin for Microsoft Word

Page last updated: 30 June 2010

FAQs

  1. What is WordTalk?
  2. Can it be used with other Office programs?
  3. Can WordTalk be used on an Apple Mac computer?
  4. Can WordTalk be used with Word in Office 2007 and the Vista operating system?
  5. I keep getting a Microsoft Visual Basic error when I try to run WordTalk. What can I do?
  6. I get a ‘Runtime Error 76: File not found’ message when I open Word after using the WordTalk Startup utility. What is the problem?
  7. Can WordTalk be used with languages other than English?
  8. I have a previous version of WordTalk installed, what should I do to remove it?
  9. Will WordTalk work with Micrsoft Vista?
  10. Will WordTalk work with Windows 2000?
  11. Is there a Windows 7 version?
  12. I've installed WordTalk but can't see the toolbar in Word 2003

What is WordTalk?

WordTalk is a free utility developed by Rod Macaulay from TASSCC in Aberdeen to add speech output to text in Microsoft Word documents. It can also be used to listen to different suggestions offered by the spellchecker. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32 bit).

Can it be used with other Office programs?

No. WordTalk is designed purely to work with Microsoft Word. A similar program, PowerTalk, is available to work with PowerPoint. It is available from http://www.oatsoft.org/.

Can WordTalk be used on an Apple Mac computer?

No, unless you are using Boot Strap on a new Mac with an Intel processor, or are using a virtualisation program like Parallels. You can add speech to Microsoft Word and other programs by going to System Preferences, than Speech. Select Text to Speech and tick ‘Speak selected Text when the key is pressed’. Click on Set Key to decide which key to press. You will now be able to have text read back by selecting it and then pressing the key you chose.

Can WordTalk be used with Word in Office 2007 and the Vista operating system?

WordTalk was designed for earlier versions of Microsoft Word, but can be made to work with Word 2007 in Vista. See the separate Vista instruction sheet available on this site.

I keep getting a Microsoft Visual Basic error when I try to run WordTalk. What can I do?

If you get a Microsoft Visual Basic error with a code like “System Error &H80004005 (-2147467259)”, this means that the voice currently selected is not totally compatible with WordTalk, so you will have to use the WordTalk Configure tool (it looks like a spanner) to choose another voice. Unfortunately, the excellent Elan voices used by programs like Clicker 5 and Solo don’t work with WordTalk.

I get a ‘Runtime Error 76: File not found’ message when I open Word after using the WordTalk Startup utility. What is the problem?

The WordTalk Startup utility provides an option to have WordTalk start up whenever Word is used on a computer. It does this by copying the WordTalk.dot template into the Word Startup folder. This is usually found in C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\Startup (where User Name is the name of the person who logged on to the computer.) If Word has been set up with an unusual configuration on your computer (as may be the case with some networks) you will have to copy the WordTalk.dot file into the correct Startup folder yourself. Open your WordTalk folder and click once on the WordTalk.dot file, click on Edit (at the top of the window) and Copy. Now click on Edit and Paste - you will now have a file called Copy of Wordtalk.dot in your folder. Drag it onto your desktop and re-name it WordTalk.dot. (We have done this so we have a copy of the WordTalk.dot file that we can move - we don't want to move the original from the WordTalk folder. Now find your Word Startup folder and drag the WordTalk.dot copy into this folder. If you are on a network, you may have to ask your network administrator to do this.

Can WordTalk be used with languages other than English?

Yes – provided that you have an appropriate foreign language voice on your computer. There are a number of commercial voices available from e.g. http://www.nextup.com/. Alternatively, you can use the free voices available for Microsoft Reader. You can get voices for French, German, Spanish and Italian. You have to download and install the appropriate version of Microsoft Reader 2.1.1 for the language you want, then install the equivalent version of the Microsoft Reader Text-to-Speech Package. This should provide access to a number of reasonably good quality voices. You can check to see if they are available through the Speech control panel in WordTalk. If you are using a foreign language version of Word, WordTalk should still work, but you may get a ‘Runtime Error 76: File not found’ error message if you use the WordTalk Startup utility to try to have WordTalk load automatically when you run Word. The WordTalk Startup utility tries to place the WordTalk.dot template into the Word Startup folder (see FAQ 6, above), but this will have a different name in foreign language versions so you will have to find the Startup folder and physically move the template yourself.

I have a previous version of WordTalk installed, what should I do to remove it?

Please read the installation page for removal instructions.

Will WordTalk work with Microsoft Vista?

A Vista installation guide has been created which will hopefuly help.

Will WordTalk work with Windows 2000?

Unfortunately we have been unable to get it to work smoothly on this operating system.

Is there a Windows 7 version?

Yes, a Beta version for Windows 7 (32bit and 64bit versions available) has been created and we are looking for volunteers to test it. If you'd be interested in doing this and providing some feedback then please contact us via the Contact Us page.

I've installed WordTalk but can't see the toolbar in Word 2003

  • Go to Tools>templates and Add-ins;
  • Click on the add button;
  • browse to the WordTalk.dot file in c:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\microsoft\word\startup.