Speech (Read Aloud) is not Working

Scrivener Scrivener for Windows
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Hello everyone. Author Migdalia Torres here. This April Camp NaNoWriMo is not working for me when it comes to the Scrivener 3 (Windows 11) Speak and Read Aloud. This is one of my favorite features and it is now working. I have to read aloud to myself, and I would prefer Speech and Read for English as my Second language and Espanol is my first. The pronunciation of words is crucial in this one. Any suggestions as to why it is not working on my Scrivener 3 Windows 11., Also, I have not seen any Updates for Scrivener 3 (Windows 11). Have we been forgotten? (mt)

Can Scrivener speak
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Hi Migdee04, and welcome to the forum.

First, please try rebooting your computer if you haven’t already. If text-to-speech still doesn’t function after that, please try the following steps:

  1. Download and unzip the attached “qtexttospeech_winrt.zip” file:
    qtexttospeech_winrt.zip (26.0 KB)

  2. Make sure Scrivener is closed. Then, move the “qtexttospeech_winrt.dll” file into the “texttospeech” subfolder in Scrivener’s installation folder. (On most PCs, the path will be C:\Program Files\Scrivener3\texttospeech).

  3. Once the file has been placed into the texttospeech folder, launch Scrivener and try using the text to speech function to see if the issue is resolved.

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I’m having trouble with the text-to-speech. I was playing with the settings trying to find a voice or pitch that I liked and now it won’t play at all. Is there a way to fix this?

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It would be helpful to know if you’re using a Mac or a Windows computer and which version of Scrivener you have installed.

On both operating systems, we’re borrowing from the OS provided text-to-speech tools, so having the OS version information could also be helpful in case you’ve encountered a known bug.

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I’m using version 3 of Scrivener and Windows.

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I’ve just merged your post into another post with a similar issue.

If you scroll up, you’ll see some troubleshooting suggestions I had posted previously.

I recommend starting there to see if those suggestions resolve the issue.

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Thank You so much. I did just that and when you put it in the Folder the Speak Aloud began to work. Once again Thank You for your help.

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I have the same problem running Scrivener 3.1.6.0 (2862669) 64-bit - 02 Sep 2025 on Windows 11 Home 24H2. I installed qtexttospeech_winrt as described but it made no difference.

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Did it ever work?
If not, it could be your audio that’s routed wrong in Windows’ settings (?)

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Other speech to text functions like Narrator work fine through my headphones, and speech used to work fine with Scrivener. I suspect the new Scrivener release.

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I turned out to have two problems:

  1. I had forgotten Scrivener speech settings are nexxt to the speech command in the edit dropdown, not in the main settings. They had been working but reset somehow, I selected the winrt engine, having installed the DLL.
  1. There was an issue with output to my Jabra headset which initially only affected Scrivener, but eventually all audio software connected to Jabra. Windows showed activity but the headset only made a slight click. I reset the phones, downloaded firmware, and bypassed the dongle, to connect directly with my laptop. Now all output works, including Scrivener speech.
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I am having some similar problems getting my Windows 11 pc to read aloud my text in Scrivener.
Scrivener MUST be the window in focus to keep the Windows text to speech engine talking. Clicking another app stops the text-to-speech engine from reading aloud. It not a big problem, but I sometimes like to multi-task and look at text messages, etc. while listening to Windows reading my story aloud. I can’t do that. I wish Scrivener would continue prattling on until I indicate it can stop.
Often, I cannot resume the reading aloud function from the Scrivener menu. However, I CAN usually resume from the Windows magnifier tool. (I have uploaded a screenshot). I float the magnifier tool above Scrivener so it is handy. It has a ‘read from here’ and a ‘playback’ buttons.

Screenshot 2025-09-17 233234
Screenshot 2025-09-17 2332341321×958 53.7 KB

I am using Win 11 Home Version 10.0.26100 Build 26100 Scrivener Version: 3.1.6.0 (2862669) 64-bit - 02 Sep 2025

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I just had to apply this fix for a second time. It works, but it’s awfully annoying to have to download and copy the text-to-speech dll file every time it breaks.

This seems to be an issue in Scrivener where sometimes messing around with the Text-To-Speech settings somehow breaks it. Is this a known bug that is on the fix-list?

Just for the record, I’m using:
Scrivener Version: 3.1.6.0 (2862669) 64-bit
Windows 10 Home Edition Version 22H2 Build 19045.6332
Hardware details available upon request.