In IT I often have to read copious amounts of crazy boring PDF documents regarding servers or applications I support. Some of these PDF documents are in excess of 300 pages. In order to save my sanity and my eyesight, I often take advantage of the “Read out loud” feature in Adobe Acrobat Pro. This feature allows me to absorb the content of the PDF through audio while I perform other tasks. Follow these steps to give your eyes a break today:
- open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro
- select View
- select Read out loud
- select Activate Read out loud
- select View
- select Read out loud
- select Read to End of Document (Adobe will begin reading the document to you)
If you do not have access to a tool like Adobe Acrobat Pro, their are other options available. Other tools are called screen readers, some are available for download for free. Please note: if you download a screen reader for free, please consider donating funds to the organization supporting the screen reader because screen reader technology is imperative to visually impaired computer users. The development and support of screen readers must continue, they provide an extremely valuable service to users.
Coding Under the Stars 