Speaking the Contents of Cells

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated August 1, 2020)

1

Do you like to hear freaky mechanical voices telling you what you just entered into a cell? If you are using Excel 2003, you're in luck. You can activate this precise feature by following these steps:

  1. Display the Text to Speech toolbar. (Choose View | Toolbars | Text to Speech, or choose Tools | Speech | Show Text to Speech Toolbar.)
  2. Click the right-most tool on the toolbar. (The Speak on Enter tool.)

At this point, assuming you have your speakers turned on and the volume turned up a bit, you'll hear a mechanical voice announce that the feature has been activated. Now, every time you enter a new value in a cell and then leave that cell, the voice tells you what you entered. If you enter a formula, then the voice announces the result of the formula.

To turn off the feature, again click the Speak on Enter tool. The voice announces that the feature is now off, and you can go on with your work in blissful silence.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2394) applies to Microsoft Excel 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Read-Only Files

Read-only documents (those that cannot be updated) are part and parcel of working with Word. There are many ways that a ...

Discover More

Printing a Full Style Sheet

Word supports the use of styles (they are very powerful), but it doesn't provide a way to get a full-featured style sheet ...

Discover More

Get Rid of Web Stuff

When you copy information from a Web page and paste it into a worksheet, you can end up with more than you bargained for. ...

Discover More

Save Time and Supercharge Excel! Automate virtually any routine task and save yourself hours, days, maybe even weeks. Then, learn how to make Excel do things you thought were simply impossible! Mastering advanced Excel macros has never been easier. Check out Excel 2010 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Hiding Outline Symbols

Outline symbols are automatically displayed by Excel when you add subtotals or organize your data using an outline. If ...

Discover More

Inserting a Voice Annotation in Your Worksheet

Excel can, once in a while, try to be a "multimedia program." Here's how you can add short sound files to your worksheet ...

Discover More

Searching a Workbook by Default, Take Two

How to create a macro that will display the correct Find and Replace box to set searching parameters.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is six more than 3?

2020-08-01 10:20:43

Sharon Bennett

I was able to turn the speech feature off by right clicking my speakers and click on mute for excel

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2021 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.