Listen to a PDF read aloud
Forward a PDF, Word doc, or report to your private InboxToAudio address and get back narrated audio with chapters and a transcript.
Works with any PDF — including scanned and photographed pages — with chapters and a transcript.
From $7.50/month billed annually · Try one email free, no card required
How to listen to a PDF
Email the file to yourself, then forward it on — or forward the email that had the PDF attached in the first place. InboxToAudio pulls the text out of the attachment, narrates it, and puts the result in your listening queue.
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Attach the PDF to an email
Send it to your private listening address, which looks like alpha.beta.12345@inbox.inboxtoaudio.app. If a colleague already emailed you the file, just forward their message.
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We extract the text
Headers, page furniture, and repeated footers are cleaned away so page numbers and running titles do not get read out between every section.
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Listen with chapters and a transcript
Long documents are split into chapters you can jump between, and the transcript is there when you want to follow along or find the passage you need to quote.
If the email has both a message body and an attachment, both are narrated — so a forwarded “here is the board pack” note comes with the pack itself.
What file types work
- PDF — any PDF, including text-based, scanned, and image-based pages
- DOC and DOCX — Word documents narrate the same way
- Up to 15 MB per attachment
- Plain email text — no attachment needed if the content is in the message body
PDF document understanding reads text across exported, scanned, and photographed pages, then prepares it for clean narration.
What PDFs sound like
A PDF is a layout format, not a document structure, so some things translate to audio better than others. Worth knowing before you forward a hundred-page report:
Prose narrates cleanly
Reports, whitepapers, research papers, memos, contracts, and long-form articles are what this is built for.
Tables, charts, and the transcript
Use the transcript alongside the narration to skim dense financial tables, numeric appendices, and visual details.
Multi-column layouts vary
Academic two-column papers usually extract in reading order, but heavily designed magazine layouts can jump around.
Length costs minutes, not money per file
Your plan is a monthly minutes budget. A long document uses more of it than a short one, and re-listening is always free.
Why people listen to documents
- Get through a board pack on the drive to the meeting rather than the night before
- Hear a research paper once end to end before deciding whether it is worth a close read
- Follow a long contract or policy while reading along with the transcript
- Clear the whitepapers and reports you saved weeks ago and never opened
What it costs
Plans are a monthly minutes budget, so the question is how much you listen to rather than how many files you send.
- Individual — $9/month, 300 minutes
- Individual Plus — $16/month, 700 minutes
- Individual Pro — $30/month, 1,500 minutes, plus two-speaker podcast-style audio
- Annual billing drops that to $7.50, $13.33, or $25 a month — two months free
You can try one document or email of up to 2,000 words free, without a card, before subscribing.
Frequently asked questions
- Yes. Attach any PDF up to 15 MB to an email and forward it to your private InboxToAudio address. The document is extracted, cleaned, and narrated with chapters and a transcript, including scanned and photographed pages.
Turn the reading pile into a listening queue.
Forward the report you have been meaning to read and hear it on your next commute.
From $7.50/month billed annually · Cancel anytime