Storyline 360: Converting Text to Speech

Speed up course development by converting text to speech right in Storyline 360. For example, use the text-to-speech feature to quickly narrate a course for stakeholder review or to localize narration in different languages. You can even choose the voice and language to make sure every word sounds right.

Watch this video demonstration, then check out the detailed instructions below.

• Converting Text to Speech
• Selecting Languages and Voices
• Updating Script Changes or Using a Different Voice
• Generating Closed Captions
• Replacing Text-to-Speech Narration with Recorded Narration

Converting Text to Speech

1. Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon, click the Audio drop-down arrow, and choose Text-to-Speech.
2. When the Insert Text-to-Speech window appears, select a Language from the first drop-down list. This ensures that your words are spoken with the correct pronunciations.
3. Choose a Voice (standard or neural) from the second drop-down list. You can hear what a voice sounds like by clicking the Preview Voice button next to the list.
4. Type or paste your script into the text-entry field. Or, if you want to use your slide notes as your script, just click the Copy from Slide Notes button.
   
   You can convert up to 10,000 characters at a time. When using speech synthesis markup language (SSML), you can convert up to 3,000 characters for text and 3,000 for SSML tags. If your script is longer than that, break it into smaller chunks and generate more than one text-to-speech audio clip. Then, place the audio clips back to back on the timeline so they play in sequential order.
   
   See below for tips on pronunciation and phrasing.
5. To add closed captions to your text-to-speech narration, mark the Generate Closed Captions box in the upper right corner. Learn more about text-to-speech closed captions below.
6. Click Insert to complete the process. You must have an internet connection to convert text to speech. If you're offline, Storyline 360 prompts you to connect to the internet and try again.

Storyline 360 converts your text to narration, and it’ll appear as an audio clip on the slide’s timeline. The conversion process is fast, but lengthy scripts take longer to convert.

Text-to-speech narration works just like other audio clips in Storyline 360, so you can use the built-in audio editor and audio tools to customize it.

You can add as many text-to-speech clips as you want. You can even use different voices for different clips, which is great when creating a scene where two or more characters are conversing.

  

 

Selecting Languages and Voices

Choose from various standard and neural languages and voices to enhance your training.

Standard Voices

This is the full list of standard voices in Storyline 360, alphabetized and arranged by language.

 

Neural Voices

Starting with the September 2023 update, you can generate realistic, natural-sounding text-to-speech narration with neural voices. This is the full list of neural voices in Storyline 360, alphabetized and arranged by language. This list is updated whenever new voices are added.

Updating Script Changes or Using a Different Voice

What if you convert text to speech and then need to update it with script changes? Or what if you want to switch to a different voice later? No problem. Storyline 360 makes it easy to update text-to-speech narration.

1. Right-click your text-to-speech audio track on the slide’s timeline and choose Text-to-Speech from the context menu that appears. Or, select your text-to-speech audio track, go to the Options tab on the ribbon, and click Text-to-Speech.
2. The Insert Text-to-Speech window opens with your original script. Edit the script as needed or choose a different voice—or both.
3. Click Update.

Generating Closed Captions

Storyline 360 can generate closed captions that are automatically synchronized with text-to-speech narration, making your course more accessible.

You can add closed captions at the same time you convert text to speech or add them later. Here’s how.

Generate Closed Captions When You Convert Text to Speech

Add closed captions at the same time you convert text to speech simply by checking the Generate Closed Captions box. Learn how to convert text to speech above.

Update Existing Narration with Closed Captions

1. Right-click your text-to-speech audio track on the slide’s timeline and choose Text-to-Speech from the context menu that appears.
2. The Insert Text-to-Speech window opens with your script. Check the Generate Closed Captions box.
3. Click Update.

Use the Closed Captions Editor to Add Captions

1. Select your text-to-speech audio track on the slide’s timeline, then go to the Options tab on the ribbon and click Add Captions.
2. When the closed captions editor opens, Storyline 360 automatically generates captions that are synced with your narration. Just click Save & Close on the ribbon.

 

Replacing Text-to-Speech Narration with Recorded Narration

You can use text-to-speech narration during course development and later swap it out with professionally recorded narration, keeping your closed captions intact. Here’s how.

1. Select your text-to-speech audio track on the slide’s timeline and go to the Options tab on the ribbon.
2. Click the drop-down arrow beside Replace Audio.
3. Choose to replace your text-to-speech audio with an audio file from your computer or an audio clip from the media library. Or, record narration with your microphone.