DISCORD’s platform is perfect for sending text messages or establishing video and voice chats with friends, but if you don’t have a microphone (or can’t or won’t talk), you can be left out. Fortunately, DISCORD can help you get around this by using text-to-speech (TTS) functionality, which converts text into voice messages.
Unfortunately, if DISCORD TTS is not working, you will need to find a fix before using the TTS functionality on the platform. TTS is not supported on all DISCORD servers or channels. But if it is and you can’t use it, you’ll need to follow these steps to fix the problem.
How to activate DISCORD Text-to-Speech
If you want to use text-to-speech in DISCORD, you will need to make sure the feature is enabled and ready to use in the DISCORD settings. You can only use DISCORD TTS on server channels that have the feature enabled, so you will need to join a channel (and server) that supports the feature. This helps to prevent TTS abuse on busy servers.
Unfortunately, DISCORD TTS is only compatible with PC or Mac using the DISCORD desktop or web application. The DISCORD mobile app does not support TTS at the moment, so you cannot use TTS functionality there.
- To enable DISCORD’s text-to-speech conversion, you will need to open the DISCORD application on your PC or Mac. If you are using the DISCORD web application, open the DISCORD website and login.
- After logging in, select the settings iconnext to your username in the lower left corner.
- In the User Settingsmenu, select Notifications from the side menu. In the Text-to-Speech Notifications section, make sure to enable TTS notifications – this will ensure that you will hear DISCORD TTS messages on your active channels. Select one of the available options to activate DISCORD TTS.
- Then select Accessibilityin the User Settings Then, under Text-to-Speech , be sure to select and enable the Allow playback and use of /tts command slider. You can also set the speech rate using the slider in the Text-to-Speech Rate section below – select Preview to test it out.
- Finally, if you are a server owner or administrator, you will need to enable TTS messaging on a channel for users to use the feature (or an administrator will need to do this for you). To do this, select the settings iconnext to a chosen channel in the server list.
- In the channel settingsmenu, select Permissions > Advanced Permissions . Select a role (or choose @all ) and then check the tick icon next to the Send text messages to voice Select Save Changes to confirm the change.
- After enabling TTS, open a channel that supports it on a server. To use it, type /tts message:textin the channel and select Type to send the message, replacing text with message content.
If TTS is enabled, users with TTS enabled (including you) will hear the repeated message using the TTS engine used by your device or browser.
The format of the TTS message that you and other users will hear is: username said message . For example, Ben said this is a TTS message , where Ben is the user’s nickname on the server, and this is a TTS message is the TTS message sent by the DISCORD user.
Update sound drivers in Windows
As the name suggests, DISCORD text-to-speech relies on a working sound system on your PC to function. If your speakers aren’t working in Windows, you’ll need to fix this first, as this may be the reason why DISCORD TTS is not working properly on your PC (assuming they are plugged in and working properly).
For most users, updating sound drivers is the best way to resolve this issue. If you are missing chipset drivers for your motherboard, for example, you won’t be able to use DISCORD TTS until you install them. New drivers may also fix other problems with your PC’s sound output, including audio crackle issues.
- To update your sound drivers in Windows, right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager.
- In the Device Managerwindow, select the arrow icon next to the Sound, video and game controllers Alternatively, if you are missing drivers, select the arrow next to Other devices instead. Locate your sound device in the list, right click and select Properties .
- In the Propertieswindow, select the Driver To update your driver, select Update Driver . If you have recently updated your sound drivers and want to revert to a previous driver, select Revert Driver instead.
- If you want to update your drivers by looking for available drivers using the Windows Update database, select Automatically search for drivers. If you downloaded a driver from the manufacturer’s website to install manually, select Browse my computer for drivers
- Windows will search for all available drivers and, if available, install them automatically. If it can’t find new drivers, you’ll need to use Windows Update to look for them. When prompted, select Check Windows Update for updated drivers.
- At that point, you will be redirected to Windows Update, where Windows will scan for available system updates (including driver updates). From here, select Install Nowto install any available updates.
Reset speaker settings for stereo playback
A well known issue with setting DISCORD TTS on Windows PCs is related to setting the sound output. Although most users may have a surround sound speaker system, DISCORD may stop working if your speakers are configured to use something other than a stereo audio setup (using two speakers).
If you have configured your speaker or headphone output to something other than the Windows sound settings, such as a multi-speaker surround sound setting, DISCORD TTS may stop working. If that’s the case, you’ll need to set your Windows speaker settings to stereo to restore DISCORD’s text-to-speech functionality.
- To use a stereo playback setup in Windows, right-click on the Start menu and select Settings.
- From the Settingsmenu, select System > Sound > Sound Control Panel .
- In the Soundmenu, select your playback device in the Playback tab and press Setup in the lower left corner. Alternatively, right-click on the selected playback device and select Configure .
- In the Speaker Setupmenu, select Stereo . Select Test to hear the sound output using this setting if you want to see what it will sound like. If you are happy to continue, select Next .
- In the next menu, select the speaker setting. For example, if you are using surround speakers, select the checkbox next to this option. Otherwise, make sure Front Left and Rightis set or leave the options blank and choose Next .
- Select Finishto complete the setup, restart your PC. If the configuration changes are successful, DISCORD TTS should start working again.
Update, reinstall or switch DISCORD apps
If you are still having problems with DISCORD’s text-to-speech conversion, you may need to look for a more drastic solution. Updating or reinstalling DISCORD or switching to the web client (if you use the desktop app) or the desktop app (if you use the web client) may be the solution to DISCORD TTS not working.
If you need to update DISCORD or reinstall it (or install it for the first time), the method remains the same— download the latest version and install it on your PC or Mac. You can switch to a beta or canary release for the latest bugfixes, but they are not completely stable, so you might prefer to use the stable version of DISCORD.
If you want to switch to the web app, you need to visit the DISCORD website and select Open DISCORD in the upper right corner. After signing in, you will be redirected to the DISCORD web application, allowing you to use DISCORD’s text-to-speech functionality on channels that support it using your browser’s text-to-speech engine.
Using DISCORD effectively
If DISCORD TTS is not working, the above steps should help you get the feature back up and running on your PC or other server users. DISCORD TTS will only work on servers where the feature is enabled; however, if you cannot use it, you may need to make your own DISCORD server or switch to a server that allows it.
DISCORD TTS issues aren’t the only issues you may encounter. Connection issues , Javascript errors and DISCORD does not open everything can be resolved with simple troubleshooting tips.