Convert Print to DAISY

Creating accessible DAISY audio books from print materials is an empowering way to support people with print disabilities. This tutorial outlines a practical, step-by-step method to convert scanned or printed documents into fully navigable DAISY audio books with synthetic voices.

Overview of Steps

1. Convert Print to Editable Text
2. Format the Text in Microsoft Word for Accessibility
3. Convert Word Document to DAISY Source Format (DTBook or EPUB)
4. Generate DAISY Audio Book with TTS Voice

Step 1: Convert Print to Editable Text

If your source is printed material (hard copy), use scanners and OCR software to convert scanned pages to editable text. Ensure the OCR output is clean and accurate to reduce errors during the formatting phase.

See the tutorial Convert Print to Digital for more information on this step.

Step 2: Format the Document in Word According to Accessibility Guidelines

A properly structured Word document ensures smooth navigation in the final DAISY book. Use styles (like Heading 1, 2, etc.) and apply alt text to images.

The tutorial Creating accessible Word documents explains this step.

Make sure to:

• Use built-in heading styles.
• Create alt text for images.
• Mark language and reading order.
• Avoid blank paragraphs for spacing.

Step 3: Convert Word Document to DAISY Source Format

There are two main pathways from Word:

Option A: Save as DAISY (Creates DTBook XML)

This method uses the “Save as DAISY” add-in to generate a DTBook XML file, which can then be processed into DAISY 2.02 or DAISY 3.

To know more about this step see the tutorial – Converting Word Documents to DTBook XML format

Option B: Convert to EPUB Using WordToEPUB

WordToEPUB is available free of cost from DAISY Consortium. It converts accessible Word documents to EPUB 3, which is supported by the DAISY Pipeline for audio conversion.

The download, installation and use of WordToEPUB is explained in this tutorial –  Getting started with WordToEPUB

Step 4: Create a DAISY Audio Book with TTS Using DAISY Pipeline

Once you have your DTBook XML or EPUB file, the next step is to generate a DAISY audio book using synthetic speech. DAISY Pipeline is available free of cost from DAISY Consortium. The DAISY Pipeline app  supports audio generation from both DTBook and EPUB files using external TTS engines (such as Google Cloud TTS or Microsoft Azure TTS).

Install and Launch DAISY Pipeline app. See DAISY Pipeline App Quick Start Guideto get the download link.

Checkout the article Using Azure and Google TTS in DAISY Pipelineand configure TTS voices of your choice in DAISY Pipeline.

Depending upon the format you have created in the previous step, refer to  one of these tutorials – DTBook XML to DAISY 3 Conversion Guideor Convert EPUB to DAISY.

The resulting DAISY Audio Book  will be compatible with all portable DAISY players such as Evo E10, E11 and can be transferred to Smart Phones or Computers for reading with apps like Dolphin EasyReader.