speech to text word 2021

How to use speech to text in Microsoft Word

Speech to text in Microsoft Word is a hidden gem that is powerful and easy to use. We show you how to do it in five quick and simple steps

Master the skill of speech to text in Microsoft Word and you'll be dictating documents with ease before you know it. Developed and refined over many years, Microsoft's speech recognition and voice typing technology is an efficient way to get your thoughts out, create drafts and make notes.

Just like the best speech to text apps that make life easier for us when we're using our phones, Microsoft's offering is ideal for those of us who spend a lot of time using Word and don't want to wear out our fingers or the keyboard with all that typing. While speech to text in Microsoft Word used to be prone to errors which you'd then have to go back and correct, the technology has come a long way in recent years and is now amongst the best text-to-speech software .

Regardless of whether you have the best computer or the best Windows laptop , speech to text in Microsoft Word is easy to access and a breeze to use. From connecting your microphone to inserting punctuation, you'll find everything you need to know right here in this guide. Let's take a look...

How to use speech to text in Microsoft Word: Preparation

The most important thing to check is whether you have a valid Microsoft 365 subscription, as voice typing is only available to paying customers. If you’re reading this article, it’s likely your business already has a Microsoft 365 enterprise subscription. If you don’t, however, find out more about Microsoft 365 for business via this link . 

The second thing you’ll need before you start voice typing is a stable internet connection. This is because Microsoft Word’s dictation software processes your speech on external servers. These huge servers and lighting-fast processors use vast amounts of speech data to transcribe your text. In fact, they make use of advanced neural networks and deep learning technology, which enables the software to learn about human speech and continuously improve its accuracy. 

These two technologies are the key reason why voice typing technology has improved so much in recent years, and why you should be happy that Microsoft dictation software requires an internet connection. 

Once you’ve got a valid Microsoft 365 subscription and an internet connection, you’re ready to go!

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Step 1: Open Microsoft Word

Simple but crucial. Open the Microsoft Word application on your device and create a new, blank document. We named our test document “How to use speech to text in Microsoft Word - Test” and saved it to the desktop so we could easily find it later.

Step 2: Click on the Dictate button

Once you’ve created a blank document, you’ll see a Dictate button and drop-down menu on the top right-hand corner of the Home menu. It has a microphone symbol above it. From here, open the drop-down menu and double-check that the language is set to English.

One of the best parts of Microsoft Word’s speech to text software is its support for multiple languages. At the time of writing, nine languages were supported, with several others listed as preview languages. Preview languages have lower accuracy and limited punctuation support.

Step 3: Allow Microsoft Word access to the Microphone

If you haven’t used Microsoft Word’s speech to text software before, you’ll need to grant the application access to your microphone. This can be done at the click of a button when prompted.

It’s worth considering using an external microphone for your dictation, particularly if you plan on regularly using voice to text software within your organization. While built-in microphones will suffice for most general purposes, an external microphone can improve accuracy due to higher quality components and optimized placement of the microphone itself.

Step 4: Begin voice typing

Now we get to the fun stuff. After completing all of the above steps, click once again on the dictate button. The blue symbol will change to white, and a red recording symbol will appear. This means Microsoft Word has begun listening for your voice. If you have your sound turned up, a chime will also indicate that transcription has started. 

Using voice typing is as simple as saying aloud the words you would like Microsoft to transcribe. It might seem a little strange at first, but you’ll soon develop a bit of flow, and everyone finds their strategies and style for getting the most out of the software. 

These four steps alone will allow you to begin transcribing your voice to text. However, if you want to elevate your speech to text software skills, our fifth step is for you.

Step 5: Incorporate punctuation commands

Microsoft Word’s speech to text software goes well beyond simply converting spoken words to text. With the introduction and improvement of artificial neural networks, Microsoft’s voice typing technology listens not only to single words but to the phrase as a whole. This has enabled the company to introduce an extensive list of voice commands that allow you to insert punctuation marks and other formatting effects while speaking. 

We can’t mention all of the punctuation commands here, but we’ll name some of the most useful. Saying the command “period” will insert a period, while the command “comma” will insert, unsurprisingly, a comma. The same rule applies for exclamation marks, colons, and quotations. If you’d like to finish a paragraph and leave a line break, you can say the command “new line.” 

These tools are easy to use. In our testing, the software was consistently accurate in discerning words versus punctuation commands.

Microsoft’s speech to text software is powerful. Having tested most of the major platforms, we can say that Microsoft offers arguably the best product when balancing cost versus performance. This is because the software is built directly into Microsoft 365, which many businesses already use. If this applies to your business, you can begin using Microsoft’s voice typing technology straight away, with no additional costs. 

We hope this article has taught you how to use speech to text software in Microsoft Word, and that you’ll now be able to apply these skills within your organization. 

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Writing-Related Software Tutorials

How to Dictate Speech to Text in Microsoft Word (PC, Mac & Web)

By Erin Wright

Today, we are going to dictate speech to text in Microsoft Word. Here are some important notes before we get started:

• You must be connected to the internet.
• You must be signed into your Microsoft 365 account.
• You must have an internal microphone in your computer or an external microphone connected to your laptop.
• Word’s speech-to-text dictation isn’t available for every language.
• Word’s speech-to-text dictation results aren’t always perfect, so allow yourself time for editing.

Watch all the steps shown here in real time!

Explore more than 300 writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel .

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. These steps also apply to Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac (a.k.a., Word for Mac) and Word for the web. These steps don’t apply to Word for mobile or older desktop versions of Word.

How to Dictate Speech to Text

• Place your cursor in the document where you want the dictated text to appear.
• Select the Home tab.
• Select the Dictate button in the Voice group.

The dictation menu will appear, and the Dictate button will turn blue, which indicates that the software is listening for your voice. You can start speaking immediately or adjust the settings, as shown below.

• Select the Settings button.

• Customize the options in the Dictation Settings dialog box.
• Select your language in the Spoken language
• Select an option from the Microphone
• Turn on Enable auto-punctuation if you don’t want to speak punctuation commands.
• Turn on Filter sensitive phrases to prevent potentially inappropriate words from being dictated.
• Select the Save button.

• Select the Dictate button (see figure 2).
• Start talking when the button turns blue and starts to pulse.

Dictation Voice Commands

While dictating speech to text, you can use voice commands to control the dictation, format the text, and add punctuation . Here is a short list of some common commands:

• Pause dictation
• Stop dictation
• Exit/Close dictation
• Period, Full stop
• Question mark
• Exclamation mark/point
• Open quotes
• Close quotes

Visit the Microsoft Support website for a full list of voice commands.

• Select the Closing X or say “Close dictation” when you are finished.

Related Resources

How to Insert Audio Files in Microsoft Word

How to Insert Audio Files in Word for Mac

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Jan 31, 2023

Transcribe comes to Word for Windows

Abhinav Santoshi

• Add our blog to your RSS feed reader" href="/rss/blog.xml" data-bi-name="RSS Subscription" data-bi-id="rss_feed" data-bi-bhvr="120" data-bi-socchn="RSSSubscription" title="Microsoft 365 Insider Blog RSS" target="blank" class="d-inline-block">

Hi, Microsoft 365 Insiders! My name is Abhinav Santoshi and I’m a Product Manager on the Office Voice team. I’m excited to share with you the availability of the Transcribe feature you love in Word for Windows.

Transcribe in Word for Windows

Tired of manually transcribing audio recordings from meetings, interviews, and lectures? Look no further! The highly anticipated Transcribe feature is now available in Word for Windows. It allows you to convert speech to a text transcript, with each speaker individually separated. 

Imagine being able to focus on delivering a speech, conducting an interview, recording a lecture, taking class notes, or attending a presentation, all while knowing you can listen back and read the transcript afterwards. The Transcribe feature also allows you to play back timestamped audio and edit the transcript to make corrections. Plus, you can save the full transcript as a Word document or insert snippets of it into existing documents.  

How it works 

You can transcribe speech in two ways:  

• Record directly in Word
• Upload an audio file

Record in Word 

You can record directly in Word while taking notes, and then transcribe the recording.  Word transcribes in the background as you record. You’ll see the transcript after you click the  Save and transcribe now  button. 

• If it is your first-time transcribing, give the Word app permission to use your mic.  How to set up and test microphones in Windows (microsoft.com)
• Go to Home > Dictate > Transcribe .

• In the Transcribe pane, select the Start recording button.

• Start talking or begin a conversation with another person, or start recording a lecture. Be sure to speak clearly or make sure the incoming audio is clear.
• When finished, click the Save and transcribe now button to save your recording to OneDrive and start the transcription process.

NOTE: The OneDrive account where your audio is being uploaded will be shown in transcription pane. Currently you can only create one new transcription per page. 

Upload an audio file 

You can upload a pre-recorded audio file to transcribe the recording. This is useful when you want to refer to a past lecture or training session and be able to listen to the content again. 

• Choose an existing audio file from the file picker, and then click the Open button.

NOTE: Transcribe currently supports the .wav, .mp4, .m4a, and .mp3 formats. 

Scenarios to try 

Play and pause recording .

• Pause the recording by selecting the Pause (Active Mic) button. 

• Resume recording by selecting the Record (Inactive Mic) button.

Play back the audio 

• Open the Word document that contains the transcribed recording and select Home  >  Dictate > Transcribe .
• Press the Play button to start playing back your recording.

Notice that the relevant transcript section is highlighted as the audio plays. You can also easily jump to a specific moment in your recording by clicking the timestamp to recall more context. 

Adjust the volume and the playback speed 

Relabel a speaker or edit a section .

• The transcription service identifies and separates different speakers and labels them Speaker 1, Speaker 2, and so on. 

NOTE : You can edit the speaker label and change all occurrences of it to something else. 

• You can also edit the content of a section to correct any issues in transcription.

Add a transcript to the page 

From the Transcribe pane, you can add the entire transcript, or specific sections of it, to your Word document. 

Requirements 

• Active Microsoft 365 subscription. NOTE:  No entry point into the Transcribe will be available unless you are a Microsoft 365 subscriber. 
• Have a stable internet connection.
• Transcribe is not available for GCC/GCC-H/DOD customers.

Privacy 

This feature does not store your content or audio data. Microsoft only uses your content to provide you with audio results. For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see   Connected Experiences in Office . 

List of supported languages 

Availability  

This feature is rolling out to Beta Channel users running Version 2302 (Build 16107.20000) or later. 

Don’t have it yet? It is probably us, not you. 

Features are released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly. We highlight features that you may not have because they are slowly releasing to larger numbers of Insiders. Sometimes we remove elements to further improve them based on your feedback. Though this is rare, we also reserve the option to pull a feature entirely out of the product, even if you, as an Insider, have had the opportunity to try it.  

Feedback  

We want to hear from you! Please share your feedback about the Transcribe experience with us right from the app by tapping the File > Send Feedback  button in the app window.   

Learn what  other information you should include in your feedback  to ensure it is actionable and reaches the right people. We are excited to hear from you!   

Sorry, JavaScript must be enabled to use this app.

How to Dictate Documents in Microsoft Word

Great for writing speeches or your autobiography

Most people can speak faster than they can type. Take advantage of this superpower by dictating your documents! Using speech-to-text is a great way to quickly get your thoughts down in writing. We’ll show you how to dictate documents in Microsoft Word on a computer or your smartphone.

If you use the Mac or Windows desktop version of Word, you won’t find the dictate button unless you subscribe to Microsoft 365. However, you can use the free Microsoft Word web app or smartphone apps to dictate to your heart’s desire. We’ll assume you have a good internet connection and a device with a microphone enabled. 

How to Use Dictation in Word on Macs, PCs, or the Web

The steps for dictating documents in Word are largely the same, no matter whether you’re using the desktop app or the browser-based version.  

• Launch the Word app, either the desktop app on your Mac or PC or the web app in Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

• In the Home menu, select the microphone icon.

• If prompted, select the button to Allow the use of your microphone.

• Web app users will see a toolbar with controls for your microphone. Select the microphone icon to begin dictating.

• Once the microphone icon is activated, you can begin speaking, and you’ll see your words appear in the Word document.

• Web users can select the gear icon on the dictation toolbar to choose the spoken language, select which microphone device they want to use, and toggle auto-punctuation and the profanity filter on or off.

• You can use your keyboard or Word’s suggestions to edit your document without needing to turn the microphone off. 
• When you’re finished, you can exit dictation by selecting Close ( X ) in the dictation toolbar or pressing the microphone button on the ribbon again. 

That’s enough to get started with dictating a Word document on a computer. But keep reading for some expert tips and tricks.

How to Use Dictation on Your Smartphone’s Word App

Smartphones are made for dictation. You might feel strange talking to yourself, but it’s certainly faster than using your phone’s tiny keyboard.

Start with a new Word document or open an existing one. Tap the screen where you want to start dictating, and then select the microphone icon. You can choose the microphone icon inside the Word app itself or the icon on your soft keyboard. Either one will work. 

The benefit of using the Word app’s microphone icon is that you’ll have access to some other dictation tools. You’ll see a toolbar with standard punctuation, a spacebar, and a carriage return (new line) button. Sometimes it’s easier to tap those buttons than it is to use voice commands. 

You’ll also have access to the gear icon to adjust the settings like the spoken language, auto punctuation, and the profanity filter.  

The first time you select the microphone icon in the Word app, you may be prompted to grant Word permission to record audio on your phone. You can choose to either allow it every time you use the app or only this time.

At any point, you can always select the Help button, where you’ll find information on all the voice commands you can use. 

Tips and Tricks for Dictating in Microsoft Word

Sure, you can dictate the text of a Word document, but did you know about all the other things you can do in Word with voice commands? You can use your voice to edit, format, create lists, and add a comment. 

Punctuation Tips & Tricks

You’ll get used to saying the names of punctuation marks and symbols when you dictate.

• Add punctuation simply by saying the name of the punctuation mark you want to insert. You can say things like period , comma , new line , and apostrophe . 
• Say open quotes and close quotes .
• You can say ellipsis or dot dot dot … it’s up to you!
• For punctuation like parentheses, brackets, and braces, you can say either left or open bracket (or parentheses or brace) and either right or close bracket (or parentheses or brace). 
• If it’s a character, you can probably dictate it. Try commands like asterisk , m-dash , copyright sign , and degree symbol . 

Editing Tips & Tricks

Think of it this way. You’re the boss and Word is your employee. Just tell Word what you want it to do. 

• If you say delete , Word will delete the last word or punctuation mark that appears before the cursor.
• If you say delete that , it’ll remove the last thing you said.
• You can tell Word to delete a specific word in the middle of a sentence. For example, let’s say you dictated, “You can’t judge a book by its awful cover.” You could say delete awful , and then you’d be left with “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
• Rather than saying backspace repeatedly to go back several spaces, you can just say backspace [1-100] . In other words, you can say backspace twenty . 
• If you make a mistake, you can always say undo .

Formatting Tips & Tricks

Like the editing tips, you can use voice commands to add formatting to specific words or phrases.

• For simple formatting like bold , italics , underline , and strikethrough , you can pair those commands with words or phrases in your document. For example, in the screencap below, we said, “ bold phrases ,” and it did!
• To undo all the formatting from the document, say clear all formatting . 
• Use the align command to align your text left, right, or center.
• If you’re not sure a particular command exists, try it and find out. For example, you can say, underline last sentence , and Word will know exactly what you mean.
• Creating lists is easy with commands like start list , start numbered list , and exit list .

Bonus Dictation Tips & Tricks

Before you go, check out these final dictation tips and tricks.

• Say add comment to create a blank comment box that you can type into.
• Even better, say something like add comment I love this paragraph period , and it will insert a comment with the text “I love this paragraph.”
• Dictate currency symbols. You can say dollar sign , pound sterling sign (don’t forget the “sterling” or it will insert the # sign), euro sign , or yen sign .
• Insert common emojis like smiley face , winky face , heart emoji , or frowny face . 

 If you know of any more dictation commands in Microsoft Word, leave them in the comments!

Maggie Marystone is a freelance technology writer, human rights worker, and storyteller based in Chicago. Read Maggie's Full Bio

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How to Convert Speech to Text in Word? A step-by-Step Guide

(Note: This guide on how to convert speech to text in Word is suitable for all MS Word versions including  Office 365 )

Typing a large document might be hectic sometimes. It is a rigorous process to sit with your keyboard and click key after key. You might wonder if there is an easier way to type. 

Fortunately, an alternate way to ease your efforts in typing is to use the Speech-to-Text feature in Word. 

The speech-to-text feature is particularly useful when you have to type fast. This reduces the additional work you have to do while taking notes for meetings, jotting down quick ideas, or drafting any content. 

Speech-to-Text is the cutting-edge feature adopted by many businesses and technological streams to increase user-friendliness and maintain productivity features. Among them, Microsoft has one of the advanced speech-to-text features. 

If you are planning on a long write-up, this article is for you. In this guide, I’ll explain how to activate the speech-to-text feature in Word and how to make the best out of it.

You’ll Learn

Prerequisites to Know Before Using Speech to Text Feature in Word

How to activate the speech to text feature in word, settings option, help option.

Related Reads:

How to Add Columns in Microsoft Word? All You Need to Know

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Enabling voice typing in Microsoft Word is easy. However, there are some points to bear in mind to make the best of the voice typing feature.

• Make sure you have logged in to the Microsoft official account. Only then you will find the Dictate option in the Home option. But a workaround is to use the built-in Windows speech-to-text function. To activate Windows speech-to-text feature, hold the Windows key and press H. In this way, you can enable the voice typing feature for Word and in all text spaces. But, this feature has some limitations to the language options.
• Speak clearly with proper pronunciation. It is very common for Word to interpret your speech into a relatable word. However, you can change the text through suggestions or manually.
• Try to stay in a silent and noiseless room. It is very easy for microphones to pick up stray noises and convert them into text, which might interfere with your speech.
• The efficiency of speech-to-text conversion relies on the speed of the internet. Make sure you have a stable and reliable internet connection to use the speech-to-text feature with ease. 
• Make sure you allow access to the microphone option for Word. In case the microphone does not have access, the Dictate feature will not be turned on and speech won’t be converted to text. Access to the microphone can be given when activating the Dictate option.
• It is always better to have an external microphone to discern your speech into text in a better way. However, the internal microphone array also does a good job of listening to your speech and converting them to text.

Open a Word document.

In the Main Menu, select Home. Under Voice, select the Dictate option. 

Or, you can use the keyboard shortcut (Alt+`) to enable the voice typing feature in Word.

This opens up a small dialog box. 

To activate the speech-to-text feature, tap on the microphone icon. You will hear a chime and the dialog box shows “Listening…”. 

You can also see the dictate icon in the main menu changes.

As you speak, Microsoft Word converts the speech into text. The text appears on the screen as you speak. 

You can exit the Dictate mode by clicking on the close button in the top right corner of the dialog box. Also, the Dictate mode automatically closes when you open another window or move away from the Word file.

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Additional Attributes of Dictate Mode

To the left of the microphone button, you can find the Settings Option. You can customize the Dictate mode by using the Settings button. It shows three options: 

• Enable Auto Punctuation: You can toggle this feature ON to add punctuation marks as you speak. Initially, punctuation marks were entered manually. Now, enabling this option adds punctuation marks like commas, periods, hyphens, and exclamations wherever necessary without being prompted by the user. 

• Filter Sensitive Phrases : Toggling this option ON enables you to cloak any sensitive content inappropriate. When any awkward context arises, Word automatically masks the said word by replacing it with “*****”.
• Languages : This is one of the notable features of the Dictate option in Microsoft Word. This helps you type out the text in the language of your choice. 

For example, if you want to make a Japanese script, select Japanese in the Spoken Language option and start speaking. Microsoft recognizes the uttered word and types out the content in Japanese. 

Microsoft takes great measures to add more languages and increase their compatibility with the feature. Currently, Word supports 15 languages and 36 preview languages. However, preview languages have comparatively less accuracy than the supported language. 

To the right of the microphone button, you can find the Help option. Click on the Help option when faced with any query using the Dictate option. This directs you to Microsoft’s official help page to help solve your queries.

Another most important feature of the speech-to-text conversion in Microsoft Word is its ability to act on verbal commands.

You can add punctuation marks by saying “period”, “comma”, and other such commands. Word will add “.” and “,” in the respective places. For example, in the statement “My favorite colors are red, blue, and green”, you can add the commas “,” by uttering the word comma.

You can edit the text using voice commands like “delete” or “undo” to delete or undo any text after your command. For example, in the command “have a nice day. And a great weekend”, you can utter “delete weekend” to delete the word.

You can also use the “bold”, “strikethrough”, “italics”, and other commands to format the words. Consider the statement, “have a nice day”. To bold the words “nice day”, just utter the words “bold nice day”.

Another one that concerns most people is a breach of privacy. Microsoft has rolled out an official statement saying they don’t store any information. The spoken words are only used to convert your speech into text and provide you with the best results. 

Suggested Reads:

Footnotes in Word and Endnotes in Word

How to do a Mail Merge in Microsoft Word 2013 – Part 2

Using Settings and Preferences in Microsoft Word 2013

Closing Thoughts

In this guide, we saw how to convert speech to text in Word and the additional attributes of the speech-to-text feature.  

Speech-to-Text is one of the golden features of Microsoft. This method of typing is preferred by a majority of common Word users. Initially, you might face a bit of a struggle to properly pronounce the words and make the best of the speech-to-text feature, but as you progress, you will develop a flow for it. 

For more high-quality guides on MS Word or Excel, please visit our  free resources  section.

SimonSezIT has been effectively teaching Excel for 15 years. We have a very comprehensive set of courses with in-depth training modules covering all major business software.

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Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!

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Microsoft  debuted in August 2020  an audio transcription feature for the online version of Word that converts audio (recorded or uploaded from a file) directly to text, and even separates the text based on the speaker. Here's how to use the feature.

To transcribe audio with Word, you must be a Microsoft 365 premium subscriber . If you have the free version and you try to use the feature, you'll be met with a message asking you to subscribe.

You can have Word transcribe audio that you record directly within Word. Sign in to Microsoft 365, and open Word. In the "Home" tab, click the arrow next to "Dictate" and then select "Transcribe" from the menu that appears.

If this is your first time using the feature, you'll need to give Microsoft permission to access your microphone .

The "Transcribe" pane will open in the right-hand side of the window. Select "Start Recording."

Once selected, the timer will start. Now, you'll want to begin speaking. You won't see the transcription happen live as you're speaking because Microsoft found that to be a bit too distracting during its testing.

After you're finished, click the "Pause" button and then select "Save and Transcribe Now."

It may take a few minutes for Word to finish transcribing the audio recording and uploading it to OneDrive .

Once this is done, you'll see the transcription appear in the same pane you recorded the audio. Each section will have a timestamp, the speaker's name, and the transcribed text. Microsoft automatically separates the text by the speaker.

If Word detects multiple speakers, you'll see "Speaker 1," Speaker 2," and so on. If Word can't detect multiple speakers, you'll just see "Speaker."

You might notice that the transcript doesn't perfectly reflect the recorded audio accurately. You can edit a section of the transcript by hovering your mouse over the incorrect text and then selecting the pen icon.

Now you can edit the transcription found in this section. You can also edit the name of the speaker, as well as every instance where the speaker (i.e., Speaker 1 or Speaker 2) appears by ticking the box next to "Change All Speaker." When you're finished, click the checkmark.

If necessary, you can use the playback controls to revisit the audio recording. This is necessary if the transcript is long, and you can't remember exactly who said what. Here's the function of each button, from left to right:

• Playback speed
• Fast forward

When you're finished editing the transcript, you can add it to the document by selecting the "Add All To Document" button at the bottom of the pane.

Once selected, the audio recording and the content of the transcript will appear in the document.

If you already have an audio file that you want to transcribe, you can upload it to Word.  Sign in to Microsoft 365, and open Word. In the "Home" tab, click the arrow next to "Dictate" and then select "Transcribe" from the menu that appears.

The "Transcribe" pane will open in the right-hand side of the window. Select "Upload Audio." You can upload these audio file types:

File Explorer (Finder for Mac) will open. Navigate to the location of the audio file, select it, and then click "Open."

Microsoft will begin transcribing the audio file. Depending on the size of the file, this could take quite a bit of time.

Once Microsoft finishes transcribing the audio file, the text will appear in the pane.

If you face the same issue with your audio file, you can edit the text by hovering over the section and clicking the "Pen" icon. If you need to hear the audio again, you can do so by using the audio controls.

Next, edit the name of the speaker (and each instance that the speaker appears by ticking the "Change All Speaker" box) and the text from that section. When finished, click the "Checkmark."

Once you've edited the content of the transcript, click "Add All To Document."

The audio file and text of the transcript will be added to the Word document.

While not perfect, this feature can potentially save you a lot of time, especially if the speaker in the audio is speaking clearly.

• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Word

How to use speech-to-text on Microsoft Word to write and edit with your voice

• You can use speech-to-text on Microsoft Word through the "Dictate" feature.
• With Microsoft Word's "Dictate" feature, you can write using a microphone and your own voice.
• When you use Dictate, you can say "new line" to create a new paragraph and add punctuation simply by saying the punctuation aloud.
• If you're not satisfied with Word's built-in speech-to-text feature, you can use a third-party program like Dragon Home.
• Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.

While typing is certainly the most common way to create and edit documents in Microsoft Word , you're not limited to using a keyboard. 

Word supports speech-to-text, which lets you dictate your writing using voice recognition. 

Speech-to-text in Word is convenient and surprisingly accurate, and can help anyone who has issues typing with a typical keyboard. 

You can use speech-to-text in Microsoft Word in the same way on both Mac and PC.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Apple macbook pro (from $1,299.00 at apple), acer chromebook 15 (from $179.99 at walmart), how to use speech-to-text on word using dictate.

Make sure you have a microphone connected to your computer. This can be built-in, like on a laptop, or a separate mic that you plug into the USB or audio jack. 

It doesn't matter which type you use, though the best kind of mic to use is a headset, as it won't need to compete with as much background noise as a built-in microphone.

1. In Microsoft Word, make sure you're in the "Home" tab at the top of the screen, and then click "Dictate."

2. You should hear a beep, and the dictate button will change to include a red recording light. It's now listening for your dictation. 

3. Speak clearly, and Word should transcribe everything you say in the current document. Speak punctuation aloud as you go. You can also say "New line," which has the same effect as pressing the Enter or Return key on the keyboard. 

4. When you're done dictating, click "Dictate" a second time or turn it off using your voice by saying, "Turn the dictate feature off."

You can still type with the keyboard while Dictate is on, but if you click outside of Word or switch to another program, Dictate will turn itself off.  

Want to change languages? You can click the downward arrow on the Dictate button to choose which of nine or so languages you want to speak. You might also see additional "Preview Languages," which are still in beta and may have lower accuracy.

Speech-to-text alternatives

You're not limited to using the Dictate feature built into Word. While not as popular as they once were, there are several commercial speech-to-text apps available which you can use with Word. 

The most popular of these, Dragon Home , performs the same kind of voice recognition as Word's Dictate, but it also lets you control Word, format text, and make edits to your text using your voice. It works with nearly any program, not just Word.

Related coverage from  Tech Reference :

How to use speech-to-text on a windows computer to quickly dictate text without typing, you can use text-to-speech in the kindle app on an ipad using an accessibility feature— here's how to turn it on, how to use text-to-speech on discord, and have the desktop app read your messages aloud, how to use google text-to-speech on your android phone to hear text instead of reading it, 2 ways to lock a windows computer from your keyboard and quickly secure your data.

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Home » Tech Tips » Apps » How to Use Voice Typing in Microsoft Word Windows and Mac?

How to Use Voice Typing in Microsoft Word Windows and Mac?

Preparing a long document by typing word by word can easily make you boring. Microsoft Word being a most popular documentation software offers simple solution to overcome this situation. It is called “Dictate” feature which helps to convert your speech to text and type on the document. You can use voice typing in Microsoft Word without touching keyboard and finish the document quickly. After finishing the document, you can use Editor to check spelling and grammar to correct mistakes before sharing the document with others.

Voice Typing in Microsoft Word

Before explaining the function in Word, here are the things you should understand.

• Voice typing or dictate function needs internet connection. This means, your voice input is sent to Microsoft and processed for converting to text. Though Microsoft claims they do not store any voice data, you should be aware of this and avoid using dictation for preparing confidential documents.
• The function is available in both Windows and Mac versions of Word as part of Microsoft 365 subscription.
• You do not need to activate voice typing and is available as an in-built feature in Word. Similarly, you also do not need any additional configurations in system level.
• Dictate feature in Word is different than “Voice typing” accessibility feature in Windows operating system and “Dictation” feature in macOS.

Considering voice typing or dictation is part of both operating system and Word, here are the possible ways to use in Word:

• Dictate feature in Word for Windows
• Voice typing feature in Windows OS
• Dictate feature in Word for Mac
• Dictation feature in macOS

1. Use Voice Typing in Word Windows Version (Dictate)

It is super easy to start using dictation in Word.

• Open a blank Word document and go to “Home” tab.
• Click on “Dictate” icon from the ribbon to open a toolbar menu.

• Click the microphone icon in the toolbar and start speaking. Word will automatically recognize your voice input and start converting to text in your document. However, make sure you have stable internet connection for this to work faster.

• For configuring the dictation, click on the gear icon in the toolbar. You have options to select the language, microphone device , adjust volume, enable auto-punctuation and filter sensitive phrases. If you make changes, make sure to click “Save” button to apply your settings.

2. Use Windows Voice Typing in Word

As mentioned above, Windows has a separate feature called voice typing. This works similar as Word dictation and generate text output from voice or audio input. Earlier, you should setup external microphone and configure voice recognition for using Windows voice typing feature. Now, you can simply start using the feature by using a keyboard shortcut on any text input screen.

• Open your Word document and press “Win + H” keys.
• This will open a toolbar showing a microphone, settings and help icons.
• Click the microphone icon and start using voice typing similar to dictation feature in Word.

• For configuring the voice typing, click on the gear icon and change your settings.

3. Use Voice Typing in Word for Mac (Dictate)

Word for Mac ( Microsoft 365 subscription ) also has a similar setup like Windows version.

• When you are in Word document, go to “Home” tab and click on “Dictate” icon in the ribbon.

• On the pop-up that appears, click on the microphone icon and start talking.
• Word will convert your speech to text and start typing on the document.
• Click on the gear icon to configure the dictate options. Here you can switch the language , select different microphone, set input volume level, enable auto-punctuation and enable avoiding sensitive content while text conversion process.

4. Using macOS Dictation Feature in Word

Mac comes with a “Dictation” feature similar to Windows voice typing. This is by default enabled and you can check and configure the settings if required.

• Click on the Apple logo menu and select “System Preferences…” option.
• Go to “Keyboard” section and then click “Dictation” tab.

• Make sure “Dictation” is “On”, select the language and check the keyboard shortcut keys . By default, pressing function key twice will open dictation feature in Mac.
• Launch Word app to open a blank document and press Fn key twice on your keyboard.
• This will show the microphone and you cat start speaking.
• Mac will convert your speech to text and type on the document.

Remember that when using dictation, Mac will send your voice inputs, contacts and location information to Apple for processing and converting to readable text.

Voice Typing Commands for Word

As we tested, voice typing and dictation features work very well with all the above options for converting your speech to text. However, the problem is that you should understand some basic commands for using these features.

• For example, you need to say “full stop” or “period” to end a sentence and “next line” to start a new line when using “Dictate” in Word. Most of these command also work with voice typing feature in all Windows apps.
• However, these commands are slightly different when using “Dictation” feature in macOS. For example, the command for creating a new line with macOS dictation feature is “new line” and using “next line” command will not work.

Below are the links to get complete list of voice typing commands from official Microsoft and Apple documentations.

• Dictate commands for Word Windows
• Dictate command for Word for Mac
• Voice typing commands for Windows OS
• Dictation commands for macOS

Final Words

We strongly recommend using the “Dictate” feature which comes as part of Word app. This function does not need internet connection and your voice input is not sent to Microsoft/Apple for processing. In case, if you are not comfortable using Word feature, then you can use the system wide “Voice typing” in Windows or “Dictation” in Mac. However, this needs a stable internet connection and your voice input is sent to Microsoft/Apple for processing. In either case, make sure to go through the voice typing/dictation commands and familiarize yourself before using the function.

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Use the Speak text-to-speech feature to read text aloud

Speak is a built-in feature of Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote. You can use Speak to have text read aloud in the language of your version of Office.

Text-to-speech (TTS) is the ability of your computer to play back written text as spoken words. Depending upon your configuration and installed TTS engines, you can hear most text that appears on your screen in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote. For example, if you're using the English version of Office, the English TTS engine is automatically installed. To use text-to-speech in different languages, see Using the Speak feature with Multilingual TTS .

To learn how to configure Excel for text-to-speech, see Converting text to speech in Excel .

Add Speak to the Quick Access Toolbar

You can add the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar by doing the following in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote:

Next to the Quick Access Toolbar, click Customize Quick Access Toolbar .

Click More Commands .

In the Choose commands from list, select All Commands .

Scroll down to the Speak command, select it, and then click Add .

Use Speak to read text aloud

After you have added the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar, you can hear single words or blocks of text read aloud by selecting the text you want to hear and then clicking the Speak icon on the Quick Access Toolbar.

Listen to your Word documents with Read Aloud

Listen to your Outlook email messages with Read Aloud

Converting text to speech in Excel

Dictate text using Speech Recognition

Learning Tools in Word

Hear text read aloud with Narrator

Using the Save as Daisy add-in for Word

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