Microsoft Word of the Office package integrates a very effective dictation tool, let’s find out together and see how to dictate a text on Word on Windows 10 and macOS.
Writing a lot: emails, social media posts and so on, over time it is becoming more and more tiring, even for those who are passionate about computers. With the latest versions of Word, a powerful dictation tool has been added that can faithfully transcribe what we say into the microphone allowing us to rest our hands at least for a while.
With the arrival of smartphones, voice recognition has been used more frequently by developers. This has led to a greater presence of microphones in the equipment of notebooks, favoring the possibility for interested users to write through their own voice but at the same time creating a customs clearance of this technology since the programs used often were not up to the situation. Thanks to IT companies, such as Microsoft , work has been done on introducing dictation into PC applications. Examples include Cortana and Windows 10’s universal dictation for accessibility purposes.
Index
- How to dictate a text in Word
- Enable online speech recognition
- Voice dictation on Word in Windows 10
- Voice dictation on Word in macOS
- List of speech punctuation
- Voice dictation in Word on Android
- Voice dictation in Word on iPhone
How to dictate a text in Word
Word has a powerful , reliable and well-proven cloud-based dictation system . Dictating words for Word to write is a fairly simple process, but it does have some requirements.
To be able to dictate on Word you must have an Internet connection and you must have a subscription to the Office 365 platform .
This will allow you to use Word’s built-in function which will also recognize languages and punctuation. Pronouncing the various punctuation marks such as: full stop, comma, question mark, exclamation point, exclamation point, semicolon, colon, open quote, close quote, etc. Word will apply them in the dictated text.
Enable online speech recognition
Before you leave, make sure that Online Speech Recognition is activated on Windows 10 . Then, go to Settings> Privacy and in the left column, select the Voice Commands item .
In the middle of the page, check if the Online Speech Recognition switch is activated. If not, slide the switch to Enabled .
Also choose if you want to help improve online speech recognition to improve accuracy by clicking on the Start contributing my voice clips button .
Voice dictation on Word in Windows 10
If you are interested in dictating in Word rather than typing and you are on Windows 10, surely you will need a working microphone, whether it is integrated into the computer or one connected via USB or jack. Headphones with a microphone are also fine .
Then open Microsoft Word and create a new document or open an existing one. To use dictation go to the Home menu and click on the microphone button in the upper right area. Alternatively, you can also press the WIN + H buttons at the same time , to start voice dictation trying to accurately spell the words spoken.
Word will enter the text where the cursor is placed and at the end of the line it will wrap automatically. Enter punctuation by pronouncing it explicitly, and correct mistakes with the keyboard without turning off the microphone.
By default, dictation is set to the document language in Office . If you want to change the input language, you have to click on the gear icon , in the box at the bottom where the cursor icon is located, and select Spoken language and then change language by choosing one from the pop-up list. It must of course be present in the Windows dictionary as is the case for the grammar checker.
Also in the same section, you’ll find the Obscenity Filter and Auto Punctuation .
To stop dictation and therefore also recording, just click again on the Dictation button , also in the Home menu . However, you can restart it at any time and also use it in existing documents.
To know what are the commands that you can only use the voice you have to keep the mouse cursor over the icon Dictation and click on the item Tell me more to open the window of the online help .
In case you encounter problems, check that the permissions for the microphone are unlocked and that access to it is activated, by going to Settings> Privacy> Microphone . Click on the Edit button , and in the Microphone access for this device window , slide the switch to On .
For errors: “ The dictation does not hear the user ” or “ There is a problem with the microphone “, make sure that the audio of the microphone is not muted and that the microphone is connected. You can try to test it before you start by going to:
- Start > Settings > System > Sound .
- In the Audio Settings go to Input> Test the microphone and look for the blue bar that goes down and up as you speak into the microphone. If the bar moves, the microphone is working properly.
Finally, if you have a Microsoft account, you can dictate a text on Word also with the Word Online app by opening the OneDrive page and pressing the Go to My OneDrive button .
This method is very useful for transcribing a lesson or recording a meeting on Meet . Just connect to Meet from your smartphone and bring it close to the PC microphone to dictate on Word and save the online lesson.
Voice dictation on Word in macOS
For Apple computer owners, it is possible to dictate a text to Word simply by enabling the Dictation option. Go to the Apple menu > System Preferences> Keyboard . Here select the Dictation tab and move the slider of the Dictation option to Yes and then press the Enable Dictation button . Also check the Use Enhanced Dictation item .
Wait a few minutes for the Enhanced Dictation to download.
Start the Word program from the Applications folder or Launchpad , press the FN key twice and once the window with the microphone symbol opens , you can start dictating. To close, press the microphone window again.
List of speech punctuation
Here are the sentences to dictate and related output regarding punctuation marks:
- comma,
- question mark question mark?
- Exclamation point !
- wrap new line new line
- two points :
- semicolon ;
- open quotation marks closed quotation marks “”
- opening parenthesis closing parenthesis ()
- percent sign percent sign
- open square bracket close square bracket []
- open single quote close single quote ”
- ellipsis …
- dash –
For more information on voice dictation with Office 365, I invite you to read this support guide .
Voice dictation in Word on Android
Want to find out how to dictate to Word on an Android mobile device? You can turn on the Google Voice Typing option. To check if it is on, go to Settings> General> Language & Input and click on On-Screen Keyboard . Press on Manage keyboards and verify that Google Voice Typing has the toggle to ON .
Alternatively you can download GBoard , the Google keyboard. Open Word , do New Document and step on the sheet to bring up the keyboard. Press on the microphone and start dictating.
Voice dictation in Word on iPhone
For iPhone and iPad , the operation is just as simple. Launch the Word app and tap on the writing area to bring up the keyboard. Press on the microphone , at the bottom, and then on the Enable Dictation button and start talking. The text you say will be displayed on the screen in real time.
