speech on word document

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!

Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!

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. 

Webflow announces acquisition of Intellimize - expanding beyond visual development to become an integrated Website Experience Platform

Square Online review 2024: Top ecommerce platform pros, cons, and features tested

I met two incredible teenage Swift coders who might care more about climate change than you

Most Popular

• 2 Google rolls out Pixel 8 and 7 update to finally fix their cellular network issues
• 3 Today's Wordle answer is the hardest this year, with an average score of 5.4, and 'Wordle 1037 X' is trending on Twitter – here's why it's so tough and what to do in future
• 4 Meta’s massive OS announcement is more exciting than a Meta Quest 4 reveal, and VR will never be the same again
• 5 Steve Jobs was wrong about the post-PC era and the next batch of iPads should embrace this
• 2 Missed out on the Fujifilm X100VI? New leak suggests the next best thing could land soon
• 3 Meta’s massive OS announcement is more exciting than a Meta Quest 4 reveal, and VR will never be the same again
• 4 Steve Jobs was wrong about the post-PC era and the next batch of iPads should embrace this
• 5 A full list of Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 colors has leaked

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

Need more help?

Want more options.

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Microsoft 365 subscription benefits

Microsoft 365 training

Microsoft security

Accessibility center

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.

Ask the Microsoft Community

Microsoft Tech Community

Windows Insiders

Microsoft 365 Insiders

Was this information helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

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.

Insider Inc. receives a commission when you buy through our links.

Watch: Why Americans throw 'like' in the middle of sentences

• Main content

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

Read More Posts:

• Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 saves you time and effort with transcription and voice commands in Word

• Dan Parish, Partner Group Product Manager
• Tips and guides
• Personal and family
• Small business

Harness the power of your voice 

Now more than ever, we’re all very busy—juggling family, work, friends, and whatever else life throws our way. New enhancements in Office leverage the  Azure Cognitive Services  AI platform so you can harness the power of your voice to spend less time and energy creating your best work and focus on what matters most. 

Save time and create great content using Transcribe in Word for the web 

Whether you’re a reporter conducting interviews, a researcher recording focus group sessions, or an online entrepreneur recording informal discussions, you want to be able to focus on the people you’re talking to without worrying about taking notes and without having to spend hours transcribing your conversations after-the-fact. If that sounds like you,  Transcribe in Word  is here to help.

Now you can record your conversations directly in Word for the web and transcribe them automatically. Transcribe detects different speakers so after you finish recording, you can easily follow the flow of the transcript. After your conversation, you can revisit parts of the recording by playing back the time-stamped audio and you can even edit the transcript if you see something amiss.  

Your transcript will appear alongside the Word document, along with the recording, which enables you to leverage your transcript to create great content in the way that is best for you. Say you want to pull the perfect quote from an interview to support the main point of your story—just click the plus icon on any line of the transcript and voila, the exact quote is inserted. Want to send the entire transcript to your colleague? Simply click “add all to document” and your full transcript will be laid out in Word. 

Like many people, you might use a variety of tools to get the job done – that’s why Transcribe enables you to upload audio or videos you recorded outside of Word. Whether you record on your phone or via one of the many calling and video conferencing apps, you can simply select the file to upload and transcribe. Transcribe supports .mp3, .wav, .m4a, or .mp4 files.  

Transcribe in Word is available today in Word for the web for all Microsoft 365 subscribers and is supported in the new Microsoft Edge or Chrome browsers.  With Transcribe you are completely unlimited in how much you can record and transcribe within Word for the Web.  Currently, there is a five hour limit per month for uploaded recordings and each uploaded recording is limited to 200mb. Transcribe in Office mobile will be coming by the end of the year! Currently, transcribing audio into English (EN-US) is the only language supported, but we are working on support for more languages.

Transcribe in Word enables you to stay focused on your conversation in the moment, saves you valuable time and energy by transcribing it for you, and is integrated into Word so you can focus on the message of your document and not fuss around with different windows or applications. 

Break away from the keyboard using dictation with voice commands 

Since  Dictate  arrived on the scene, millions of people have leveraged the power of their voice to conquer the blank page. Whether you’re stuck waiting in the car to pick up takeout, on a short walk to stretch your legs, have a temporary or permanent disability that makes typing difficult, or you just think better when on the move, you need flexibility to transition throughout your day while getting everything done. We’ve been adding voice commands to Dictate so that you can break away from the keyboard. Whether on desktop or mobile (or transitioning between devices), you can stay in the flow and focus on your message by using dictation with voice commands to add, format, edit, and organize your text.  

Say things like “start list” or “bold last sentence” to let your ideas flow without stopping to adjust your text. Voice commands understand a variety of symbols so you can add things like “ampersand” and “percent sign”, and you don’t have to sound like a robot! We’ve based commands on the way people naturally talk so that you can capture your ideas easily. So saying things like “dot dot dot” when you can’t remember “ellipses” works just as well. 

Since you’re constantly juggling work and life, you may get that phone call you’ve been waiting for while working on your paper. There’s no need to rush to the keyboard in a panic. Simply say “pause dictation” and take the call. Working with others in the document? You can collaborate using your voice too—say “add comment [with your content here]” and capture your message in one shot without missing a beat.  

Dictation can also help with informal writing as well—sometimes a message needs some personality! You can now say things like “smiley face” or “heart emoji” to give your message that little extra touch. Check out  this article  for a list of all the voice commands. 

Dictate with voice commands in Word is available in Word for the web and Office mobile for free when signed into your Microsoft account. Voice commands are coming to Word desktop and Word for Mac apps towards the end of the year for Microsoft 365 subscribers.  

We hope these new voice capabilities save you time and allow you the flexibility you require as you move throughout your busy day!

How-To Geek

How to transcribe audio in microsoft word.

Microsoft recently rolled out a new feature for Word online that allows you to transcribe audio. Here's how to use it.

Quick Links

Record and transcribe live audio, upload and transcribe an audio file.

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.

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game New
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Computers and Electronics
• Basic Computer Skills

How to Dictate on Word

Last Updated: March 29, 2019

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA . Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions. This article has been viewed 94,263 times. Learn more...

This wikiHow teaches you how to use speech recognition on your computer to write a Microsoft Word document.

• This may be called “voice recognition” on some systems. The behavior will be the same.

• If it’s your first time using Speech Recognition, you’ll have to click Next to go through the setup process. Follow the on-screen instructions to teach the computer to recognize your voice. Once you complete the process, you’ll see the voice recognition panel.

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202584

About This Article

• Send fan mail to authors

Is this article up to date?

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Keep up with tech in just 5 minutes a week!

How to Use Microsoft Word Read Aloud Feature

Everything you need to know about how to use the Read Aloud feature in Microsoft Word, Word Online, and Word Mobile.

Read Aloud is a new powerful text-to-speech feature built into Microsoft Word that reads out documents to you. It is a wonderful tool that reads the contents of your Word document in more realistic and natural-sounding voices. However, you will need a Microsoft 365 subscription to use the natural-sounding voices, otherwise, you will have to use the three default voices. Read Aloud is only available in the versions of Office 2019, Office 2021, and Microsoft 365.

Sometimes, listening to a document can help you find errors, repetitive words, or clumsy words that you may have missed or skipped over while editing or reading the document. Plus, listening to a document can improve your comprehension, learning pronunciations, and language skills if the document is not in your primary language. This feature is very useful for readers with learning disorders and visual impairment.

Don’t confuse ‘Read Aloud’ with another text-to-speech feature called ‘Speak’ in Microsoft Word. While ‘Read Aloud’ can read you any and all parts of your document, the Speak feature can only read the selected text. If you want to find out more about Word’s Read Aloud feature and how to use it, read on.

Using the Read Aloud Feature in Word 

Read Aloud is an advanced tool that uses the Windows enhanced Narrator and Accessibility technology to play back written text as spoken words. There are two ways the Read Aloud reads out your content. It will either read the content starting from wherever you placed the cursor or it will read only the highlighted text.

The offline versions of Word 2019 and 2021 only have three different voices. If you want to hear the content of your document in natural-sounding voices, you will need a Microsoft 365 subscription and an internet connection. In Microsoft 365, you can choose from over 142 different voices.

Starting from where you placed the cursor, it reads one word at a time and highlights each word when reading it aloud. It uses auto-scroll to move from word to word, line by line, and paragraph to paragraph to read and reads the content out loud.

Access Read Aloud in Microsoft Word

First, open the document you want to read aloud in Microsoft Word. Next, place the cursor where you want to start listening from or highlight the text that you want to be read aloud.

Then, go to the ‘Review’ tab and click the ‘Read Aloud’ button in the ribbon or simply press Alt + Ctrl + Space .

This will launch the Read Aloud controls at the top right corner of your open document, under the Ruler, and start reading the content automatically. The little control panel will have 5 controls: Previous, Play/Pause, Next, Settings, and Stop.

You can click the ‘Pause’ or ‘Play’ button in the middle of the panel to pause or resume the reading. Once the reading starts the middle button turns to pause and when paused, it will turn to play. Each word will be highlighted while reading it aloud as shown below.

You can also use the ‘Previous’ and ‘Next’ buttons to jump back and forth between paragraphs. When either of the buttons is pressed, it will resume the reading at the beginning of the next or previous paragraph.

To stop the Read Aloud tool, you can click the close button in the controls or click the ‘Read Aloud’ button again in the Word ribbon.

If you wish to changes the reading speed and the reading voice, click the ‘Settings’ button (Speaker with the gear icon) on the right.

You can also use the Reading speed slider to increase or reduce the reading speed.

To the change reading voice, click the ‘Voice Selection’ drop-down and choose one of the voices. If you are using Word 2019, or Word 2021, you will have only have three preset voices: Microsoft David, Microsoft Zira, and Microsoft Mark. If you are using Microsoft 365’s Word, you will have hundreds of different voices to choose from.

You can also control the Read Aloud tool with the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl + Alt + Space – Launch the Read Aloud tool
• Ctrl + Space – Play or Pause
• Alt + Left Arrow – Decrease reading speed
• Alt + Right Arrow – Increase reading speed
• Ctrl + Left Arrow – Jump to the start of the previous paragraph
• Ctrl + Right Arrow – Jump to the start of the next paragraph

Read Aloud in Immersive Reader mode

Immersive Reader is a built-in interactive reading tool that helps learners improve their reading skills, pronunciation, and grammar skills, regardless of their age or ability. It removes formatting and other visual distractions to provide an immersive read-aloud experience. To have text read aloud in immersive reader mode, follow these steps:

Open the document you want to read aloud, switch to the ‘View’ tab and click the ‘Immersive Reader’ button in the Immersive section.

This will open the document in Immersive mode. Now, click the ‘Read Aloud’ button in the Immersive Reader section of the ribbon.

Then, the Read Aloud controls will appear at the top left corner of the window and automatically start reading the content.

Use Read Aloud on Microsoft Word Online

If you are using a computer that doesn’t have Microsoft Office 2019, 2021, or Microsoft 365 subscription, you can still use the Read aloud feature on Microsoft Word online for free. With this method, you listen to your document anywhere on any computer. Here’s how you can do that:

Open a browser and go to office.live.com/start/word and sign in with your Microsoft login credentials.

On the Office home page, click the ‘Word’ button on the left-hand side panel.

If you already have the document that you want to listen from is uploaded to your OneDrive, open that document or create a new document. If you want to upload the document from your computer, click the ‘Upload and open…’ link.

When the document opens, go to the ‘View’ tab and click the ‘Immersive Reader’ button in the ribbon area.

This will open the document in Immersive Reader mode. Now place your cursor where you want to start the reading and click on the green ‘Play’ button at the bottom.

You can pause the reading by clicking the same button. When reading, the tool shows focus only on the line and the word that is being read out aloud as shown below.

To change the reading speed and voice selection, click the ‘Voice settings’ button next to the play/pause button. You can change the voice speed using the slider and change between male and female voices.

If you click on a word, it will show you a pictorial representation of that word for better comprehension. Also, you will see a little speaker button that you can click to listen to the pronunciation of that word.

To exit the immersive reader mode, click the back arrow (Exit) at the top-left of the window.

Moreover, using Word Online to read aloud a document will sound better than the offline version.

Use the Read Aloud in Microsoft Word Mobile App

If you are too busy with some other work like commuting or doing chores, you can still use the read-aloud feature while using Microsoft Word on your mobile device. 

Open the Microsoft Word app on your mobile phone, and open a document from OneDrive. Alternatively, you can tap the ‘Open’ button at the bottom right corner of the app and select the document you want to open from your device’s local storage, Google Drive, etc.,

After the document opens up, tap/press the three dots button in the top right corner of your screen.

Then, select ‘Read Aloud’ from the menu.

Now, the playback controls will appear at the bottom of the screen and it will automatically start playing the contents of the document. 

To change voice speed and voice selection, click the ‘Settings’ icon in the controls.

Note: The Read Aloud feature stops when your phone goes to sleep and you need to restart the reader after you wake up your phone. In order to keep listening to the document, increase your mobile’s display or backlight duration.

Read a PDF Aloud Using Microsoft Word

Most of the official documents come in PDF format, so listening to PDF files in Word could be useful. Here’s how you can do that.

First, open the Microsoft Word app on your device, click on the ‘File’ tab, and select ‘Open’. Or, press Ctrl + O . Then, click the ‘Browse’ button on the right pane.

And select the PDF file from your computer that you want to read aloud.

A warning box will be shown stating that the PDF file will be converted into an editable Word document and the resulting document may not look exactly the same as the original file. Here, click ‘OK’ to continue.

Then, as usual, switch to the ‘Review’ tab and click the ‘Read Aloud’ in the ribbon area.

Now, you can control the read-aloud with the playback controls just as you would do when reading a Word document.

How to Add Read Aloud Button to the Quick Access Toolbar

For quick access, you can the Read Aloud button to the Quick Access Toolbar in the upper left corner of the Ribbon in Word. The Quick Access Toolbar is customizable, you can add or remove any tool or option in there. Here’s how you can do that:

Go to the ‘File’ tab and select ‘Options’ from the backstage view

In the Word Options dialog window, click the ‘Quick Access Toolbar’ section on the left pane.

On the right pane, click the ‘Choose commands from:’ drop-down menu, and select ‘All Commands’.

Then, scroll down the list box below until you see ‘Read Aloud’. Then, select it and click the ‘Add’ button. This adds the tool to the box on the right.

After that, click ‘OK’ to apply changes.

You can then click the ‘Read Aloud’ icon in the Quick Access Toolbar to quickly launch or stop the tool.

Use Read Aloud on Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge also has a built-in read aloud feature that allows the webpage to be read aloud to you.

First, open the webpage you want to be read aloud to you and click where you want to start reading or select only the text or paragraph on a page that you want to listen to.

Then, right-click and select the ‘Read aloud’ or ‘Read aloud selection’ option from the menu.

Once you do that, the Read aloud control panel with playback controls will appear at the top of the screen below the address bar and the tool will start reading the text to you. The reading line will be highlighted in blue while the word that is being read will be highlighted in yellow. You can use the control to manage the playback.

To change the reading speed and voice, click the ‘Voice options’ button in the Read aloud bar.

Then, you can use the ‘Speed’ slider to adjust the reading speed and the ‘Choose a voice’ drop-down to change the voice to one of the hundreds of different voices and languages.

Another great thing about using Read aloud in the Edge browser is that if you choose a voice in a different language, the tool will automatically translate the content to that language and read it to you in that voice. But you will need an active internet connection for this.

For instance, if I enable the read-aloud tool on a webpage that is in English and change the voice to ‘Microsoft Joana Online (Natural) – Catalan (Spain)’. Then, the tool will translate and read this English content in the Spanish language using that voice.

Enable and Use Speak Feature to Listen to Documents

In case, you are using any Office version older than Office 2019, you can use the built-in Speak feature to listen to your documents on Word. The Speak tool is not present in the ribbon, so you have to add it to the Quick Access Toolbar or the Ribbon. Here’s how:

Go to the ‘File’ tab and select ‘Options’.

In the Word Options dialog window, click the ‘Quick Access Toolbar’ section on the left pane and then choose ‘All Command’ from the ‘Choose commands from’ drop-down menu.

Then, scroll down the list box and select the ‘Speak’ command. After that, click the ‘Add’ button to add the ‘Speak’ command to the box on the right.

Then, click ‘OK’ to apply changes.

After adding the Speak command, select the block of text in your document or select the whole document ( Ctrl + A ). Then, click the ‘Speak selected text’ icon in the Quick Access Toolbar to start listening to the document.

That’s it.

How to Use Gemini Code Assist in VS Code

How to Code Using AI

Microsoft Copilot Pro Review: There is a lot of Unrealized Potential

Get all the latest posts delivered straight to your inbox., member discussion.

How to Enable and Use Arc Sync in Arc Search Browser on iPhone

How to Debloat and Clean Up Microsoft Edge

How to Use AI Silence Remover in Microsoft Clipchamp

What is Super Drag and Drop in Microsoft Edge and How to Enable It

How to Use Microsoft Edge Drop to Share Files Between Your Devices

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 Hear a Word Document Using Speak (Text to Speech)

Turn On Speak Selected Text in Microsoft Word (All Versions)

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated September 10, 2021

Applies to: Microsoft ®  Word ® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 or 365 (Windows)

In Microsoft Word, you can have Word speak or read a document to you. You will need to add the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar or the Ribbon to use this feature. Once you've added the command, simply click Speak and Word will read the selected text aloud. This feature is available in all versions of Word (2010 and later).

For those with Word 2019 or 365, there is also a new Read Aloud feature on the Ribbon as an alternative to Speak.

Recommended article: 3 Simple Ways to Copy or Import Excel Data into Word (Linked or Unlinked)

Note: Buttons and Ribbon tabs may display in a different way (with or without text) depending on your version of Word, the size of your screen and your Control Panel settings. For Word 365 users, Ribbon tabs may appear with different names.

Do you want to learn more about Microsoft Word?  Check out our virtual classroom or live classroom  Word courses >

Adding Speak to the Quick Access Toolbar

You will need to add Speak to the Quick Access Toolbar (or the Ribbon) to use it.

It's usually easier to work with the Quick Access Toolbar if you display it below the Ribbon. If the Quick Access Toolbar is above the Ribbon, click the down arrow to the right of the Quick Access Toolbar and select Show Below the Ribbon from the drop-down menu.

To add Speak to the Quick Access Toolbar:

• Click the down arrow to the right of the Quick Access Toolbar. A drop-down menu appears.
• Select More Commands. The Word Options dialog box appears. The Quick Access Toolbar category should be selected on the left.
• From the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog box below Choose commands from, select All Commands.
• In the list of commands, click Speak.
• Click OK. The Speak command will be added to the Quick Access Toolbar.

In the example below, Speak has been added to the Quick Access Toolbar in the Word Options dialog box:

Speaking selected text

To speak selected text:

• Select the text you want to be read aloud. To select the entire document, press Ctrl + A to select all.
• Click Speak on the Quick Access Toolbar. Word will read the selected text (your sound must be turned on for your device).
• To turn off Speak, click the Speak again.

The voice used by Speak is set by default in your Windows Control Panel settings.

Subscribe to get more articles like this one

Did you find this article helpful? If you would like to receive new articles, join our email list.

More resources

How to Insert or Type the Delta Symbol in Word (Δ or δ)

How to Keep Text Together in Microsoft Word (Paragraphs, Lines or Words)

How to Create a Table of Contents in Word (Insert, Format and Update a TOC)

How to Insert Reusable Text Snippets in Word with Quick Parts (Great Timesaver)

How to Convert a PDF to Word in Microsoft Word (for Free – No Third Party Programs Needed)

Related courses

Microsoft Word: Intermediate / Advanced

Microsoft Excel: Intermediate / Advanced

Microsoft PowerPoint: Intermediate / Advanced

Microsoft Word: Long Documents Master Class

Microsoft Word: Styles, Templates and Tables of Contents

Microsoft Word: Designing Dynamic Word Documents Using Fields

VIEW MORE COURSES >

Our instructor-led courses are delivered in virtual classroom format or at our downtown Toronto location at 18 King Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (some in-person classroom courses may also be delivered at an alternate downtown Toronto location). Contact us at [email protected] if you'd like to arrange custom instructor-led virtual classroom or onsite training on a date that's convenient for you.

Copyright 2024 Avantix ® Learning

You may also like

How to Generate Random Text in Word

If you are creating a Microsoft Word document, template or mockup and you want to create placeholder text, you can generate random text using the built-in RAND function or LOREM function (which generates Latin or Lorem ipsum text).

How to Insert a Watermark in Word (like DRAFT)

You can insert a watermark in the background of one or more pages in a Microsoft Word document. Common watermarks are text such as DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL but you can also add a picture watermark.

How to Show or Hide White Space in Word Documents

You can show or hide white space at the top and bottom of pages in Microsoft Word documents. If you hide white space, you won't be able to see headers or footers in Print Layout View or the gray space that typically appears at the top and bottom of pages as you scroll through your document.

Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, Microsoft Office and related Microsoft applications and logos are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in Canada, US and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of the registered owners.

Avantix Learning |18 King Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1C4 | Contact us at [email protected]

Our Courses

Avantix Learning courses are offered online in virtual classroom format or as in-person classroom training. Our hands-on, instructor-led courses are available both as public scheduled courses or on demand as a custom training solution.

All Avantix Learning courses include a comprehensive course manual including tips, tricks and shortcuts as well as sample and exercise files.

VIEW COURSES  >

Contact us at  [email protected]  for more information about any of our courses or to arrange custom training.

Privacy Overview

Pin it on pinterest.

• Print Friendly

Speech to Text - Voice Typing & Transcription

Take notes with your voice for free, or automatically transcribe audio & video recordings. secure, accurate & blazing fast..

~ Proudly serving millions of users since 2015 ~

I need to >

Dictate Notes

Start taking notes, on our online voice-enabled notepad right away, for free.

Transcribe Recordings

Automatically transcribe (and optionally translate) audios & videos - upload files from your device or link to an online resource (Drive, YouTube, TikTok or other). Export to text, docx, video subtitles and more.

Speechnotes is a reliable and secure web-based speech-to-text tool that enables you to quickly and accurately transcribe your audio and video recordings, as well as dictate your notes instead of typing, saving you time and effort. With features like voice commands for punctuation and formatting, automatic capitalization, and easy import/export options, Speechnotes provides an efficient and user-friendly dictation and transcription experience. Proudly serving millions of users since 2015, Speechnotes is the go-to tool for anyone who needs fast, accurate & private transcription. Our Portfolio of Complementary Speech-To-Text Tools Includes:

Voice typing - Chrome extension

Dictate instead of typing on any form & text-box across the web. Including on Gmail, and more.

Transcription API & webhooks

Speechnotes' API enables you to send us files via standard POST requests, and get the transcription results sent directly to your server.

Zapier integration

Combine the power of automatic transcriptions with Zapier's automatic processes. Serverless & codeless automation! Connect with your CRM, phone calls, Docs, email & more.

Android Speechnotes app

Speechnotes' notepad for Android, for notes taking on your mobile, battle tested with more than 5Million downloads. Rated 4.3+ ⭐

iOS TextHear app

TextHear for iOS, works great on iPhones, iPads & Macs. Designed specifically to help people with hearing impairment participate in conversations. Please note, this is a sister app - so it has its own pricing plan.

Audio & video converting tools

Tools developed for fast - batch conversions of audio files from one type to another and extracting audio only from videos for minimizing uploads.

Our Sister Apps for Text-To-Speech & Live Captioning

Complementary to Speechnotes

Reads out loud texts, files & web pages

Reads out loud texts, PDFs, e-books & websites for free

Speechlogger

Live Captioning & Translation

Live captions & translations for online meetings, webinars, and conferences.

Need Human Transcription? We Can Offer a 10% Discount Coupon

We do not provide human transcription services ourselves, but, we partnered with a UK company that does. Learn more on human transcription and the 10% discount .

Dictation Notepad

Start taking notes with your voice for free

Speech to Text online notepad. Professional, accurate & free speech recognizing text editor. Distraction-free, fast, easy to use web app for dictation & typing.

Speechnotes is a powerful speech-enabled online notepad, designed to empower your ideas by implementing a clean & efficient design, so you can focus on your thoughts. We strive to provide the best online dictation tool by engaging cutting-edge speech-recognition technology for the most accurate results technology can achieve today, together with incorporating built-in tools (automatic or manual) to increase users' efficiency, productivity and comfort. Works entirely online in your Chrome browser. No download, no install and even no registration needed, so you can start working right away.

Speechnotes is especially designed to provide you a distraction-free environment. Every note, starts with a new clear white paper, so to stimulate your mind with a clean fresh start. All other elements but the text itself are out of sight by fading out, so you can concentrate on the most important part - your own creativity. In addition to that, speaking instead of typing, enables you to think and speak it out fluently, uninterrupted, which again encourages creative, clear thinking. Fonts and colors all over the app were designed to be sharp and have excellent legibility characteristics.

Example use cases

• Voice typing
• Writing notes, thoughts
• Medical forms - dictate
• Transcribers (listen and dictate)

Transcription Service

Start transcribing

Fast turnaround - results within minutes. Includes timestamps, auto punctuation and subtitles at unbeatable price. Protects your privacy: no human in the loop, and (unlike many other vendors) we do NOT keep your audio. Pay per use, no recurring payments. Upload your files or transcribe directly from Google Drive, YouTube or any other online source. Simple. No download or install. Just send us the file and get the results in minutes.

• Transcribe interviews
• Captions for Youtubes & movies
• Auto-transcribe phone calls or voice messages
• Students - transcribe lectures
• Podcasters - enlarge your audience by turning your podcasts into textual content
• Text-index entire audio archives

Key Advantages

Speechnotes is powered by the leading most accurate speech recognition AI engines by Google & Microsoft. We always check - and make sure we still use the best. Accuracy in English is very good and can easily reach 95% accuracy for good quality dictation or recording.

Lightweight & fast

Both Speechnotes dictation & transcription are lightweight-online no install, work out of the box anywhere you are. Dictation works in real time. Transcription will get you results in a matter of minutes.

Super Private & Secure!

Super private - no human handles, sees or listens to your recordings! In addition, we take great measures to protect your privacy. For example, for transcribing your recordings - we pay Google's speech to text engines extra - just so they do not keep your audio for their own research purposes.

Health advantages

Typing may result in different types of Computer Related Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI). Voice typing is one of the main recommended ways to minimize these risks, as it enables you to sit back comfortably, freeing your arms, hands, shoulders and back altogether.

Saves you time

Need to transcribe a recording? If it's an hour long, transcribing it yourself will take you about 6! hours of work. If you send it to a transcriber - you will get it back in days! Upload it to Speechnotes - it will take you less than a minute, and you will get the results in about 20 minutes to your email.

Saves you money

Speechnotes dictation notepad is completely free - with ads - or a small fee to get it ad-free. Speechnotes transcription is only $0.1/minute, which is X10 times cheaper than a human transcriber! We offer the best deal on the market - whether it's the free dictation notepad ot the pay-as-you-go transcription service.

Dictation - Free

• Online dictation notepad
• Voice typing Chrome extension

Dictation - Premium

• Premium online dictation notepad
• Premium voice typing Chrome extension
• Support from the development team

Transcription

$0.1 /minute.

• Pay as you go - no subscription
• Audio & video recordings
• Speaker diarization in English
• Generate captions .srt files
• REST API, webhooks & Zapier integration

Compare plans

Privacy policy.

We at Speechnotes, Speechlogger, TextHear, Speechkeys value your privacy, and that's why we do not store anything you say or type or in fact any other data about you - unless it is solely needed for the purpose of your operation. We don't share it with 3rd parties, other than Google / Microsoft for the speech-to-text engine.

Privacy - how are the recordings and results handled?

- transcription service.

Our transcription service is probably the most private and secure transcription service available.

• HIPAA compliant.
• No human in the loop. No passing your recording between PCs, emails, employees, etc.
• Secure encrypted communications (https) with and between our servers.
• Recordings are automatically deleted from our servers as soon as the transcription is done.
• Our contract with Google / Microsoft (our speech engines providers) prohibits them from keeping any audio or results.
• Transcription results are securely kept on our secure database. Only you have access to them - only if you sign in (or provide your secret credentials through the API)
• You may choose to delete the transcription results - once you do - no copy remains on our servers.

- Dictation notepad & extension

For dictation, the recording & recognition - is delegated to and done by the browser (Chrome / Edge) or operating system (Android). So, we never even have access to the recorded audio, and Edge's / Chrome's / Android's (depending the one you use) privacy policy apply here.

The results of the dictation are saved locally on your machine - via the browser's / app's local storage. It never gets to our servers. So, as long as your device is private - your notes are private.

Payments method privacy

The whole payments process is delegated to PayPal / Stripe / Google Pay / Play Store / App Store and secured by these providers. We never receive any of your credit card information.

More generic notes regarding our site, cookies, analytics, ads, etc.

• We may use Google Analytics on our site - which is a generic tool to track usage statistics.
• We use cookies - which means we save data on your browser to send to our servers when needed. This is used for instance to sign you in, and then keep you signed in.
• For the dictation tool - we use your browser's local storage to store your notes, so you can access them later.
• Non premium dictation tool serves ads by Google. Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings . Alternatively, users can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting https://youradchoices.com/
• In case you would like to upload files to Google Drive directly from Speechnotes - we'll ask for your permission to do so. We will use that permission for that purpose only - syncing your speech-notes to your Google Drive, per your request.

convert words to time .

How long will it take to read a speech or presentation?

Enter the word count into the tool below (or paste in text) to see how many minutes it will take you to read. Estimates number of minutes based on a slow, average, or fast paced reading speed.

Number of words

Reading speed

Common conversions (average speed)

Other tools.

Prepared.FYI - Find deals on emergency preparedness, camping, and survival products and equipment 🏕️

Grammarly - Grammar, plagiarism, and spell checker.

Hemingway - Editor to make your writing bold and clear.

Power Thesaurus - Simple crowdsourced thesaurus.

Wake Up Time - Fall asleep and actually wake up refreshed.

Copy Arrow - An organized set for easy copying.

Micron Pens - Amazing pens for writing and illustration.

Block Rocker - Portable event speaker with microphone 🎤

TED Talks - The official TED guide to public speaking.

These tools are awesome, and the affiliate income helps keep the site online.

If you've found this tool helpful, please consider paying it forward to keep it ad free!

As a bonus you'll go down in history listed on one of the coolest sites around :)

Want to learn how to make websites like this?

There's some really cool stuff in the works... Enter your email to be the first to know when it's ready!

Enter your email to be the first to know when some really cool stuff is ready...

Enter your email to be notified of some really cool stuff that's in the works...

My name is Spencer, and I actually work here ↑

Looking for the easiest way to grow your business in 2020?

Get more traffic, more sales, and more reviews effortlessly.

Boost your online reviews and become the obvious choice for new customers.

How To Use Speech-To-Text On Google Docs

W hether you're on the move or suffering from an unfortunate bout of carpal tunnel, there are plenty of scenarios when simply typing out passages of text on a keyboard just isn't the most feasible option. That's why phones, TVs, and other smart devices have adopted various bits of speech-to-text software, allowing a program to automatically record and transcribe spoken words into written text with the touch of a button. Fortunately, it seems that text editor programs have also joined the speech-to-text wave, including one particularly popular online word processor.

The current iteration of Google Docs includes an optional feature in its suite of tools that adds speech-to-text functionality to the typical document writing process. Known as voice typing, this specialized tool uses built-in software and a compatible device's microphone to allow the user to vocally dictate entire documents' worth of text on Google Docs, proper punctuation and all. It's a feature that's worth trying out for avid users of the program, and it's not too hard to get it working at a moment's notice.

Read more: 5 Forgotten PS3 Features That Are Pure Nostalgia

How To Use Voice Typing In Google Docs

While it isn't possible to leave voice typing enabled at all times in Google Docs, it can be activated on any given document with a few quick steps.

• Open the Google Docs document you want to use voice typing with.
• Ensure that the device you're accessing Google Docs on has a microphone and that is enabled and unmuted.
• At the top of the page, select Tools.
• Click Voice typing from the dropdown menu.
• A small widget box with a microphone icon will appear on the page. Click the microphone icon.
• Your browser may ask if you want to give Google Docs permission to use your device's microphone. If this occurs, select Allow.
• Ensure that the microphone icon has turned red.
• Voice typing is now enabled. Speak aloud and Google Docs will automatically transcribe the audio into written text.
• Once you have finished speaking, click the red microphone icon and ensure that it returns to the gray microphone icon in the widget box. Voice typing is now disabled.

Voice typing can be set to automatically detect and dictate well over 60 distinct languages and a plethora of regional dialects and accents. Similar to keyboard shortcuts , voice typing also recognizes phrases of punctuation and will add the appropriate symbols based on phrases like "Period," "Comma," "Question mark," and more.

Google Docs Has Voice Commands As Well

Speech-to-text is a great way for users to give their fingers a rest and let programs shoulder the weight of typing out text, but some may have concerns that a vocal dictation software like Google Docs' voice typing is relatively limited in what it can do. However, voice typing on Google Docs has a far more robust feature set than simply transcribing audio. In reality, the feature supports a lengthy list of voice commands that give users the power to make all sorts of changes to their documents without even touching the keyboard.

Voice typing is designed to recognize and distinguish specific voice commands from regular spoken words. These commands can range from basic functions like "Copy," "Paste," and "Italicize" to complex actions like "Insert table of contents" or "Create bulleted list." Essentially, voice typing supports vocal shortcuts for just about every basic action one can take while normally editing a document through Google Docs, right down to dictating the exact formatting of the document itself. Generally speaking, the software will recognize whatever editing-related command is given. However, should users have trouble getting the software to do exactly what they want, they can simply request to "See all voice commands" to get a comprehensive list.

For the time being, Google Docs voice typi m,ng can only recognize and carry out English voice commands. Nonetheless, this software stands as quite an important accessibility feature . /,

Read the original article on SlashGear

Visually grounded few-shot word learning in low-resource settings

Ieee account.

• Change Username/Password
• Update Address

Purchase Details

• Payment Options
• Order History
• View Purchased Documents

Profile Information

• Communications Preferences
• Profession and Education
• Technical Interests
• US & Canada: +1 800 678 4333
• Worldwide: +1 732 981 0060
• Contact & Support
• About IEEE Xplore
• Accessibility
• Terms of Use
• Nondiscrimination Policy
• Privacy & Opting Out of Cookies

A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. © Copyright 2024 IEEE - All rights reserved. Use of this web site signifies your agreement to the terms and conditions.