How To Use Voice Dictation In Google Docs

You can dictate using voice typing in Google Docs by using the microphone on your computer. It’s excellent for those who have a repetitive strain injury or just don’t enjoy typing. Here’s how to use Google Docs’ Voice Typing feature.

Note that voice typing is only available when using Google Chrome and is only usable in Google Docs and the speaker notes of Google Slides.

How to Use Google Docs’ Voice Typing

Making sure your microphone is installed and functional should be your first priority.

After setting up your microphone, launch Chrome and navigate to Google Docs. In Chrome, you can also enter docs.new in the address bar to instantly begin a new document.

Activating voice typing

Simply select Tools > Voice Typing to turn it on. You can also use Command+Shift+S on a Mac or Ctrl+Shift+S on a Windows computer.

When you are prepared to dictate, click the microphone icon in the window that will appear. By clicking and dragging the window to any location, you can move the tool out of the way.

You must first give Chrome permission to use your microphone before you can use Voice Typing.

If your native language isn’t automatically loaded by Voice Typing, click the three dots and then choose from more than 100 languages and dialects in the Language drop-down menu.

To ensure that the tool can understand you, speak clearly at your normal volume and at your normal pace. The tool then transcribes everything you say which now appears in the body of your document. If the tool is having trouble understanding you, make sure you have selected the correct dialect in the languages menu.

Your voice is instantly processed by the voice typing tool in real time. Click the microphone once more to end the conversation after you’ve finished speaking.

Use of Punctuation

Using the following words will help voice typing recognize when you need to add punctuation to your document:

• Period
• Comma
• Exclamation mark
• Question mark
• New line
• New Paragraph

You could say for instance “Playing mobile games is a fun way of releasing stress comma encourages teamwork and…”

Only the following languages support punctuation: German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian.

The use of voice commands

The use of voice typing extends beyond just being able to type words and punctuation. It allows you to edit and format paragraphs and text within your document without having to click any toolbar buttons.

Keep in mind that speaker notes for Google Docs are only available in English and that they cannot be used with voice commands in Slides. The language of the account and the document must both be English.

If by mistake you say something that needs to be deleted, just say “Delete” or “backspace” to get rid of the offending word.

To help you get started being more effective and getting the most out of voice typing, here are some additional useful commands:

• Selecting text: Select [word, phrase, all, next line, next paragraph, next word, last word]”

• Format your document: Apply Heading [1-6], apply normal text, Bold, italicize, italics, underline

• Change font size: Decrease font size, increase font size, font size [6-400], make bigger, make smaller

• Edit your document: Copy, cut, paste, delete [word or phrase], insert [table of contents, bookmark, equation, footer, header, page break]

• Move around your document: Go to start/end of [line, paragraph, column, row, document], move to next/previous [character, word, page, column, heading, line, misspelling, paragraph, row]

You can find a complete list of voice commands by saying “Voice commands list” or by clicking the question mark in the tool’s window.

Say “Stop listening” when you are finished with your document and no longer want voice typing to capture any of your spoken words.

Due to the increased features, commands, and accuracy of voice typing and speech-to-text, you could use it to type all of your notes or even an entire document.

People who experience pain when typing due to carpal tunnel syndrome or other conditions benefit from voice typing as well. You might never again need to type a document using a keyboard or mouse once you’ve mastered all the commands!