Microsoft Word now includes a feature that lets you speak instead of typing. Your speech will then be transcribed by Office into your document. This is called Dictate.

What you need to use dictate

Dictate uses the default microphone for your device. Usually this will the microphone built into your laptop. If you have a headset plugged in it will use the headset microphone instead.

If you’re using a desktop computer you’ll need to use a headset.

Dictate sends your speech to the cloud for transcription, so you’ll also need a good internet connection.

How to use it

The 'dictate' button is available on the right-hand side of the 'home' ribbon.

Place your cursor where you want to type, and then press on the 'dictate' button in the Home toolbar or you can use the keyboard shortcut Alt + ` (backquote).

A chime will be played and a red light will appear on the Dictate button.

When you want to stop dictating, press the button again. The red light on the dictate button will now disappear. Dictation will also turn off automatically if you don’t speak for a while, or when you switch to another application.

The Dictate menu will also now appear in the top-right side of the screen.

The Dictate menu will also appear at the bottom of the page. You can select the blue microphone icon to pause your dictation.

Changing the dictation language

Dictate doesn’t just understand English. You can press the 'cog' icon on the Dictate menu to choose a new language.

You can currently dictate in English (UK and US), Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Speech tips

If you’ve already used a digital assistant such as Siri or Alexa, you’ve probably noticed that you get better results when speaking clearly.

The Office dictate tool is no different. If you speak clearly, pronounce your words correctly, and speak at a consistent pace, the dictate tool will understand you better. This is what we call 'dictational English.'

What if dictate makes errors?

No dictation software is currently foolproof, and dictate may make the odd mistake. It may also struggle with unusual words such as surnames.

A great way to proofread your dictated work in Microsoft Word is to use the read aloud feature.

Punctuation

You can say full stop and comma when you’ve finished your sentence or clause. When you want to start a new line, you can say new line.

Here’s a full list of punctuation phrases that you can use:

• Full stop
• Comma
• Question mark
• Exclamation mark
• New line
• Colon
• Semicolon
• Open quotes
• Close quotes
• Smiley face