Windows 10: How to Use Dictation in Windows 10

How to: How to Use Dictation in Windows 10

How to Use Dictation to Talk instead of Type in Windows 10


You can use Dictation to convert spoken words into text anywhere on your PC with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

In the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, Dictation is now easier than ever to take a note or write a paper, with just your voice. With your cursor in any text field either in Windows 10 or in an app. The improved Dictation feature in Windows 10 will capture your thoughts quickly and accurately.

Starting with Windows 10 build 18298, Microsoft updated the timeout period when dictating (WIN+H) to be from 5 seconds to 10 seconds, to give you a bit more time to think about what you want to say. If youd like to stop the dictation before then, just say Stop dictating or press WIN+H (same as in previous builds).

Starting with Windows 10 build 18885, in addition to English (United States), dictation is now support when using English (Canada), English (UK), English (Australia), English (India), French (France), French (Canada), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil), and Chinese (Simplified, China).

This tutorial will show you how to use Dictation to type using your voice in Windows 10.

*note To use dictation, your PC needs to be connected to the Internet. To dictate in other languages, use Windows Speech Recognition.

*note To use dictation, you will need to have a microphone and turn on online speech recognition services.







Here's How:

1. With your cursor in any text field either in Windows 10 or in an app, press the Win+H keys. When you see dictation listening, you can start talking to type with your voice. You can click/tap on the X to close (exit) dictation when finished. (see screenshots below)
*note You can click/tap the microphone

button to stop and start dictation as needed.








2. If youre using a tablet or a touchscreen, tap the microphone

button on the touch keyboard to start dictating. Tap it again to stop dictation. (see screenshot below)

*note You can also stop dictating at any time by saying stop dictation.




Dictation commands
Use dictation commands to tell you PC what to do, like delete that or select the previous word.

The following table tells you what you can say. If a word or phrase is in bold, it's an example. Replace it with similar words to get the result you want.

[table][tr][td]To do this[/td] [td]Say[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Clear a selection[/td] [td]Clear selection; unselect that[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Delete the most recent dictation result or currently selected text[/td] [td]Delete that; strike that[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Delete a unit of text, such as the current word[/td] [td]Delete word[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Move the cursor to the first character after a specified word or phrase[/td] [td]Go after that; move after word; go to the end of paragraph; move to the end of that[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Move the cursor to the end of a unit of text[/td] [td]Go after word; move after word; go to the end of that; move to the end of paragraph[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Move the cursor backward by a unit of text[/td] [td]Move back to the previous word; go up to the previous paragraph[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Move the cursor to the first character before a specified word or phrase[/td] [td]Go to the start of the word[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Move the cursor to the start of a text unit[/td] [td]Go before that; move to the start of that[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Move the cursor forward to the next unit of text[/td] [td]Move forward to the next word; go down to the next paragraph[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Moves the cursor to the end of a text unit[/td] [td]Move to the end of the word; go to the end of the paragraph[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Enter one of the following keys: Tab, Enter, End, Home, Page up, Page down, Backspace, Delete[/td] [td]Tap Enter; press Backspace[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Select a specific word or phrase[/td] [td]Select word[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Select the most recent dictation result[/td] [td]Select that[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Select a unit of text[/td] [td]Select the next three words; select the previous two paragraphs[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Turn spelling mode on and off[/td] [td]Start spelling; stop spelling[/td] [/tr] [/table]


Dictating letters, numbers, punctuation, and symbols

You can dictate most numbers and punctuation by saying the number or punctuation character. To dictate letters and symbols, say "start spelling." Then say the symbol or letter, or use the ICAO phonetic alphabet.

To dictate an uppercase letter, say uppercase before the letter. For example, uppercase A or uppercase alpha. When youre done, say stop spelling.

Here are the punctuation characters and symbols you can dictate.

[table][tr][td]To insert this[/td] [td]Say[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]@[/td] [td]at symbol; at sign[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]#[/td] [td]Pound symbol; pound sign; number symbol; number sign; hash symbol; hash sign; hashtag symbol; hashtag sign; sharp symbol; sharp sign[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]$[/td] [td]Dollar symbol; dollar sign; dollars symbol; dollars sign[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]%[/td] [td]Percent symbol; percent sign[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]^[/td] [td]Caret[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]&[/td] [td]And symbol; and sign; ampersand symbol; ampersand sign[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]*[/td] [td]Asterisk; times; star[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]([/td] [td]Open paren; left paren; open parenthesis; left paren[/td] [/tr] [tr][td])[/td] [td]Close paren; right paren; close parenthesis; right parenthesis[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]_[/td] [td]Underscore[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]-[/td] [td]Hyphen; dash; minus sign[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]~[/td] [td]Tilde[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]\[/td] [td]Backslash; whack[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]/[/td] [td]Forward slash; divided by[/td] [/tr] [tr][td],[/td] [td]Comma[/td] [/tr] [tr][td].[/td] [td]Period; dot; decimal; point[/td] [/tr] [tr][td];[/td] [td]Semicolon[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]'[/td] [td]Apostrophe; open single quote; begin single quote; close single quote; close single quote; end single quote[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]=[/td] [td]Equal symbol; equal sign; equals symbol; equal sign[/td] [/tr] [tr][td](space)[/td] [td]Space[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]|[/td] [td]Pipe[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]:[/td] [td]Colon[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]?[/td] [td]Question mark; question symbol[/td] [/tr] [tr][td][[/td] [td]Open bracket; open square bracket; left bracket; left square bracket[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]][/td] [td]Close bracket; close square bracket; right bracket; right square bracket[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]{[/td] [td]Open curly brace; open curly bracket; left curly brace; left curly bracket[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]}[/td] [td]Close curly brace; close curly bracket; right curly brace; right curly bracket[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]+[/td] [td]Plus symbol; plus sign[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]<[/td] [td]Open angle bracket; open less than; left angle bracket; left less than[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]>[/td] [td]Close angle bracket; close greater than; right angle bracket; right greater than[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]"[/td] [td]Open quotes; begin quotes; close quotes; end quotes; open double quotes; begin double quotes; close double quotes; end double quotes[/td] [/tr] [/table]


That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Set Up Speech Recognition in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Online Speech Recognition in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Online Speech Recognition in Windows 10
• How to Use Dictation on Desktop from Touch Keyboard in Windows 10

:)

 

Dictation not working.

Hello Lina,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

Please provide some additional information, so that we can assist you better.

1. Are you using dictation in Windows or Office application?
   
2. Since when are you facing this issue?
   
3. Did you make any changes to the computer before this issue started?
   

I suggest you to follow the below mentioned steps:

Step 1: To dictate text:

1. Open Speech Recognition by clicking the Start button, clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, clicking Ease of Access, and then clicking Windows Speech Recognition.

2. Say "start listening" or click the Microphone button to start the listening mode.

3. Open the program you want to use or select the text box you want to dictate text into.

4. Say the text that you want dictate.

Step 2: You may refer Microsoft article related to Dictating text:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4042244/windows-10-use-dictation

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14198/windows-7-dictate-text-using-speech-recognition

Hope it helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking "Yes or No.

Harish

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Easy Dictation Into Windows 10 eMail?

Hi Richard,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community, we appreciate your interest in Windows 10.

I understand your concern about accessing the Microphone/ Cortana to dictate the mails.

What is the make and model of your device?

I suggest you to try the below troubleshooting steps and check if it helps.

Method 1: Run Search and Indexing Troubleshooter.

Follow the steps given below to run Search and Indexing Troubleshooter.

• 
  Type Troubleshooting in the Search box from the desktop.
  
• 
  Select the Troubleshooting option.
  
• 
  Select View All option and select the
  Search and Indexing.
  
• 
  Click on Next to perform the Search and Indexing troubleshooter and follow the steps.
  

Method 2: I suggest you to search for the latest drivers for your device from the Microsoft website, try to download all the updates and check if it helps.

Hope it helps. Kindly update the status of this issue, we will be happy to help you.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Dictation - Random Capitilization

Hi TFLJ,

It's possible that Dictation listens and analyzes your words in phrases or context clues. It is important to state the word clearly.

By the way, since when did this behavior start? Have you made any changes or installed any updates on your computer before this issue?

In order for us to sort this out, I suggest setting the Dictation to make all the letters in a word lowercase. Once this is enabled, try dictating again and see if it still randomly capitalizes letters or words.

If the issue persists, then it is best that you train again your PC to recognize your speech. Follow these steps:

1. Open Control Panel.
2. Click Ease of Access > Speech Recognition.
3. Under Configure your Speech Recognition experience, click the link Train your computer to better understand you option.
4. Click Next and follow the on-screen instructions.

Please let me know the result.

Regards.

 

New FF - passwords


Hi:

If that setting is already enabled, then I suggest as the next troubleshooting step might be Mozilla Safe Mode (not to be confused with Windows Safe Mode)):

Troubleshoot Firefox issues using Safe Mode | Firefox Help

• Please report back and let us know the outcome, as it will dictate the next steps.
• Also: please tell us what AV/AM/firewall programs are you running on this system?

Thanks,
MM