I would like to get talk-to-type software to use for emails and Word. What suggestions do you have? Anything free that does not violate my privacy too much? I have a Lenovo PC and Windows 11. Thanks Kim!
— Brian from Ohio
Good news, Brian. It’s built right in!
For Word:
Open a new or existing document and go to Home > Dictate while signed into Microsoft 365 on a mic-enabled device. Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening. Start speaking to see text appear on the screen. Easy peasy!
For Outlook:
Start a new email or reply to an existing one, select the body of the message, then go to the Message tab and select Dictate while signed into Microsoft 365 on a mic-enabled device. Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening. Start speaking to see text appear on the screen.
For Windows 10:
To use the Windows 10 speech recognition, open a document, email, or other file you want to dictate within. Hold down the Windows key and press H to trigger the dictation toolbar. You can now dictate text. When finished, press the Win key + H to turn off the dictation toolbar.
For Windows 11:
Press the Windows key + H on the keyboard. Next, press the microphone key next to the Spacebar on the keyboard. To stop, say a voice typing command like “Stop listening” or press the microphone button on the voice typing menu.
For Mac:
- In an app on your Mac, place the insertion point where you want the dictated text to appear.
- Press the microphone button if available in the row of function keys, use the Dictation keyboard shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation. Note: Press and release the microphone button to start Dictation; press and hold the microphone button to activate Siri (Siri must be enabled).
- When a microphone icon appears above or below a highlighted cursor, or you hear the tone that signals your Mac is ready for dictation, dictate your text. On a Mac with Apple silicon, you can type text even while dictating; there’s no need to stop dictation. The microphone icon disappears while you type and reappears after you stop typing so you can continue dictating.
- To insert an emoji or a punctuation mark or perform simple formatting tasks, do any of the following:
- Say the name of an emoji, like a heart or car emoji. Say the name of the punctuation mark, such as an exclamation mark. Say, “new line” (equivalent to pressing the Return key once) or “new paragraph” (equivalent to pressing the Return key twice). The new line or new paragraph appears when you’re done dictating. For a list of the commands you can use while dictating, see Commands for dictating text. Note: In supported languages, Dictation automatically inserts commas, periods, and question marks for you as you dictate. To turn this feature off, choose the Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.) Go to Dictation on the right, then turn off Auto-punctuation.
- Press the Dictation keyboard shortcut or the Escape key when you’re done. Dictation stops automatically when no speech is detected for 30 seconds.
Don’t stop there. Now that you’re familiar with voice-to-text, take things to the next level.
How to convert audio files to text
Converting audio files to text can be handy. Here are a couple of easy ways to do it.
Transcribe in Word
Are you a Microsoft Word user who’s looking for a transcription service? You’re in luck because Word has a feature called Transcribe that you can use to transcribe your .mp3, .wav, .m4a or .mp4 audio recordings.
The features allow you to record your conversations directly in Word for the web or upload audio files and then transcribe them automatically. It can identify different speakers within the recording and even timestamps your transcription to let you easily replay the parts of the audio file you need to edit.
There are tons of other tools you can use with the transcription feature. Want to highlight a quote from the transcript and add it to a Word document? All you have to do is click the plus icon on the line you want and it’s inserted into your document. Or, if you want to send a complete transcription of the audio file to someone else, all you have to do is click “add all to document.”
This feature is available for all Microsoft 365 subscribers and is supported in the new Microsoft Edge or Chrome browsers. Microsoft 365 personal plans start at $6.99 per month, and you’ll get up to five hours of transcription services per month with your subscription.
Amazon Transcribe
If most of your audio files are recorded in noisy public places, check out Amazon Transcribe. This cloud-based automated speech recognition platform was built to convert audio files to text, and it works well with low-quality or noisy audio files.
While Amazon Transcribe is primarily geared toward businesses, you can still use it for your individual transcription needs. In return, you’ll get accurate, well-formatted transcriptions of the audio files you submit for transcriptions.
Amazon Transcribe automatically adds punctuation and formatting, and you’ll also get access to other features that you can use to edit and manage your transcribed texts. Your transcriptions will have time stamping, speaker identification and even document annotation if needed.
The nice thing about Amazon Transcribe is that you can pay as you go, so if you don’t need regular transcription services, you won’t have to pay monthly for them. A free tier option gives you 60 minutes free per month for 12 months. For more information on Amazon Transcribe’s pricing, click here.
Have a question for me? Drop it right here, or leave me a voicemail at 602‑381‑8200 ext. 290.
