As someone who spends hours writing, I’ve found Word’s dictation tool an absolute game-changer. I can write with fewer distractions and focus flowing ideas instead of getting caught up in the mechanics of typing.
Enabling and Using Voice Typing in Word
Getting started with Microsoft Word’s voice typing feature is a breeze, and the process is identical whether you’re using the Word app on a PC or in a web browser. All you need to do is navigate to the Home tab and click the Dictate button. There’s even a faster way to launch the tool: pressing the Alt + ` keyboard shortcut in Word.
Once you activate the dictation tool, just start speaking, and Word takes care of the rest. It transcribes words in real-time and even handles punctuation if you include it in my speech. For example, saying, “Hello comma how are you question mark,” results in Word typing: Hello, how are you?
Microsoft Word’s dictation tool requires a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Auto-Punctuation and Dictating in Different Languages
One dictation feature I absolutely find useful is auto punctuation, which you can enable by clicking the gear icon on the dictation tool and toggling Enable auto-punctuation. I keep it turned on as it’s surprisingly accurate and saves me from having to explicitly say punctuation marks.
With this setting enabled, Word automatically adds periods, commas, and other punctuation marks wherever they naturally belong. This way, I can focus entirely on my thoughts rather than worrying about where to place commas or periods.
Another standout capability is how well Word supports dictation in multiple languages. For instance, when I work on local-language content, I often switch to voice typing—my Hindi typing isn’t as quick as I’d like.
Switching languages is straightforward: go into the dictation tool settings, select Language, and choose from various options, including Hindi, French, German, Italian, and more.
Formatting Text Using Voice
What I love about Microsoft Word’s voice typing feature it’s not just about dictating plain text—Word allows me to format it using my voice, too. If I want to emphasize a word, I simply say “bold this” to apply bold formatting.
For example, if I dictate the sentence “Windows is better than Mac,” and then follow up with “bold Mac,” it will automatically bold the word “Mac” in the sentence. This also works for italicizing or underlining words.
But it doesn’t stop there—I can also create lists with ease. I can say “start list” or “start numbered list,” and Word will format my text into bullet points or numbers. When I’m finished, I can simply say “exit list,” and the formatting will revert to normal text.
What’s even better is that I can combine voice typing with traditional typing. This allows me to dictate a paragraph while typing specific parts of the text where I want more control or need detailed formatting.
My Go-to Voice Commands
Making the most of Word’s dictation tool requires getting familiar with its commands. Here are the voice commands I find most useful while using Word’s voice typing feature:
| Use | Commands |
|---|---|
| Document navigation |
|
| Text editing |
|
| Text Formatting |
|
| Dictation Commands |
|
Refer to Microsoft’s support page to review these commands from time to time. It helps.
Having used Word’s voice typing tool for some time, I can confidently say that it’s incredibly handy. While I don’t use it every day, when I do, it makes tasks like drafting articles or even composing emails much easier. It’s great for taking notes in Word, too.
