Typing with Your Voice is Easy

By | March 7, 2023
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Typing with Your Voice is Easy

This tip was written for everyone using Windows 10 or Windows 11

Typing with your voice (“voice recognition”) has come a long way in just a few years. And though it’s still not 100% accurate, it’s accurate enough and reliable enough you can use it to dictate recipes, emails, reminders, notes, essays, short stories, journals, and even angry letters to the editor!

Typing with Your Voice in Windows 10
(Windows
 10 Dictation)

Use the Windows key shortcut Windows key + H to begin.  Click the “microphone” icon in the dictation bar.

Windows 10 Tips by Cloudeight - Dictation in Windows 10

Windows 10 Tips by Cloudeight - Dictation in Windows 10

When it’s done initializing, you’ll see “Listening” and then you can start talking. Here’s an example of Windows 10 Dictation being used with Notepad. (It works with almost any app including MS Word, Notepad, WordPad, Gmail, Outlook, Outlook.com, etc.) 

Windows 10 Tips by Cloudeight - Dictation in Windows 10

As you can see above Windows 10 Dictation is “Listening…” and you can see what I’ve dictated so far.  You can add punctuation by saying words like “comma”, “period”, “semi-colon”, “exclamation point”, etc.  And if you want a new line, say, “new line”. If you want a new paragraph, say “new paragraph”. You get the idea. The more you use Windows Dictation, the better it gets at understanding your voice.

When you’re done dictating say “Stop dictating”.

Typing with Your Voice in Windows 11
(Microsoft Speech Services)

Typing with your voice gets even better, more accurate, and more fluid in Windows 11. Dictation even gets a new name in Windows 11… it’s now called “Microsoft Speech Services”. However, it works the same way it works in Windows 10.  You can open Windows Speech Services (Dictation) in Windows 11 by using the Windows key + H shortcut.

With Windows Speech Services open in Windows 11, you can begin voice typing, by clicking on the microphone icon, or as Microsoft puts it the “mic button”.

Windows 10 Tips by Cloudeight - Dictation in Windows 10

I put Windows Speech Services in Windows 11 through a rather tricky test using a poem by A.E. Housman. I’ll give Windows Speech Service an A-minus, it only made one major mistake.

Where it should have typed “rose lipt maids”, Windows Speech Services typed “rows left”. But “rose lipt” isn’t a common expression and I won’t be overly critical because Windows Speech Services worked very well. Even the spelling and grammar checker I’m using right now (Grammarly) does not like the word “lipt”.

Windows 10 Tips by Cloudeight - Dictation in Windows 10

And, like Windows 10’s Dictation feature, you can use Windows 11 Microsoft Voice Services to type reminders, notes, recipes, journals, essays, stories, lists, emails, and more.

Here’s an email I wrote using Microsoft Speech Services…

Windows 10 Tips by Cloudeight - Dictation in Windows 10

Unfortunately (and predictably) Darcy ignored my email, and I didn’t get my raise. But I can’t blame that on Microsoft Speech Services!

When you first start using Microsoft Speech Services in Windows 11, it will ask if you want to contribute your voice clips to “make Speech Services better”. You can choose “Yes” to contribute your voice clips – or “No” if you don’t want to contribute.

Windows 10 Tips by Cloudeight - Dictation in Windows 10

Now you know how to save yourself a lot of typing whether you’re using Windows 10 or 11.

2 thoughts on “Typing with Your Voice is Easy

  1. Tim

    This is very interesting! Thanks! I’ve never tried any speech apps on my PC, as I don’t have a microphone.
    Would you please give me a few recommendations for a reasonably priced (i.e. cheap) mic?
    Always find something interesting in your columns!
    Thanks!
    Tim from Pittsburgh

    Reply
    1. infoave Post author

      Hi Tim,

      Most laptops have built-in microphones, so if you have a laptop be sure to check Settings > System > Sound and see if there’s a microphone listed. If so, you’ll be able to set it up and configure it from there.

      If you don’t already have a microphone, you can buy them for laptops at Amazon, BestBuy, Walmart, and other stores that sell computers and accessories.

      You can spend hundreds of dollars on gaming microphones and broadcast-quality microphones, but for voice typing you don’t need to spend that much.

      Here are 4 microphones at Amazon all under $20 … these all plug into a USB port so you can use them with any Windows or Apple computer.

      https://tinyurl.com/3698fx2z

      https://tinyurl.com/4cj2wxw9

      https://tinyurl.com/4kvpunts

      https://tinyurl.com/yk9p9scj

      We hope this helps you, Tim.

      Reply

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