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 Windows 10. Dictation uses speech recognition, which is built into Windows 10, so there's nothing you need to download and install to use it.

Starting with 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 you’d like to stop the dictation before then, just say “Stop dictating” or press WIN+H (same as in previous builds).

See also:

• Use dictation to talk instead of type on your PC | Microsoft Support
• How does Microsoft protect my privacy while improving its speech recognition technology? | Microsoft Support

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

To use dictation, your PC needs to be connected to the Internet.

Dictation requires online speech recognition to be turned on.

To dictate in unsupported languages, use Windows Speech Recognition.

Here's How:

1 Use step 1 (keyboard shortcut), step 2 (Touch Keyboard), or step 3 (Microsoft Edge) for how you want to use Dictation.

1 To Use Win+H Keyboard Shortcut for Dictation

A) Click/tap inside a text box you want to select it.

B) Press the Win + H keys.

C) When you see dictation listening, you can start talking to type with your voice. (see screenshot below)

You can click/tap on the X to close (exit) dictation when finished.

You can click/tap the microphone button to stop and start dictation as needed.

You will hear a sound to let you know when dictation has started and stopped listening.

3 To Use Touch Keyboard for Dictation

A) For how, see: How to Use Dictation with Touch Keyboard in Windows 10

4 To Use Voice Typing in Microsoft Edge with Dictation

A) For how, see: How to Use Voice Typing in Microsoft Edge in Windows 10

 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.

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

 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 you’re done, say “stop spelling.”

Here are the punctuation characters and symbols you can dictate.

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

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Use Dictation with Touch Keyboard in Windows 10
• How to Use Voice Typing in Microsoft Edge in Windows 10
• 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 Start or Stop Contributing Voice Clips to Microsoft in Windows 10

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